nipple bleb candida infection of the nipple eczema of the nipple inverted nipple staphylococcus infection of the nipple edematous areola herpes infection of the nipple reynaud phenomenon of the nipple flat nipple surgery a nipple-sparing/subcutaneous mastectomy is a surgical procedure where breast tissue is removed, but the nipple and areola are preserved. this procedure was historically done only prophylactically or with mastectomy for the benign disease over the fear of increased cancer development in retained areolar ductal tissue. recent series suggest that it may be an oncologically sound procedure for tumours not in the subareolar position. society and culture duplessis's portrait of marie thérèse louise of savoy baring a nipple dates from 18th-century france. exposure the culture tendency to hide the female nipple under clothing has existed in western culture since the 1800s. as female nipples are often perceived an intimate part, covering them might have originated under victorian morality as with riding side saddle. exposing the entire breast and nipple is a form of protest for some and a crime for others. the exposure of nipples is usually considered immodest and in some instances is viewed as lewd or indecent behavior. a case in erie, pennsylvania, concerning the exposure of breasts and nipple proceeded to the us supreme court. the erie ordinance was regulating the nipple in public as an act that is committed when a person "knowingly or intentionally, ... appears in a state of nudity commits public indecency." later in the statute, nudity is further described as an uncovered female nipple. but nipple exposure of a man was not regulated. an opinion column credited to cecil adams noted: "ponder the significance of that. a man walks around bare-chested and the worst that happens is he won't get served in restaurants. but a woman who goes topless is legally in the same boat as if she'd had sex in public. that may seem crazy, but in the us it's a permissible law." the legality around the exposure of nipples is inconsistently regulated throughout the us. some states do not allow the visualization of any part of the breast. other jurisdictions prohibit any female chest anatomy by banning anatomical structures that lie below the top of the areola or nipple. such is the case in west virginia and massachusetts. west virginia's regulation is very specific and is not likely to be misinterpreted, stating: " display of 'any portion of the cleavage of the human female breast exhibited by a dress, blouse, skirt, leotard, bathing suit, or other wearing apparel provided the areola is not exposed, in whole or in part.'" a namibian woman going toplessinstagram has a "no nipples" policy with exceptions: material that is not allowed includes "some photos of female nipples, but photos of post-mastectomy scarring and women actively breastfeeding are allowed. nudity in photos of paintings and sculptures is ok, too". previously, instagram had removed images of nursing mothers. instagram removed images of rihanna and had her account cancelled in 2014 when she posted selfies with nipples. this was incentive for the twitter campaign #freethenipple. in 2016, an instagram page invited users to post images of nipples from both sexes; @genderless_nipples, which displays close ups of both the nipples of men and women for the purpose of spotlighting what may be inconsistency. some contributors have circumvented the policy. facebook has also been struggling to define its nipple policy. filmmaker lina esco made a film entitled free the nipple, which is about "laws against female toplessness or restrictions on images of female, but not male, nipples", which esco states is an example of sexism in society. sexuality nipples can be sensitive to touch, and nipple stimulation can incite sexual arousal. few women report experiencing orgasm from nipple stimulation. before komisaruk et al.'s functional magnetic resonance (fmri) research on nipple stimulation in 2011, reports of women achieving orgasm from nipple stimulation relied solely on anecdotal evidence. komisaruk's study was the first to map the female genitals onto the sensory portion of the brain; it indicates that sensation from the nipples travels to the same part of the brain as sensations from the vagina, clitoris and cervix, and that these reported orgasms are genital orgasms caused by nipple stimulation, and may be directly linked to the genital sensory cortex ("the genital area of the brain"). in business some companies and non-profit organisations have used the word nipple or images of nipples to draw attention to their product or cause. etymology the word "nipple" most likely originates as a diminutive of neb, an old english word meaning "beak", "nose", or "face", and which is of germanic origin. the words "teat" and "tit" share a germanic ancestor. the second of the two, tit, was inherited directly from proto-germanic, while the first entered english via old french.