a psychologist explores the emotional power of this form of activism

Nude protests are a form of public demonstration where individuals, often women, use the symbolic power of their naked bodies to challenge injustices. These protests have become an increasingly visible form of resistance, particularly in response to state violence, economic exploitation and oppression of women by men.

Although nude protests may seem provocative or shocking, they have a long and rich history in Africa. This is not only a powerful statement, but also a direct challenge to society’s norms of decency, control, and vulnerability.

As a research psychologist, I was drawn to the study of naked body protests because of their deep affective power. That is, I study how emotions like anger, fear, joy, and empowerment are expressed and experienced by both the protester and the observer. I have interviewed many South African women who have participated in nude protests over the past decade.

Read more: Stripping for redress: the importance of Nigerian women’s nude protests

My studies, which take an African feminist approach, show that these protests are not just acts of desperation or shock tactics. They are rooted in a long tradition of resistance and decolonization, drawing on generational power and emotional expressions. It is a feminist tactic that embodies both vulnerability and strength, using the body as a site of resistance and empowerment.

Naked protests are complex – and, in my view, they are a powerful tool for reclaiming the agency, dignity and voice of African women.

Colonialism and nudity

During colonialism, European countries dominated African nations. Colonizers imposed their values, laws, and social systems, including strict ideas about how women should behave and dress. These have replaced many traditional African practices and beliefs. African women were required to cover their bodies because nudity was considered shameful or inappropriate according to European moral standards.

Read more: Naked protest: how ordinary citizens reveal the truth to repressive regimes

By protesting naked, African women reject these colonial ideas and reclaim their bodies as a form of resistance. They say they refuse to be controlled by these outdated beliefs. The naked demonstrations are therefore a decolonial action.

African feminism provides additional insight. It highlights the unique historical and social conditions that shape the struggles of African women. It recognizes that African women’s bodies have long been a site of oppression and resistance, subject to patriarchal and colonial control.

Naked body protests in South Africa

In South Africa, colonialism was followed by white minority rule. Apartheid was a system of racial segregation and discrimination, enacted between 1948 and 1994. Black South Africans were denied political rights, could not own land in white areas, and were subject to laws that controlled their rights. travel. Black women have borne the brunt of this oppression.

In Durban in 1959, South African women protested against the Native Beer Act of 1908, which banned them from brewing traditional beer. Protesters attacked breweries across the state and, in a bold act of defiance, exposed their bodies in front of police barricades. Police were often reluctant to confront or harm women.

In 1990, during the Dobsonville housing protest, women in Soweto stripped naked and protested against the demolition of their shacks by municipal police. They managed to attract media attention to their demands.

This form of protest has persisted, even in the country’s democratic era. As recently as 2024, women from the South African Cleaning, Security and Allied Workers’ Union staged an open protest against the sudden termination of their contracts by private security companies.

Psychology study

But a main focus of my research was the South African student protests that began in 2015. The #FeesMustFall movement saw students protesting against sexual violence and the high cost of education. Naked protests took place at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and #RUReferenceList protests against rape at Rhodes University in Makhanda.

My doctoral study aimed to understand the protests of the naked body and contribute to their psychological understanding. I wanted to find out why women in particular use this form of decolonial protest and what its emotional and social role is during and after the actions.

I interviewed 16 women who participated in the protests, as well as excerpts from podcast interviews with two other participants and video from the 1990 Dobsonville protests.

Anger and confrontation

I found that anger and confrontation played a central role. During the #FeesMustFall protests, women’s decision to use their naked bodies was a deliberate and transgressive act aimed at disrupting the structures that wanted to silence them.

They used their vulnerability as a weapon and exposed the contradictions within these systems – where women’s bodies are often sexually objectified but deemed unacceptable when used as an instrument of protest. By baring their bodies, these women took on the state, universities, and society at large by placing their physical bodies in direct opposition to deeply entrenched social hierarchies.

Read more: Angry student protests put rape back on South Africa’s agenda

The anger expressed in these demonstrations is not accidental; it is rooted in a collective and historical feeling of injustice. Women told me they were responding to both the immediate problem of exclusion from higher education institutions and also broader generational experiences of gender-based violence, racism, and economic disenfranchisement. Anger became a way to assert control over their bodies in spaces where their presence had been marginalized, ignored, or actively suppressed.

By channeling their anger, these women redefine their relationship both to their own bodies and to the public spaces they occupy. Their protests highlighted the connection between personal anger and systemic oppression.

Joy in the struggle

Joy is another important effect of these manifestations. Women often experience a sense of joy and empowerment when they achieve their manifestation goals.

This joy is not only a personal feeling but a collective one that binds women together. Joy is a form of resistance in itself because it challenges the narrative of women as passive victims.

Authorized and powerful

When women participate in naked protests, they show that they have the power to make their own decisions. They feel more confident and in control.

Participants made it clear that participating in these protests can profoundly change the way women see themselves. They discover their strength and their ability to fight back.

The hashtag #IAmOneInThree is based on the United Nations estimate that one in three women worldwide will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. A #IAmOneInThree naked protest took place at the University of the Witwatersrand in solidarity with the #RUReferenceList protests at Rhodes University. Sibu, who participated, shared how wearing a sjambok (whip) and singing wrestling songs with other women made her feel:

For me, that moment was an affirmation…I felt powerful in some way. Because when you… were raped… it made me feel weak… It made me feel like an object and not a person. And so I remember that moment where I felt empowered, right, I have my sjambok, I have my sisters around me.

Bare-body protests in South Africa constitute a powerful form of feminist resistance that draws on deep historical and cultural traditions. These protests are strategic and affective forms of resistance that challenge patriarchy, sexism and colonialism.