It's a Breast...Get Over It!
Apparently, Facebook recently amended an earlier guideline, which prohibited showing pictures of women breastfeeding, which included...gasp...nipples. Good for them, I'm sure it's long overdue. But really? What kind of place have we come to as a society where the fact that someone might see is breast (or even a nipple) is a cause for alarm? How are boobs considered an omen of the imminent downfall of civilization?
This goes beyond the acceptance of breastfeeding, which by the way, I wholeheartedly support. If it works for you, by all means, you should do it. (It's not always a good fit for everyone and that's okay too but it's an entirely different blog post!)
Why do breasts, nipples or frankly any sort of nakedness make us so darn uncomfortable? I remember the infamous wardrobe malfunction at the Superbowl several years ago. Later, one mother I knew, confided to me in horror, that her kids had been in the room when it happened. Yeah? So were mine. And they were young and impressionable or whatever. But I hardly think this is the sort of thing that scars one for life. Frankly, my kids didn't even notice. I would have hardly freaked out it they had.
It's the human body. It's isn't terrifying or appalling and while sex is one of the things it does pretty well, it's hardly the only thing it does. Why does nudity have to equal sex anyway? There are a lot of places on the planet, where it just doesn't. I had a sociology professor in college who was a native of Kenya. He was absolutely flabbergasted by the sexual objectification of breasts. In his country, he told us frankly, breasts were to feed babies. That was it. He couldn't even imagine them inspiring lust. How come breasts inspire such fervor while elbows aren't considered sexy at all?
While I'm known for my perennial optimism, let's take a moment to ponder some of the negative things in our society, just for a moment, shall we? People feel free to bring violence into their schools, workplaces and recreational activities. I'm not talking about guns here specifically,(again, a different post, perhaps) but the general mindset that violence is an effective problem-solving technique. We have poverty, bigotry, equality issues and all kinds of other really serious things going on. Regardless of your point of view, you have to admit the we have some important problems to tackle.
So let's put it in perspective. What's more important? My kid has autism or my kid saw a breast? You shot your co-workers or you saw a nipple on Facebook? Someone is a racist cretin or someone saw nudity? Do you see where I'm going with this? Breasts are not the downfall of us all. Nipples are not going to cause us to self-destruct. And little kids? If we don't freak out, they could care less. There are a whole lot of other interesting things in the world, something we sometimes forget as adults.
Get a grip, people. Breasts aren't mammary evil incarnate. And nipples? Well, you did get the memo that every single person on the planet has them, right?
This goes beyond the acceptance of breastfeeding, which by the way, I wholeheartedly support. If it works for you, by all means, you should do it. (It's not always a good fit for everyone and that's okay too but it's an entirely different blog post!)
Why do breasts, nipples or frankly any sort of nakedness make us so darn uncomfortable? I remember the infamous wardrobe malfunction at the Superbowl several years ago. Later, one mother I knew, confided to me in horror, that her kids had been in the room when it happened. Yeah? So were mine. And they were young and impressionable or whatever. But I hardly think this is the sort of thing that scars one for life. Frankly, my kids didn't even notice. I would have hardly freaked out it they had.
It's the human body. It's isn't terrifying or appalling and while sex is one of the things it does pretty well, it's hardly the only thing it does. Why does nudity have to equal sex anyway? There are a lot of places on the planet, where it just doesn't. I had a sociology professor in college who was a native of Kenya. He was absolutely flabbergasted by the sexual objectification of breasts. In his country, he told us frankly, breasts were to feed babies. That was it. He couldn't even imagine them inspiring lust. How come breasts inspire such fervor while elbows aren't considered sexy at all?
While I'm known for my perennial optimism, let's take a moment to ponder some of the negative things in our society, just for a moment, shall we? People feel free to bring violence into their schools, workplaces and recreational activities. I'm not talking about guns here specifically,(again, a different post, perhaps) but the general mindset that violence is an effective problem-solving technique. We have poverty, bigotry, equality issues and all kinds of other really serious things going on. Regardless of your point of view, you have to admit the we have some important problems to tackle.
So let's put it in perspective. What's more important? My kid has autism or my kid saw a breast? You shot your co-workers or you saw a nipple on Facebook? Someone is a racist cretin or someone saw nudity? Do you see where I'm going with this? Breasts are not the downfall of us all. Nipples are not going to cause us to self-destruct. And little kids? If we don't freak out, they could care less. There are a whole lot of other interesting things in the world, something we sometimes forget as adults.
Get a grip, people. Breasts aren't mammary evil incarnate. And nipples? Well, you did get the memo that every single person on the planet has them, right?
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