The oversexualization of breasts.

Female human beings evolved breasts to encourage face-to-face contact during sex. Breasts, in evolutionary terms, are meant to resemble the "buttocks". (Because you know how animals have sex...)
To simplify: face-to-face contact encourages bonding, and therefore increases the likelyhood that the man will stick around to look after the baby.
Men find breasts attractive, because they are MEANT TO. It's in our genes!

 

Some men consider themselves a "leg man or ass man" meaning they like other parts of women's bodies better then boobs. Should those men try to make it a law that women cover their legs again just because they consider legs sexual. Gee, how did men control themselves when women were allowed to wear shorts in public? How did women control themselves in 1939 when men were given the right to go topless?

 

well, you haven't spent enough time with men watching women walk by in shorts or short skirts to say that they're controlling themselves. just like with shorts, some men will behave, others won't. some will look and drool, others will try to get a grab. it's no different than it's always been.

 

Lets see if I can understand this whole thing..
Women think its unfair that they cant go topless..that surprises me.
I am a woman and I wouldnt want the world to see my breasts.
But I thought women didnt want to be looked at for their bodies but for their minds and now they are complaining cause they want to go topless?? I just dont understand.
If you are a mother, would you approve of your daughter going topless?

 

I have 7 of my own children and 3 of them are girls. My ex-boyfriend has a little daughter who I still claim as "my girl". My oldest daughter is 21 1/2, and has flashed a few people just to get there reaction a few years ago. I've always thought they aren't any better or lesser/lower then any boy and maybe someday when they all grow up they can tell people they live in a country where women won equal rights in every issue.
When my youngest daughter, who is 6 and my grand-daughter who is 4 go outside to play in the brook they take off their shirts and walk back into the house topless. They don't look any different then my 9 & 12 year old sons and it seems hypercritical to yell at one and not the other about going topless.

 

But the world is full of crazy people, and people that dont understand that. The world has changed so much. You may say equal rights, but i am sure that if men had breats too, they would cover them up as well. I think this is just silly about the whole right to be topless, look at the world we are living in. I just would pick a better battle to fight instead of being topless. And how in the world would women ever be looked at more for there mind instead of there physical being, if they were running around topless..It just doenst make sense to me..

 

Men didn't win the right to go topless until 1939, after 42 men were prosecuted for going swimming without a top in Atlantic City,NJ in 1935. What made those men decide to do that? If men could change the law then maybe women should do it now. A few women have tried it Canada, Florida, & Ohio. Maybe there should a HUGE gathering of topless women somewhere in Washington D.C. Maybe 4 years from now we could get the law changed again.

 

If women are aloud to go topless, you are in for a rude awakining..
I dont know if i am missing something here, but this just does not sound like a good idea..and people can say what they will, but the world and people are to crazy for it. Again you should chose a bigger battle cause this one is silly in my opinion. Me being able to walk around topless, is not on my list of priorities..

 

Amen sister!

 

So anyone who doesn't think everyone should have the same dress code or same right to go topless, maby you like it better when women dressed like the TV characters on "Little House on the Praire" or they could dress like an Amish lady.
Would my "rude awakening" be any different then in 1939 when men won the right to go topless? Sorry I like EQUAL RIGHTS...so ok make men wear a shirt

 

If you don't think this is an important battle, then why do you continue to post here? You should go expend energy arguing some other debate. If women want to go topless, they should be allowed to do so. If you don't want to, then don't.

 

I am sorry if I offended anyone..This did ask what our thoughts were, just because our opinions are not the same doesnt mean that I cant post my thoughts. I just explained the way I felt about the subject, that is all. And who'sarguing, I'm not, I am just stating my thoughts, like you are.

 

But some men do have breasts! I'd rather not have to look at those....

 

How many woman are going to get offended when these men are looking, and staring at your breasts. Just try it sometime, take off your shirt in public. A lot of people will be looking. To say that it doesnt really effect people is a statement of ignorance. Is it an issue of being equal or just to go "So there! We can do it too!" cause I'm for equallity... I just question the purity of your objective.

 

It certainly seems that way to me. For those who are afraid men will no longer be able to control themselves, a pair of breasts in a push-up bra & a low cut tank top sure seems like a far more sexual image than a natural pair uncovered & sagging slightly... Essentially, one the first is screaming for attention while the second is just hanging out au-natural.

 

First, I am sorry that you are ashamed of your breasts. They're just a couple of blobs of fat, what is the big deal?

Second, going topless does not mean asking men to stare at the breasts. Personally, I would not go topless around a bunch of frat boys, but have gone topless, as well as completely nude, around hippy types. The difference being that the frat boys are constantly bombarded with the image of silicone-breasted women in skimpy bikinis (which excites them by showing everything but the nipple), while the hippy types regularly see uncovered natural breasts of women who just want to be comfortable. Those who are denied the experience of regularly seeing non-sexualized bare breasts have been conditioned to see all breasts as sexual, once they become an everyday sight it's no big deal. Which is the point several others have alluded to by comparing this issue to the way men used to react to bare ankles. How many men find the sight of a woman's knees sexually titilating these days?

I am not a mother, but if I were I probably wouldn't want my daughter to be on the front lines dealing with the frat boy types, tho I would support her if that was what she wanted to do. As for going topless or naked at a Rainbow Gathering or a nudist camp, I would fully support her.

 

I, personally, am not ashamed of my breasts. They have the ability (potentially, that is) to create all the nourishments a newborn baby needs. To me, they are not shameful, but sacred, as is my vagina. I wouldn't want to have a bunch of strangers looking at any of these parts of my body; not because I am ashamed, but because in order to see that part of me, one has to earn the right. This doesn't mean I have devised some kind of test for people, but if you completely expose yourself to everyone, where's the fun in becoming intimate with a new patner if you've seen it all (or nearly all) before?

The reason our society is so breast-obsessed (and if you ask me, it is becoming increasingly "booty obsessed" rather than breast) is not because we have to cover them up all the time. If that were true, how do you explain the Islamic parts of the world? Even in places like Qatar and the United Arab Emerites (sp?) which have generally mild laws concerning women and the way they dress are not breast obsessed. When I went to Tanzania (which is only 1/3 muslim), the women dressed modestly in thin, loose clothes in the hot whether (not in petticoats, for god's sake, whoever suggested that) but they didn't walk down the street with their asses hanging out because it was "too hot". That's one thing I liked about their culture--the women didn't feel the need to show off their bodies in a vain attempt to earn respect from men.

As Timothy Leary once said: "Women who strive to be equal to men lack ambition."

As for nudist colonies and such, I have no problems with that. People can wear as many or as few clothes as they want to on private property. And breastfeeding in public is fine, since that's their natural purpose. But like it or not, the majority of people don't want to see that. And the ones who would really really like to see it are the ones who wouldn't respect your breasts to begin with.

I really don't think this is truly an issue of "equal rights". With the exception of the lack of equal pay, women and men have essentially equal rights under the law in this country. But, they are different. Get over it.

Hey, I have an idea: How about we create a law demanding urinals in all women's restrooms. I mean, if I want to pee standing up, I should be given that right damnit.

Women around the world have it ALOT worse. We should be focusing on helping our fellow sisters in Afghanistan with their continued oppression under the Taliban warlords, and our sisters in Ethiopia with their ongoing child marriages and obstetric fistulas. THAT'S what real feminism is about!

-Kate

 

Just because I am not a fan of being topless in public doesnt mean I am ashamed of my breast. And being nude at a nudist camp or rainbow gathering is a little different then being topless just walking down the street.

 

not necessarily. i think it would just become a matter of the redundancy of the image of breasts that would make them less interesting over time. most of the men i know would go freaking crazy if they saw naked breasts, and they're pretty used to seeing breasts dressed up for attention. after a while, they want something new, something foreign. my husband, bless his heart, couldn't look up for the longest time when we started going to the nude hot springs at orvis in colorado, but after being around them long enough, he barely looked anymore. men don't necessarily care if a pair fo breasts are huge and perky, they just want to see the all.

 

i wear a shirt and try to dress modestly out of respect for other people who WOULD feel uncomfortable about my breasts. i have great breasts, i love them, they're very pretty, and were extremely handy in feeding my baby as well as for getting the baby in the first place. it's not sucha big deal to me that i would enjoy embarassing or un-nerving someone whose not quite as confie with the sight of naked skin as i am. as a child who was flashed by a naked man in a car when i was very young, and had to deal with that for many years, i'd rather err on the side of caution and not hurt anyone's psyche.