Stop calling this ‘empowerment’. It’s not

In an era where skin is a universal currency, exhibitionism is being sold as ‘female empowerment’. What on earth does equal rights have to with nudity?

Sending a picture of yourself while in a bikini in the change room is empowering? Nope, not really. (Pic: Instagram/Ariel Winter)

This week Kylie Jenner baked a piping hot lasagne for Snapchat, pausing only to pull down her track pants to show off her beige undies.

A recent Instagram photo of Modern Family actor Ariel Winter showed her sitting with legs akimbo. She was dressed, yes.

But the flesh at the very top of her inside left thigh — not an area the general public would expect to see — was on display with just a scrap of underwear preventing an X-rating.

It got 130,000 likes, delivering Winter the crack cocaine of confidence highs.

Meanwhile at Derby Day, a young woman confidently prowled Flemington Racecourse in a slashed-to-the-navel dress that revealed almost the entire dimensions of both naked breasts. There was more horror boobage at the Melbourne Cup, with dozens of mega cleavages vying for attention.

So in an era where skin is a universal currency, what does it mean for a woman to be almost naked in public? What happened to the sage advice offered to women that sometimes a little left to the imagination is even more powerful?

Miley Cyrus is a big fan of flashing the flesh. (Pic: Supplied)

There is no shock or awe — exposing yourself is now as pedestrian as sausage and mash by a slew of young self-described feminists hell bent on forcing down our throats their right to be body confident.

But the reality is that they are instead being sucked into a vile female contradiction — exhibitionism masquerading as feminism.

And frankly what on earth does feminism or equal rights for men and women have to with nudity?

I’m not a prude — I’m just livid that young women are glugging back the Kool-Aid in the belief that exposing yourself or even going completely naked makes you a stronger woman. Getting about in the buff doesn’t “prove” a woman’s freedom or effectively fight sexual discrimination.

Today we are subjected to a relentless parade of female flesh, whether we want it or not. Screw your eyesight — our boobs and bums and barely disguised nether regions are vital to our empowerment and mental strength.

We are getting our bits out because we know who we are and where we are going in life.

Or as Winter said in an interview: “It’s really important nowadays to empower young women and young men to feel really good about themselves.”

It’s empowerment in the vein of Kim Kardashian and her oil-slathered buttocks she used to balance a champagne glass. Totally fake and totally focused on the money, honey.

If you’re down to your birthday suit to make a point, exposing your body is not delivering any type of liberation. Revealing your skin is not about seizing control of your identity but simply a desperate Look At Moi Ploise bid for attention.

Winter, an actor who previously admitted to body confidence issues and is now estranged from her fame-obsessed mother, posed in such a provocative manner it made me wince with pity.

Comments from lascivious fans — “I am thinking nothing clean right now” — simply reinforced her as someone trying to look to please men.

Where is her older female mentor who can help her realise that self-confidence and poise comes from within the skin, not by exposing it? Feminism has become about who can take the most naked photo or selfie.

Take Kardashian, who likes to keep her fans guessing with I am/Am not a feminist persona depending on which way the ratings wind is blowing. She has achieved the American dream of making something out of nothing with a pure talent for being famous rather than an artist or intellectual.

But this carefully calculated exhibitionism simply reinforces rogue fantasies and desires. How is that a step forward for gender equality?

Last year Aussie actor Caitlin Stasey launched a graphic website herself.com to encourage other women to post arty black and white images of themselves because “women are f..king durable and powerful”.

This power, were told, came via “raw, honest sharing and storytelling”. Naked aka vulnerable equals power. Tell me how again?

It was nauseating, especially as Stasey had already been whining on YouTube about the genetic burden of being a pretty girl in an industry where nobody takes you seriously.

I am not offended by nudity but I find exhibitionism as a tool to promote gender equality as a ludicrous concept, a so-called feminist excuse to be naked.

As a mother of a young daughter, it sickens me to the stomach to think she could one day be at war daily with a culture in which her body, not her blossoming and inquisitive intellect, will define her worth.

I want her to have self-respect and a good moral compass — not boobs that will go off on Instagram.

Female empowerment is about not reducing yourself and showing off your various body parts.

@whatlouthinks