Why Women Showing Women Is Still Radical (and Always Has Been)

By Exposed Boudoir Photography | Glens Falls, NY

www.exposedboudoirphotography.com

Here’s something that blows my mind every time I think about it: it’s actually pretty recent that women have ever been allowed to paint, draw, or photograph other women’s bodies—naked, honest, and real.

For most of history, men decided how women would be seen in art. They controlled the schools, the galleries, the cameras, even the rules about who could look at a nude model. That means for centuries, the female body was only shown through a male lens. And let’s be real—those images weren’t created for us, they were created to please men.

The ripple effects of that? They’re still here. They’re in our body image struggles, in the way we “check ourselves” from the outside, and in how we’ve learned to view our worth.

Women weren’t allowed in the life room

Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, the “life room” was where artists got to study from nude models. If you wanted to make “serious” art, this was the training ground. And women? They weren’t allowed in. It was considered “improper” for women to see a nude body—never mind that we actually have bodies of our own.

A few schools cracked open their doors:

• Philadelphia (1868): Women at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts were finally allowed to study from nude female models. Male models didn’t show up until 1874, after a lot of debate.

• London (1893): The Royal Academy let women into life classes—segregated, with modesty cloths and rules galore.

• Paris (1897): Women were officially admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts, though many had already been sneaking in training at the Académie Julian, where they did get to draw from nude models.

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So really, women have only had about 130–150 years of access to showing the nude from our own perspective. That’s a blink in history.

From objects to subjects

Here’s where it gets exciting. Once women could actually study the body, things started to shift.

• Suzanne Valadon (Paris, 1890s) painted raw, unapologetic female nudes—not soft, dreamy goddesses, but real women.

• Paula Modersohn-Becker (1906) painted the very first nude self-portrait by a woman. Imagine how radical that was at the time—painting your own naked body, through your own eyes.

• Anne Brigman (early 1900s) photographed herself and other women nude in the wild Sierra Nevada, completely flipping the script on what a nude could mean.

These women weren’t just painting or photographing “naked women.” They were reclaiming the right to show themselves as they actually were, not just how men wanted them to be seen.

The four boxes women were shoved into

Catherine McCormack’s book Women in the Picture helped me put words to this. She explains how, for centuries, women’s bodies were recycled into four stereotypes:

• Venus (the beautiful, erotic ideal)

• Maiden (the passive, innocent girl)

• Mother (nurturing, self-sacrificing)

• Monster (the femme fatale, punished for her power)

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Sound familiar? Those archetypes are still alive and well—in magazines, ads, and even Instagram. It’s why so many of us grew up believing we had to fit into one “acceptable” version of womanhood, and why stepping outside those boxes feels rebellious.

Why this still matters

When men controlled the images, women were always acted upon. John Berger said it best in 1972: “Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.” And we still do that today. How many times have you caught yourself checking how your body looks from the outside, instead of just living in it?

Psychologists have even linked this to body shame and self-objectification. When every image we’ve been shown of “beautiful” bodies was created for someone else’s gaze, we start seeing ourselves through those same distorted lenses.

Boudoir as a modern re-frame

This is exactly why boudoir is so powerful. When women create art for women, everything changes. We’re no longer being displayed; we’re reclaiming. The camera becomes a mirror, not a magnifying glass.

In my Glens Falls studio, I get to help women step outside those four little boxes and see themselves in a whole new light. Not Venus, not Maiden, not Monster. Just you—complex, alive, radiant, real.

And every time I watch a client light up seeing her images, I’m reminded: we’re still rewriting history. And the best part? We finally get to be the ones holding the brush—and the camera.

💌 Ready to book or learn more?

Visit www.exposedboudoirphotography.com to reserve your session and start your journey.

Here’s to being timeless. Here’s to being powerful. Here’s to you.

xo,

Bri