Culture

Florence Pugh Absolutely Dragged Misogynists To Hell Over Dress Criticism

"What's more concerning is…. why are you so scared of breasts?"

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Florence Pugh has responded to criticism she received from wearing a pink Valentino dress to an Haute Couture show in Rome over the weekend.

In a post shared on Sunday, the actor revealed she got a lot of pushback from wearing the dress, which was sheer enough at the front to make her nipples visible.

“Technically they’re covered?” said the Little Women actor said of a photo of her wearing the dress on Instagram — a platform infamous for its strict ‘no lady nipples’ policy.

 

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A post shared by Florence Pugh (@florencepugh)

A day after the event, she shared another picture of herself in the dress with the following caption: “Listen, I knew when I wore that incredible Valentino dress that there was no way there wouldn’t be a commentary on it. Whether it be negative or positive, we all knew what we were doing. I was excited to wear it, not a wink of me was nervous. I wasn’t before, during or even now after.”

She then spoke about how men seemed to be weirdly comfortable about criticising her body shape. “What’s been interesting to watch and witness is just how easy it is for men to totally destroy a woman’s body, publicly, proudly, for everyone to see.”

“It isn’t the first time and certainly won’t be the last time a woman will hear what’s wrong with her body by a crowd of strangers, what’s worrying is just how vulgar some of you men can be.

“So many of you wanted to aggressively let me know how disappointed you were by my ‘tiny tits’, or how I should be embarrassed by being so ‘flat chested’. I’ve lived in my body for a long time. I’m fully aware of my breast size and am not scared of it. What’s more concerning is…. why are you so scared of breasts?”

While Pugh didn’t use the #FreeTheNipple hashtag, her words were well in line with its ethos. The movement, as Hyperallergic writes, has only been around for a decade — “born into the Instagram-age and made infamous through it.” It emerged in response to the double standards place when it comes to what’s considered a decent (or indecent) bodily display.

Instagram has developed a bit of a reputation for deleting posts that feature women’s nipples, including pieces of art. Ironically, if you punch the #FreeThe Nipple into Instagram’s search bar, you get a page that reads: “Sorry, this page isn’t available.” Make of that what you will!

Florence’s full statement is below.


Photo credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images