Protests are turning dramatic. Like, getting nude. When activists strip away clothing, they force society to confront uncomfortable truths about power, gender, and injustice. The body becomes both symbol and message, representing vulnerability, defiance and resistance all at once. However, across continents, protesters have repeatedly turned to nudity to challenge authority and highlight inequality.
From Paris to Delhi
While nudity has long been a signature tactic of feminist movements, recently, one of the most visible examples came from the activist group FEMEN, known for staging topless protests against patriarchy, authoritarianism, and sexual violence.
This year, the group protested against individuals in the Epstein files in Paris, and in November last year, they protested against Shein for selling controversial dolls, besides staging actions in solidarity with various international liberation movements.
To mark International Women’s Day this year, the group of women protesters appeared topless, wearing white collars, pig masks, and fake male genitals to denounce patriarchy. The demonstration happened at the Louvre Pyramid in Paris with a focus on politicians, business leaders, and celebrities, all those implicated in the Jeffrey Epstein case chanting slogans like ‘Team Epstein,’ ‘Femen Exposes the Pigs,’ and ‘Get Them All’ painted across their chests.
Last year, too, the group marched through the streets of Paris topless, their bodies painted with slogans and provocative imagery, while the protesters painted the American or Russian flags on their chests with a Swastika symbol superimposed, a controversial visual meant to criticise political leaders they accused of enabling authoritarianism and anti-women policies. The event saw over two lakh people join rallies in approximately 150 cities and towns, including over one lakh participants in Paris alone.
Many demonstrators were protesting persistent gender pay gaps, violence against women, and male-dominated political structures. The rallies also expressed solidarity with women in Afghanistan, where the Taliban’s return to power has sharply restricted women’s rights and freedoms. To mark the occasion, the Eiffel Tower was illuminated with messages supporting Afghan women in several languages. Nudity as protest has appeared in many other contexts as well. Environmental activists groups like Extinction Rebellion (XR) utilise public nudity as a form of ‘artivism’ and nonviolent direct action to shock the public, draw attention to ecological crises, and challenge existing power structures.
This tactic, notably used by XR in Sweden, uses the naked body to protest climate inaction and disrupt social norms in public spaces. In parts of Africa, elderly women have historically used nudity as a powerful cultural curse against authorities who violate community norms. In Ukraine, activists have stripped in front of government buildings to protest corruption and abuse of power.
In India, a dramatic shirtless protest recently erupted during a major international technology gathering in New Delhi. Members of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) staged a demonstration during the closing day of the India AI Impact Summit last month.
Initially, the protesters removed their jackets to reveal T-shirts printed with slogans criticising PM Narendra Modi and his government. Moments later, they took off the shirts entirely and held them up while chanting slogans about unemployment and a proposed India-US trade deal that they argued would harm farmers, small businesses, and young workers.
Sculpture Shift
Yet another phenomenon that has emerged in Denmark, where women frustrated with unequal representation in public monuments launched an unusual protest: dressing naked statues. The issue first gained attention after a report released in February by Denmark’s Museum of Art in Public Spaces revealed a striking imbalance. Across the country, 484 monuments depict historically significant men, while only 43 commemorate real women. At the same time, more than 120 public sculptures depict naked female figures drawn largely from mythology or literature.
The protest began with a quiet act by Copenhagen-based artist Louise Moerup, who questioned the status as to why there were statues of mythical naked women, but so few monuments celebrating real women who shaped history or who are remembered for their achievements?
An enthusiastic knitter, Moerup crafted a striped halter dress and slipped it over one of the statues. “Knitting the dress was my humorous way to make people look twice and notice what’s missing,” explains Moerup in a news report. The small act quickly resonated with others. Soon more statues across Denmark were covered with hand-knitted dresses, scarves, and shawls.
What began as a playful intervention turned into a broader campaign calling attention to gender imbalance in public memory. Meanwhile, the protest appears to have had an impact. Just recently, the Danish government announced that it would allocate around $1.5 million to commission new public artworks commemorating historically significant women.