In 2012 the Free the Nipple campaign was launched by Lina Esco, an actress, producer, director, and most of all, activist. It began with Esco’s film, named after the movement, featuring groups of New York women coming together to challenge censorship and public nudity laws.

“I came up with ‘free the nipple’ because it’s engaging and funny—and the fuel we needed to start a serious dialogue about gender equality,” said Esco in a Time article. This campaign is not about all women walking around topless, despite critics who like to dismiss it as such. It is about men and women having the same rights.

The idea of a woman walking around freely with her breasts exposed may seem preposterous to some – then again, that’s what people used to think about women exposing their bare ankles. That’s even what people thought about men being topless in public, which was illegal until the 1930s. Thankfully, this mindset changed allowing men to control their bodies without being sexualized. Now the same thing needs to happen for women.

Obviously societal norms do not change overnight. Even today, men don’t walk around shirtless left and right; but they do have the option. To put it in perspective, on a hot summer day a man can walk down the street completely topless. If a woman, on that same warm day, chooses to walk down the street in just a sports bra, she will be judged and objectified. If she walks around topless, she may be fined or imprisoned. Even in the 21st century, there are laws that make an act illegal for women but perfectly legal for men. We need to realize the blatant double standard that this has created.

But the double standard doesn’t stop there. It goes on to shame mothers who breastfeed in public. It sexualizes women who don’t wear a bra and, God forbid, let their nipples be seen through their shirts – putting aside the fact that bras are quite uncomfortable and restraining. It makes women spend time and money covering themselves because their body parts are too sexual for society to handle.

At the end of the day, we need to realize that “Free the Nipple” is not a joke. It is a serious and impactful social movement that simply fights to give women the same rights as men.