Boobies, cans, jugs, knockers, tits, bazongas. Call ‘em what you want, but more and more women are harnessing the power of their breasts by, of all things, flaunting them publicly.
For the last couple of years, in places like New York, Washington D.C., Ontario and Scotland, women have been banding together in topless protests, saying that they’re tired of the double standard that men can be publicly topless but women’s breasts must be covered.
Trivial, maybe, considering the world’s more pressing problems, but at the heart of these protests, and movements like “Free the Nipple," is the aim to desexualize boobs so that women are less objectified and treated more equally. The theory is that if men see women’s bare breasts on the reg, the novelty will wear off and maybe that will lead to women getting equal wages, somehow.
But it all begs the question: Why are boobs such a big deal at all? Women’s breast elicit lots of sexual attention whether they’re big soft-pillows or perky little peaches, but really, they’re an amazingly functional body part. They make food, people.
Breasts are integral to femininity, yet so many girls and women lament their own breasts because they’re not like the ones in the magazines. We undergo major surgeries to meet our ideas of western beauty standards because it will supposedly help our self-esteem if people think we have great tits. That’s sad.
And that’s why the “Free the Nipple” movement kind of has some teeth. The women involved don’t all have perfect bodies or breasts, but they don’t seem too worried about it. They want to demystify breasts, and make them acceptable as they are — giant areolae, rocks-in-socks, mosquito bites and all.
In much of the world, it’s expected that women cover their bodies in public. At the heart of this deeply ingrained dogma is that we’re just so damn sexually arousing to men that they can’t handle getting shit done if naked ladies are around. What these protesting women are essentially saying is, that’s not our problem, guys. That’s on you. And they’re right.
If you really think about it, why can men show their nipples but women’s nipples are taboo, even when they're just doing their job — feeding babies — in public? The perpetuated idea that boobs turn men into cartoonish idiots so we have to protect ourselves from their reactions is just tired.
Really, we all need to get over it. They’re just boobs. If a gal wants to feel the warm breeze on her tits once in a while, she shouldn’t have to worry about being arrested, shamed or sexually assaulted because she was born with mammary glands. Maybe it’s time to forgive Eve that apple.
This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2015.