Boobs are great, they are two wonderful lumps of fat and later on, milk. They can be used for many things, such as storing money and lip gloss or to get a free drink from the ogling barista. But lately, if you've been following the plights of many feminists and the like, you'll realize a growing trend. Many women (and some men) find it unfair that women's breasts are oversexualized and thus censored on television and movies. Or how women can't walk around topless in public while men with manboobs can. They find that there is no difference between a woman's breasts and a man's and hence should be treated in the same manner.
Lets' get to it:
I do not agree with the above statement. Women might be revoking my Feminist Card (if I ever even had one), but I believe women's breasts are sexual and should not be flaunted in public. During puberty, the female breasts grow and the male's testicles drop like the New Year's Eve Times Square Ball Drop. It's like how a female child's breasts are innocuous but once they start wearing a training bra, it becomes sexual. Because puberty is a sexual stage and it brings about sexual changes. Including female breasts.
It might also be traced back to our hunter ancestors. Women with wide hips were seen as fertile and bigger breasts were seen as good for the health of the baby. So seeing both combinations was like a checklist for men. Big boobs, check. Big hips, check. Let's do this.
There's an argument that there's a difference between something being sexual and something being sexualized. The former is something inherently erotic and the latter is a social construct. Feminists say that breasts are sexualized and often compares it to how tribal women in parts of Africa walk around topless without a care in the world. Well, some tribes in Africa practice female genital mutilation, but that doesn't mean you should follow suit.
You can't just compare your culture to another and use that as the basis for your argument. Breasts in parts of the Western world have always been seen as erotic since thousands of years ago and it has become a habit to cover it up. In a tribe in Africa, women shave their heads because hair is seen as a potent sex symbol. Some countries discourage or ban the exposure of a woman's midriff, while in India, their traditional sari bares the midriff proudly.
Different cultures hold different standards for the female body. For American women to want their breasts to be seen and treated as nonchalantly as a man's can have social consequences. If women want their breasts to be treated as nonsexual, then groping would not be a sexual offense. I have rubbed, touched, and admired my male friend's rock-hard chest. Are women ready for men to equally admire their bare breasts the same way?
Are women ready to see their 17 year-old daughter walk around topless during a hot summer's day, allowing ephebophiles to ogle their breasts? Is it okay for girls in school to play shirts vs. skins during basketball? Does this mean that a man can ask a woman or a girl to remove her top without being charged with sexual harassment?
If women want their breasts to be treated as equally nonsexual as a man's, then they must not be offended when men stare at their breasts. They must not be offended when a man touches their breasts, even by accident.
So yes, I think breasts should continue to be censored. Male breasts are unappealing to everyone and are not sexual by default. It serves no purpose as opposed to women's breasts. Our breasts develop due to estrogen (hormones to develop sexual organs and reproductive systems), while men's breasts develop due to excess fat from overconsumption.
If men had something only they had, we would probably sexualize it also. Women and men were built differently, and even though equality is awesome, our physical attributes just aren't equal. If all men had third nipples on their left knees, they would all wear knee caps to hide it. It's not just a boobs thing.
Why are women so lazy to just put a shirt on, anyway? Since when has a woman woken up and went, "damn it, time to put on my shirt, this routine is the bane of my existence"? We have been liberated from floor-length gowns and turtlenecks and we still want more? Seriously? If you want to go topless, then by all means, visit a nude beach or join a nudist colony. But don't try to force networks to sanction scenes of topless women. If you have a son, would you let him mount posters of topless Playboy bunnies around his room? Would you be okay with a picture of topless Kate Upton on the background of your son's iPhone?
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