Cupcakes, nipple paint and sunny smiles graced Orleigh Park in West End on Sunday, as women of all ages joined together in a bid to desexualise the nipple.

While not all of the 800 people who RSVPd on the Facebook event turned up, an intimate group of about 50 women, mothers, children, non-binary and transgender people gathered on rugs, lay in the sun and shared their stories as a scattering of men sat on the fringes and watched.

Zoe Buckley Lennox, 22, and Amanda Haworth, 21, created the event on Facebook earlier in the week to create a safe space where women didn't feel sexualised or shamed for freeing their nipples.

While the Facebook event page was filled with aggression and criticism, the picnic itself was a welcoming space.