Naked protests are a form of public demonstration in which individuals, often women, use the symbolic power of their naked bodies to challenge injustice. These protests have become increasingly visible, especially as resistance to state violence, economic exploitation, and oppression of women by men.
Naked protests may seem provocative or shocking, but they have a long history in Africa. These are not only powerful statements, but also direct challenges to society’s norms of decency, stewardship, and vulnerability.
As a research psychologist, I was drawn to studying nude protests. Because of its deep emotional power. That is, we study how emotions such as anger, fear, joy, and empowerment are expressed and experienced by both protesters and observers. Over the past decade, I have interviewed numerous South African women who participated in naked protests.
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My research, which takes an African feminist approach, shows that these protests are not simply acts of desperation or shock tactics. They are rooted in long traditions of resistance and decolonization, drawing on intergenerational power and emotional expression. These are feminist tactics that use the body as a site of resistance and empowerment, embodying both vulnerability and strength.
I argue that naked protest is a complex and powerful tool for reclaiming African women’s agency, dignity, and voice.
colonialism and nudity
During the era of colonialism, European countries dominated African countries. Colonizers imposed their own values, laws, and social institutions, including strict ideas about how women should behave and dress. These replaced many of Africa’s traditional customs and beliefs. African women were required to cover their bodies because nudity was considered shameful or inappropriate according to European moral standards.
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By protesting naked, African women are rejecting colonial ideas and reclaiming their bodies as a form of resistance. They are saying that they refuse to be ruled by these outdated beliefs. In other words, naked protest is a decolonial act.
African feminism sheds further light. It focuses on the unique historical and social circumstances that shape the struggles of African women. The organization recognizes that African women’s bodies have long been subject to patriarchal and colonial rule, and have been sites of both oppression and resistance.
Nude protests in South Africa
In South Africa, colonialism was followed by white minority rule. Apartheid is a system of racial segregation and discrimination that was legislated between 1948 and 1994. Black South Africans were denied political rights, had their land ownership restricted in white areas, and were subject to statutes regulating their movement. Black women bore the brunt of this oppression.
In Durban in 1959, South African women protested against the Native Beer Act of 1908, which banned traditional beer brewing. Protesters stormed a state beer hall in a bold act of defiance, exposing themselves in the face of police barricades. Police were often reluctant to confront or harm women.
#FeesMustFall protests in South Africa in 2016. Alon Skuy/The Times/Gallo Images/Getty Images
During the 1990 Dobsonville housing protests, Soweto women stripped naked to protest the demolition of their shacks by city police. They succeeded in attracting media attention to their demands.
This form of protest has continued even during the country’s democratic era. As recently as 2024, women from the South African Cleaning, Security and Allied Workers Union staged a naked protest against a private security company’s abrupt termination of their contract.
psychological research
However, the main focus of my research was the South African student protests that began in 2015. The #FeesMustFall movement saw students protest against sexual violence and the high cost of education. A naked protest was held at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and a related #RUReferenceList protest against rape was held at Rhodes University in Makhanda.
My doctoral research aimed to understand nude protest movements and contribute to their psychological understanding. I wanted to know why women in particular engage in this form of decolonial protest, and what their emotional and social roles are during and after the action.
I interviewed 16 women who participated in the protests, drawing on podcast interviews with two other participants and video from the 1990 Dobsonville protests.
anger and conflict
It turns out that anger and conflict play a central role. The women’s decision to use their naked bodies during the #FeesMustFall protests was a deliberate and transgressive act aimed at disrupting the institutions that seek to silence them.
They weaponized their vulnerability and exposed the contradictions within these systems, where women’s bodies are often treated as sexual objects but considered unacceptable when used as a means of protest. . By exposing their bodies, these women put their bodies in direct opposition to deeply rooted social hierarchies, confronting the state, universities, and society as a whole.
Read more: Angry student protests put rape back on South Africa’s agenda
The anger expressed at these protests is no coincidence. It is rooted in a collective and historical sense of injustice. The women said they were responding to both the immediate problem of exclusion from higher education institutions and broader generational experiences of gender-based violence, racism, and economic disenfranchisement. Anger became a way to assert control over our bodies in spaces where our presence was marginalized, ignored, or actively suppressed.
By venting their anger, these women redefined their relationship to both their bodies and the public spaces they occupied. Their protests highlighted the relationship between individual anger and systemic oppression.
joy in the struggle
Joy is another important emotion in these protests. Women often experience a sense of joy and empowerment when they achieve their protest goals.
This joy is not just a personal emotion, but a collective one that unites women. Pleasure is itself a form of resistance, as it rebels against the narrative of women as passive victims.
strong 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 revealed that participating in these protests can make a big difference in how women feel about themselves. They discover their strength and ability to fight back.
The #IAmOneInThree hashtag is based on United Nations estimates that one in three women worldwide will experience sexual abuse in their lifetime. In solidarity with the #RUReferenceList protest at Rhodes University, the #IAmOneInThree naked protest took place at the University of the Witwatersrand. Shibu, a participant, talked about how she felt holding a sujanbok (whip) and singing struggle songs with other women.
For me, that moment was positive…for some reason I felt powerful. Because when you… got raped… it made me weak… it made me feel like an object instead of a human being. So, I remember that moment when I felt empowered, yes, I have my sujanbok and I have sisters around me.
South African nude protests are a powerful form of feminist resistance that is rooted in deep historical and cultural traditions. These protests are strategic and emotional forms of resistance that challenge patriarchy, sexism, and colonialism.