I have never seen people get so worked up over some titties like I have recently. I cannot believe that this issue is one that I have to address, but unfortunately, I feel that I must. The issue(s) at hand, are breasts, your Mae Wests, your boobs, melons...you get the idea. You may have read recently that breast-feeding women have been asked to leave private spaces by employees of these spaces or police officers, when they are called to the scene. This happened here in Vancouver recently, when a breastfeeding woman who was waiting for her husband outside a fitting room in an H&M store, was asked by an employee to breast feed in a "secluded fitting room". This employee explained that this was "store policy, and they had been instructed to ask nursing women to do so in private during their employee training." The BC Human Rights tribunal explicitly states that "women who wish to breastfeed or express milk can do so while walking in stores." Ergo, this particular human right extends from the public sphere into the private space, so legally H&M is fucked on this one, which makes me tingle in all the right places. In a similar case, a woman was asked to leave a Kentucky McDonald's after she was seen breastfeeding at a table. Essentially, it's legal to breastfeed publically in Kentucky, but if a business asks a woman to leave because of her breastfeeding, they will not face any criminal penalties, nor will they face any fines. When police officers arrived at the scene, the woman was no longer breastfeeding, and the legal issue became one of "trespassing on private property" so this woman's choice was to face arrest, or leave. She left. That particular McDonald's franchise has since issued a statement apologizing for the incident, stating "It has never been our policy to ask nursing mothers to leave our restaurant. ... I have taken the necessary steps to ensure this mistake does not happen again."
Frankly I'm shocked that this is happening. Do people not understand that food comes from a woman's breast? Is food offensive now? I think I should mention at this point that this diatribe isn't meant to convince women to breastfeed, or to breastfeed in public places. If you want to keep your breasts covered, you don't want to breastfeed, and/or you don't feel comfortable breastfeeding in public, that is fine and I completely respect that. This post is not about the nutritional value of breast milk, nor is it meant to convince women that they should be breastfeeding.
But back to breasts. More than half of the members of every mixed-sex population has a pair of breasts. I say more than half because there are about 2-3 percent more women on our lovely planet than there are men, and also, as I'm sure you have noticed, there are more than a few dudes with some pretty formidable tatas. So what's the big deal? Some people say that breasts are "sexual" and that "sexual things are private". Well I generally agree with the latter, and I'm certainly not about to pull a move like that couple in Victoria, drop my pants, and boink at the bus stop. However, I think it's a pretty safe argument to make that many women prioritize other zones of their body as superiorly erogenous to their breasts. So should laws then be molded for each individual person? I can just see it now... “Chapter 3 of the Criminal Code, Section 2 at para. 4 states that any zone considered to be personally erogenous by an individual must be covered at all times.” Violators will be prosecuted.
Returning to the idea to the claim that breasts are a site of sexuality, it's no secret that men like to have their pecs touched in a sensual way, and society seems to have no issue with men showing their nipples and man-boobs in public. So why is it then, that women's breasts are so offensive? I'm not sure I understand why this is the case, and I certainly don't have the answer for you today. Now that I think of it, I'd be concerned if I actually came up with a logical conclusion to that question.
What this whole issue inevitably comes down to is an issue of choice, and my choice is constricted legally, and socially. I want to have the ability to go out to any beach, and not wear a top. While I have this legal right in Vancouver, my freedom of choice is constricted by the reactions that my toplessness would receive. I would be a fool if I thought that I really had a choice: if I took my top off at Kits beach, or walking down the street, I'm sure the reaction I would get would be extremely negative. Women should not only have the legal right to bare breasts in public and private spaces, but they should be allowed to feel comfortable in doing so as well. In order for women to feel comfortable, we must foster acceptance of women's breasts in society. I don't think that equality necessarily equals sameness, but in this instance, if my man can take off his shirt on the beach, I want to be able to do that too. And I want to be able to do it without hoots, hollerings, stares and people telling me that I'm an offensive disgrace, attention hound, and/or slut.
All I can say is this: people, get over your selves and grow up and Ladies....
it's time to burn our bras again.
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