Free The Nipple: Why should it still be headline news?

Khloe Kardashian is the latest celebrity to 'free the nipple', following the likes of Florence Pugh, Dua Lipa, and her own Kardashian sisters in embracing the growing movement that celebrates a woman's right to bare her breasts.

The 39-year-old Kardashian was photographed by Greg Swales in a photoshoot for Tmrw magazine wearing a sheer black lace vest which exposed her bare chest. 

During the interview, she said: "It's so powerful, the older you get, how secure and comfortable you get within your skin and with people. I don't care who agrees with what I'm doing, you're just, you feel good."

A post shared by Khloé Kardashian (@khloekardashian)

The photo was posted on Instagram and users on the platform went crazy for it.

But where does the Free The Nipple movement come from, and why is it still a big deal when a female celebrity bares her chest?

The Free The Nipple movement highlights the inherent injustice that men are allowed to appear topless in public while women are considered indecent for doing the same.

The campaign was created in 2012, when filmmaker Lina Esco filmed herself running topless through the streets of New York. As the documentary was being made, she posted teaser clips with the hashtag #FreeTheNipple. In 2013, Facebook removed these clips from its website for violating its guidelines, leading several celebrities (Rihanna, Chelsea Handler, amongst others) to post photos on social media to show their support of Esco's initiative.

Free The Nipple anchors itself in the topfreedom movement, a cultural and political campaign which seeks changes in laws to allow women to be topless in public – from allowing mothers to openly breastfeed in public to getting rid of restrictions and arrests when a woman shows her