Orange is the New Black's Matt McGorry joins 'Free the Nipple' campaign by posting shirtless selfie with Miley Cyrus and Chrissy Teigen's nipples edited in to cover his own 

  • Recently, women have been taking to social media to protest the idea that male nipples are seen as more appropriate than female ones
  • 29-year-old Matt added a new dimension to the campaign, using images of women’s nipples in his cheeky shot 
  • Artist Micol Hebron, from California, first introduced an 'acceptable' male nipple template on her Facebook page in June 2014
  • A year later, more and more women are using photo editing to add male nipples to their topless images

 Orange is the New Black star Matt McGorry wants you to know that women shouldn't be defined by what men think about their 'boobies'.

The 29-year-old actor, who also stars in popular series How to Get Away With Murder, recently joined the increasingly popular 'Free the Nipple' movement, which aims to make female nipples less taboo, and stop images of them from being banned on social media. 

So, following the lead of women who have been highlighting society's double standard by posting topless photos of themselves with 'acceptable' male nipples covering their own, Matt shared his own shirtless snap on Instagram this week. But instead of flaunting his nipples, the actor covered them up with cutouts from 'banned' pictures of Miley Cyrus and Chrissy Teigen.

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A bit nippy: Actor Matt McGorry shared this photo of himself from 2010 using the ‘banned’ nipples of Miley Cyrus (left) and Chrissy Teigen (right) to cover his own 

A bit nippy: Actor Matt McGorry shared this photo of himself from 2010 using the ‘banned’ nipples of Miley Cyrus (left) and Chrissy Teigen (right) to cover his own 

Online protest: The Orange is the New Black star, 29, noted in the picture's caption that it is unfair that men are allowed to show their nipples but women are not

Online protest: The Orange is the New Black star, 29, noted in the picture's caption that it is unfair that men are allowed to show their nipples but women are not

Last June, artist Micol Hebron pointed out the hypocrisy that it is socially acceptable for men to show their nipples - but not women - by introducing the cheeky idea that topless women should cover up with photos of male nipples.

'If you are going to post pictures of topless women, please use this acceptable male nipple template to cover over the unacceptable female nipples,' she wrote.

A year later Micol's concept has taken the internet by storm as women continue to grow increasingly frustrated with their topless photos being removed from Instagram and Facebook - where exposing any portion of the areola is deemed inappropriate.

Matt - who has also lately taken up the feminist cause and regularly speaks out in support of gender equality - decided to join in and offer his own take on the social media trend.

Yesterday, he shared a picture of himself flexing his muscles in 2010 using nipples that he had cut out from controversial topless pictures of Miley, 22, and Chrissy, 29, to hide his own.

Feminist dude: Matt (pictured here on Orange is the New Black) posted his photo in response to women sharing snaps of themselves with male nipples covering their breasts

Feminist dude: Matt (pictured here on Orange is the New Black) posted his photo in response to women sharing snaps of themselves with male nipples covering their breasts

Supporting the ladies: The actor has recently become very vocal about being a feminist and supporting gender equality

Supporting the ladies: The actor has recently become very vocal about being a feminist and supporting gender equality

'If you're new to the #FreeTheNipple movement (like I am!) let me tell you what I think I understand about it,' he wrote in the photo's caption, which in less than 24 hours has earned over 81,000 likes. 'The banning of women's nipples may sound normal or even inconsequential as you think, "well, women's nipples are more sexual than men's nipples”.

'But that’s not some scientific fact,' he continued. 'It’s because of how our society so heavily sexualizes women. And it should be up to the individual woman to decide if she wants to show them, just like men have the choice.'

He went on to explain that women who don't feel comfortable showing them off should 'feel free to keep 'em swaddled', but it should be up to each individual woman to choose whether are not they want to 'expose their bumpy buttons whenever men can'.

'Part of the stand of #FreeTheNipple is about the right of women to claim what their breasts and nipples mean to THEM, and not have that be defined by how men and much of society decides what their boobies mean,' he said.  

Editing skills: Matt, who also stars on How to Get Away with Murder (pictured), used cutouts from pictures of Miley Cyrus and Chrissy Teigen to doctor his picture

Editing skills: Matt, who also stars on How to Get Away with Murder (pictured), used cutouts from pictures of Miley Cyrus and Chrissy Teigen to doctor his picture

Model Chrissy Teigen, who had this photo from her W magazine shoot removed from her Instagram account last week, later tweeted: 'The nipple has been temporarily silenced but she will be back'

Model Chrissy Teigen, who had this photo from her W magazine shoot removed from her Instagram account last week, later tweeted: 'The nipple has been temporarily silenced but she will be back'

Nothing to see here: Miley's Instagram shots - in which her nipples are visible - have also been taken down from Instagram

Nothing to see here: Miley's Instagram shots - in which her nipples are visible - have also been taken down from Instagram

Making a point: Micol, from California, created this template last year to protest the nudity guidelines on Facebook and Instagram, which ban images that contain women's nipples 

Making a point: Micol, from California, created this template last year to protest the nudity guidelines on Facebook and Instagram, which ban images that contain women's nipples 

Which is why Matt used Miley and Chrissy to help him make his political picture. The two stars have seen their topless photos removed from social media in the past 'due to the dangerousness of their visible female nips', he explained, and sarcastically noted that using their nipples to cover his own 'asexual' ones makes his picture suddenly perverse.

'But it’s not just about getting an even tan; it’s one piece of the puzzle of creating deep change in the way our society objectifies women and creates these different standards for men and women (and other genders),' he concluded. 'At the heart of it, it’s simply about gender equality and equal rights.'

His long message was met with enthusiastic approval from his followers, who left over 6,300 comments praising him for being 'amazing'.

'We need more men like you,' wrote one, while another added: 'How can you not love him after reading this?'

Be free: A year later, Micol's template has taken the internet by storm as more and more women are using it to cover their own nipples and highlight the 'sexist' double standard on social media 

Be free: A year later, Micol's template has taken the internet by storm as more and more women are using it to cover their own nipples and highlight the 'sexist' double standard on social media 

Work of art: This Instagram user photo editing to cover her own nipple with this image of a man's 

Work of art: This Instagram user photo editing to cover her own nipple with this image of a man's 

Matt's doctored snap is just the latest one to be shared in support of the 'Free the Nipple' movement, which has been gaining momentum in recent months.

Protesters against banning female nipples on sites like Facebook and Instragram point out that men's nipples are rarely subject to this type of regulation. Women from all over the world are now using Micol's male nipple template and photo editing to cover their bare breasts in order to fight this type of 'sexist' censorship. 

Aline Nilsson, a 20-year-old from Sweden, used Micol's template to cover a topless photo of hers that had been reported on Instagram multiple times. 

'This one was reported again. So here it is with two MALE NIPPLES stickers that I put on to cover my illegal FEMALE NIPPLES!' she captioned the image. 'So now you can't say sh*t, this is so f**king wrong and this is not equality.'

One woman added the nipple templates to an image of herself sitting in a children's swimming pool, while another used it to cover her breasts in a photo of herself hiking topless with her boyfriend.

'Don't worry it's "his" nipple,' she wrote on the image. 

Sunbathing: This woman, who was snapped lounging topless in a children's pool, put the male nipple template over her breasts in this Instagram photo 

Sunbathing: This woman, who was snapped lounging topless in a children's pool, put the male nipple template over her breasts in this Instagram photo 

Not equal: Facebook and Instagram's nudity guidelines ban photos of featuring women's nipples while snapshots of men's nipples are rarely censored 

Not equal: Facebook and Instagram's nudity guidelines ban photos of featuring women's nipples while snapshots of men's nipples are rarely censored 

Taking a stand: Femen, the radical Ukrainian feminist protest group, snapped this photo, which questions why men's nipples can be seen on social media, but women's can't 

Taking a stand: Femen, the radical Ukrainian feminist protest group, snapped this photo, which questions why men's nipples can be seen on social media, but women's can't 

The Free the Nipple campaign aims to to fight against censorship laws in the US, where it is illegal in 37 states for women to appear topless, but much of its presence is on social media, where the sexualization of women's nipples has created what some believe is a double standard.

According to Instagram's nudity guidelines, 'some photos of female nipples' are banned, 'but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed'.

And Facebook's nudity guidelines, which are similar, state: 'We also restrict some images of female breasts if they include the nipple, but we always allow photos of women actively engaged in breastfeeding or showing breasts with post-mastectomy scarring.' 

The Free the Nipple movement has a strong celebrity following, which includes Cara Delevingne, Chelsea Handler, Lena Dunham, Willow Smith, Rihanna, Rumer and Scout Willis and Chrissy Teigen.

Just last week, a topless photo of Chrissy from her recent W magazine shoot was removed from her Instagram account. The 29-year-old model fought back by sharing three more 'artistic' versions of the image only to have those removed as well. 

'The nipple has been temporarily silenced but she will be back, oh yes, she will be back,' she wrote on Twitter. 

Double standard: Aline Nilsson (pictured), 20, from Sweden, used a male nipple template created by artist Micol Hebron to cover her areolas in this photo, which was reported on Instagram

Double standard: Aline Nilsson (pictured), 20, from Sweden, used a male nipple template created by artist Micol Hebron to cover her areolas in this photo, which was reported on Instagram

Spread the word: The Free The Nipple campaign is an equality movement that uses social media and film to fight against censorship laws in the US, where it is illegal in 37 states for women to appear topless
Spread the word: The Free The Nipple campaign is an equality movement that uses social media and film to fight against censorship laws in the US, where it is illegal in 37 states for women to appear topless

Spread the word: The Free the Nipple campaign is an equality movement that uses social media and film to fight against censorship laws in the US, where it is illegal in 37 states for women to appear topless

Active campaign: These women supported the Free the Nipple movement during a topless bike ride in London 

Active campaign: These women supported the Free the Nipple movement during a topless bike ride in London 

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