Missguided have been forced to take down their ‘send nudes’ sign because people don’t understand female empowerment

A petition has successfully forced Missguided to take down their neon pink ‘send me nudes’ sign in their Bluewater shop – apparently it’s damaging to young girls.

The sign, featured in their Kent store, has been covered up after a petition hit 5,000 signatures to remove it. According to the petition, it’s reinforcing a “negative and damaging culture" in female sexuality.

In a shop for women, which celebrates female sexuality and girl power 24/7, 365 days of the year, protesters have forced the removal of a sign which, oh wait, celebrates female sexuality and girl power.

Apparently, Missguided are being irresponsible in their marketing and not “liberating girls”, but these people have obviously never sent a nude because it’s pretty fucking liberating.

The bulk of the argument lies in that some of the shop's client base are going to be young girls under 18 – and sending nudes under that age is illegal – and this kind of messaging will mean they'll leave the store and instantly get their kit off and send nudes to every person in their Snapchat contacts.

But really, Missguided’s direct audience isn’t young girls. Unlike New Look, for example, who have their 915 range specifically for teenagers, Missguided doesn't have this. Instead, it’s for women who are probably at uni, or have just graduated, and have had a serious sexual liberation over the last couple of years to embrace their bodies and their sexualities. So jovially writing ‘send me nudes x’ on a wall isn’t harmful, it’s celebratory, it's something we look at and say 'yaaaas' with our girl mates as we look round the shop.

Nudes can be a tool of empowerment. They’re our bodies, we can pick and chose as we like who we want to flash a boob to. Sending nudes doesn’t mean you have any less “intrinsic value" in yourself, like the petition suggests, it can simply be a way of you showing you're confident and worship your body.

We’re constantly being barraged with what we should and shouldn't be doing with our bodies. Wearing skirts too short will make people think you're a slut, you should cover your boobs up because it's too suggestive, don't wear too much make-up, don't do this, don't do that.

So by creating a negative sphere around sending nudes, and the girls who take them for their own empowerment, we're taking a step back in female sexual liberation – something I'm pretty sure Missguided won't want to do.