Biel: Stop Me From Posing Nude Again!

Jessica Biel has come a long way since playing the daughter of a minister on Seventh Heaven.  Sadly, I'm not sure in which direction.  The actress posed nearly nude (actually entirely nude but in "clever" poses that managed to cover her intimate parts) for a 2000 Gear magazine spread (unfortunately, I saw these photos online and they are pretty raunchy) but later said her then-manager pressured her into it.  One would have thought that this signaled some kind of remorse and that maybe she'd learned from the experience. But, according to the  National Ledger she is going to be doing another nude scene in an upcoming movie with Forest Whitaker. 

Sure, there are plenty of women in Hollywood that do nude scenes --it is practically de rigeur. But what I find disturbing is that she doesn't seem to want to do it.  After her last semi-nude experience Biel said she was "humiliated" and of her upcoming nude scenes:

I definitely worry about how my family would react. You can't help thinking about your dad or brother seeing something. I don't have to be fully naked for the movie. I haven't decided exactly about the nudity. It's a tough one. I'm considering it but it's a very scary thing to do. It definitely feels vulnerable to be naked in front of anybody, let alone a film crew.

So, "Great," you think, "She doesn't have to do nudity and probably she won't."  But consider the contract she signed that, according to the article, "details the bare minimum fans will see – including shots of her breasts (nipples from the front and side) and her butt (side view only)."  Can you imagine signing such a contract? You're sitting in the producer's office and you start your negotiations, but instead of negotiating your health plan and vacation time you haggle over the parts of your body that you'll have to expose and from what angles. I can hardly imagine feeling more objectified.  And do you think for a minute that after negotiating the contract the producer or director is going to say, "Yeah, lets go with shot of her with the top on instead of the topless one." 

Biel also says, "It's scary because of the internet - you don't know where it's going to end up. It's a moment that could be exploited."  Could be exploited? I guess exploitation is a sliding scale where a million people seeing you briefly nude is not as exploitative as, say, a guy using your naked body as his screen saver. Perhaps it is time to find a new line of work that doesn't exact its pound of flesh. 

Comments

[MInTheGap]

It's hard for me to believe that she really has no say here. It's her name on the contract. She could turn the thing down.

For me, it's hard to believe someone who says "I really didn't want to do it, I was pressured into it." We all have things that we feel pressured to do, but it's the true sign of character to stand for what you believe in instead of capitulating each time.

And it's a progression. Today it's these bits and these angles, tomorrow it'll have to be more. If you don't put your foot down now, you'll find that you'll need to show more in order to get the next job.

Once you've sold yourself as no more than a body, that's the only roles you get.

[warren]

What I would love is if somehow this web page (your blog entry) came up whenever all those guys were searching on the internet for that photo. :-)

Warren

[Anna S]

Ugh. And to think THIS passes as 'sexual liberation'? Hmm. Maybe liberation to unworthy men to exploit women!!

[Joi]

Poor girl.

It's sad that she is that confused about what she really wants, and worse that she's not standing up to people who are pushing her into this.

[Kristen]

I wish she would realize that she could always get another contract. But what she's selling: she can't ever get back.

[Emily]

It's sad. And puzzling given I have read several interviews with Biel lamenting that she cannot seem to get picked for serious roles because producers see only her 'sexy' image... I think it's a bit of a brain-bubble over in LaLa land because if I wanted to deemphasise the raunch factor the last thing I'd do would be take on such a role. The fact that she has such reservations and still thinks it's something she has to 'get over' speaks voumes about how a lot of young women are made to feel today.

[Mary]

She wants to NOT do the nude scene less than she wants to forgo what goes with the nude scene.

Conflicting desires, to be sure, but what wins in the end is the stronger desire, unless you master them.

[Grace]

It's no wonder men and women have mixed messages about their bodies and boundaries.

When women take off their clothes for money at a strip club, her neighbors call CPS and take her kids away.

When she does it for a big budget film, people call it "art".

[Alexandra Foley]

I think the saddest part is that she somehow believes that this is an art film (It's starring Forest Whitaker!! He won an Academy Award!!)and therefore the nudity is justified or beautiful. And I can see how you could convince yourself of that (yes, the LA LA Land brain bubble!! :), but the contract (this body part at this angle) is what I think the wake-up call should be. How much more like a piece of meat do you have to feel before you just say, ENOUGH!

PS She was great in The Illusionist and I don't think she showed any skin.

[Ken]

When women take off their clothes for money at a strip club, her neighbors call CPS and take her kids away.

When she does it for a big budget film, people call it "art".

As Lindsay Lohan put it on her drunken 100mph joyride/rampage down PCH:

"SCREW YOU! I CAN'T GET IN TROUBLE! I'M A *CELEBRITY*!!!!!!"

[Tanya]

I am not so quick to feel sorry for this girl. She is not a child, and as you mentioned, she has a prior experience in this situation. She is an adult, and is capable of making her own choices. If she decides to ignore her own feelings and values in the name of career "advancement", it is because that is exactly what she CHOOSES to do.

[Emily]

DO CPS really come and take a woman's children away from their home if she's a stripper?

[Emily]

Ooooh ooh ooh it took me a little while but my old Womens Studies 101 has cropped up outta my brain and made me ask... are we gonna take Mr Forrest Whittaker to task for participating in a film that requires a young woman (because if not Biel, then someone else) to sign a contract specifying the angle at which her nipples will be exposed so as to garner the best chance of an Oscar nomination for Most Pompous Excuse For Female Nudity In a Motion Picture????? Beuller... Bueller...

[Therese]

I don't find it hard to believe that Jessica Biel felt pressured from her manager into posing nude. These manager-perverts rule in Hollywood. MinTheGap says, "it's the true sign of character to stand up for what you believe in instead of capitulating each time." Yeah, well, what does Jessica believe in? - Maybe just a need to remain employable? Refer to last line in comment: "Once you've sold yourself as no more than a body, that's the only roles you get."

She could just not pose nude and do a different movie. There is nothing saying she "has" to work in this movie. Jessica Sarah Parker insisted on a nudity clause in her contract for Sex in the City and never exposed herself during its entire run. Jessical Biel can do the same if she is willing to hold out for part where she has more say.

[Fakrudeen]

If she doesn't have the moral courage to say NO, she deserves the humiliation [unfortunately].

[JB]

What is amazing to me is that this is a profession in which no one seems to think to file a sexual harassment lawsuit as they would in most other 'above board' proffessions for a requirement such as this. For example, if she didnt want to expose herself, but wanted the part and thus lost the part it seems that she could file for BOTH sexual harassment AND discrimination-particularly in California.

[Nora]

Meh. It's not the 'moral' reasons I care about. It's all her body, whether it's her rear end or her fingertips. Should she start covering everything else up simply because it's the moral thing to do?

I am disapointed though in the director, who has to know how uncomfortable this makes her. The producers can only be expected to try and make money I suppose. But it's the director's job to protect their actors, male or female. Most importantly, I think, she shouldn't show any part of herself she's not comfortable showing. Period.