Last year The Oxford Dictionary named “vape” as word of the year, however many people, myself included, thought feminism would be named word of the year. Many women and celebrities have begun taking their stance on the word. One of these celebrities is Caitlin Stasey.
Caitlin Stasey is an Australian actress that stars in the CWs Reign, she stars as Kenna, one of Mary Queen of Scots close friends. Caitlin is a feminist who is very open about whom she is, her sexuality and her body. She first began making headlines when a scene of hers was cut from the pilot episode of Reign.
In the episode Mary, Kenna and the other ladies watch as a newlywed couple consummate their marriage. All of the girls leave the scene to go and pleasure themselves but the camera stays on Kenna. She heads to an empty stairwell where she begins to masturbate. The King of France eventually sees what Kenna is doing and joins her. The only part of the scene that was cut is when Kenna is pleasuring herself, they cut the part so short that the viewer somewhat knows what she is doing but isn’t explicitly told. When the show was first airing it was all anyone could talk about considering the ‘explicit’ version was sent to advertisers and the media.
That was back in October of 2013 and ever since then Caitlin has been open about who she is and her body. In June of 2014 her twitter and Instagram page made headlines after she posted a photo for the “Free The Nipple” campaign and then began to speak about sexual acts. UK news outlets like Metro and the Daily Mail called her tweets a “sexually charged twitter rant,” and a “string of outrageous tweets.” The tweets they were talking about are featured below. However, Stasey didn’t stop there, this year she launched Herself.com.
In Stasey’s own words to People magazine she says the website is “ a gesture to women for women by women; a chance to witness the female form in all its honesty without the burden of the male gaze, without the burden of appealing to anyone.” She is one of nine women who have participated in the website. Herself.com features naked images of each woman and an article to accompany it. The articles discuss topics from abortion, sexuality, and dealing with the troubles and triumphs of being a woman in today’s society. The topics and interviews are just as diverse as the women featured on the site.
The site itself is unlike thing that I have seen. The stories that these women tell with their words and mind are inspiring and yet they seem so normal and natural. When I first saw the site I was at first I felt weird and like I was looking at a porn site but its just not like that at all. The site is amazing and beyond its time and refreshing. Its fantastic to see women naturally naked with out trying to please or look good for anyone. No matter who you are or what age you are you should check out the site and Caitlin Stasey. She is definitely a woman to watch.