Amyl and the Sniffers release uncensored version of nude music video

Australian punk rock band Amyl and the Sniffers’ latest music video showcases full-frontal nudity in the name of body positivity and removing taboos.

The band has released a censored and uncensored version of their music video for Jerkin’ – the first track on their latest album Cartoon Darkness.

Jerkin’ is first release of the band’s new album Cartoon Darkness.Credit: John Angus Stewart

The video begins with a message advising viewer discretion, saying it is intended for people aged 18+. It features a diverse range of people of all ages, body types and cultural backgrounds stripping off.

The uncensored version can only be found on the band’s website, while the censored version is listed on YouTube and uses a black bar to prevent viewers from seeing the full-frontal nudity.

The video’s director John Angus Stewart, in a note on the band’s website, said it was meant to challenge social taboos and promote body positivity.

“This is why we wanted to strip away the artifice and examine the body in an open, conversational way,” he wrote.

In a post on Instagram, Stewart said nudity is censored because of the “twisted male gaze” and “covering ourselves creates temptation … exposing grounds us”.

Plus-size influencer and activist Katie Parrott, who has nearly 100,000 followers on Instagram, said more representation of diverse bodies in media is important and was supportive of the video’s concept.

“There’s only a very, very few kinds of bodies that we feel like we’re used to seeing ... anything that is outside of those bounds is more often than not, played for a joke … like older people at the beach wearing a bikini,” said Parrott.

“The idea of placing a whole range of bodies in front of an audience, not in a sexualised way, not in a judgmental way, but to say, ‘hey, remember, like, this is what bodies can look like,’ I think that’s really powerful and really cool.”

“It’s a really unflinching way of reminding people of all the internalised feelings that they can have about bodies just putting them in front of you, your eyes and saying, ‘how does this make you feel?’”

Sarah Cox, manager of eating disorder and body image organisation Butterfly’s National Helpline, said portraying diverse bodies across popular culture can help discourage weight stigma.

“Seeing body diversity … can also help to reduce body dissatisfaction, which we know is a big contributor to the development of an eating disorder,” said Cox.

YouTube’s policy on nudity prohibits explicit content which is intended for sexual gratification.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.