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| Ok for Africans but not New Yorkers. Double Standard? |
Depending on your religion/cultural situation
the subject can be exciting, disgusting, shameful or a completely non-issue. And then there is the sexual difference in
perception: it is Ok to see a male breast, including the nipple and Ok to see a
female breast, but NOT the nipple. In some religions/cultures.
Confused? Of course you are. And the cause of this confusion
is the, well, confusion. Let’s take a closer look: Before the
Judeo-Christian-Moslem (people of the Book, the Old Testament) came along,
breasts of both sexes were seen in equal measures. Men and women went topless
when they wanted to, and covered up when they wanted to. Nobody ogled, grabbed
or commented either way. People of the tropics, on every continent, went
topless and some bottomless as well.
Then somebody decided to create the Bible, and included the
idea that the female body, but not the male body, is somehow shameful. The idea
that to see female body parts was sexually titillating (no pun intended) or
shameful or disgusting was a construct of culture. This was taken to an extreme
in many cultures, the most recent of which was the high-necked long hemmed
clothing of women of the west, and the total coverage of some Moslem women
today. In these contexts, in the western culture, a glimpse of an ankle was
erotic in extremis and a glimpse of a
burka-clad woman’s flesh, any flesh, might lead to her being killed on the
spot.
What dynamics could lead to the demonizing of the female
body? What god would create rules to make the female body, or parts of it, off
limits to be seen? Who would perpetrate such nonsense? And why?
My answer is a loud “MEN”. And the why is simple: Control.
In many primitive cultures, women are usually considered equal to men, and
sometimes even superior. When the Book came along, suddenly women were
relegated to a second class role, ordered to “submit” to men and cover up. And
this is taken to the extreme in some Moslem cultures where men can beat,
sometimes to death, any woman in public space who they find offensive for any
reason. And of course, husbands can beat, sometimes to death, a wife for any
reason at all.
I think we have had this second class citizenry for women
for too long, and it is time for women to claim their rightful place in the world, and
that is one of equal status. And to do this? Bare the breast and take the wind
out of the sails of women-hating men. Seriously Woody? Well, probably not right
away, but that would go a long way to begin the process of turning the course
of culture. Religion? That is a tougher nut to crack. That will take millions
of people shouting “BULLSHIT” all at once. And that will never happen, will it?
So we are stuck with a set of ancient and arbitrary customs
and values until the cows come home, bare breasted and proud of it.
Image: http://nativenudity.tumblr.com/post/46537073426/zulu-reed-dancers
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