This morning, after waking up I had my usual cup of coffee and read my e-mail. Around 10:00 AM, I changed into my exercise clothes for my morning workout. While I was changing I stopped, caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I thought "Hm, I look pretty good ... who am I trying to kid? Damn, I look good." And, I admittedly cupped a breast and struck a pose. But then a thought struck me; I'm looking at PORN! I'm a good looking woman, I have a nice figure... I wear my hair teased... I'm NUDE... I look just like those girls in Playboy! ...and I anxiously peeked around my bedroom for a censor to pop out of nowhere and slap some frosted contact paper over strategic spots on my mirror.
What I am getting at, is that I see breasts every day. Mine. So does my husband. Every woman has them. So why is it such a horrible thing when they are seen on television? We see men and boys taking off their shirts every day, in the movies and on television, but as soon as a woman takes off hers, the picture suddenly gets blurry, parts of the picture become mosaic, or she pulls a bed sheet over her chest... why?
What is so wrong with a woman's breasts?
Why must they be hidden?
The funniest part, I think, is "the controversial nipple". That's pretty much what's being hidden here. In Pennsylvania, at a strip bar, the dancers HAVE to wear pasties over their nipples. Doesn't matter how large her breasts are... as long as the nipple is covered. Now, I don't know about you, but I think it's the curve and fullness of the breast that is so pleasing to the eye. Nipple be damned! To cover the nipple with a pastie, especially a glittery pastie, simply draws MORE attention to the WHOLE breast. My husband was surprised when we went to a strip bar in Texas, he couldn't believe that the women did not have the same sparkley nipples like they do in Pa. He always thought I was just a freak, what with my matte pink nips. ~wink~ Additionally, I recently saw a Howard Stern show on E! where they routinely blur out the breasts of the strippers or other topless women that come on the show. But, in this particular show, Howard Stern and his pals arranged to make a lunch meat bikini on a naked girl. The girl's body was mosaiced out UNTIL she had slices of balony over her breasts. Of course, you could see MORE of the breast a this point, including the under curve... and the lunch meat was pretty much the same skin tone as the girl... I found it ridiculous that this lunch meat served as coverage for the censors. THERE SHOULD BE NO MOSAIC AT ALL IN THE FIRST PLACE!
Obviously, this does nothing for the equality of men and women. Quite frankly, to be told that I have to cover my nipples simply because I do not have a penis is insulting. Yeah, we're different... but we're equal. If a man can take off his shirt and not have his nipples blurred out on television, a woman should be able to do the same. So ours look a little different... they're a little bigger... SO WHAT?! All women HAVE them. All husbands and boyfriends SEE them. All children still nursing SEE them. All other women SEE them in changing and locker rooms. Do you honestly think that we all try to cover up in the locker room?
And don't get me started on the whole breast feeding in public issue. All I have to say about that is that anyone with a problem with this should try eating his or her dinner in the toilet and see how they like it. Women have TWO reasons to bare their breasts; the same reason any man would AND TO FEED HER CHILD!
We are sending VERY mixed signals to our women and girls through this censorship that they should be ashamed of and hide their breasts... AND at the same time they are taught by fashion magazines that they should enlarge them and display them. What hypocrisy! Hell, if I paid so much for breast implants, I would not just display them in a bra or a sexy blouse... I'd be showing the damn things off! NO shirt, no bra for me, baby! Why bother going through surgery if you have to hide 'em? Oh, I know ordinances are changing across the country, and it's no longer "lewd" for a woman to take off her shirt in many states... My hubby and I have tossed around the idea of testing this change by starting a friendly game of Frisbee in a public park... shirts vs skins.
We're also sending a signal to men and boys that men cannot control themselves at the sight of a breast. You can't count on TWO hands how many women my husband has raped as a result of seeing bare female breasts on PBS or in a movie. Yeesh!
Okay. Seriously...
I'm not saying that I WANT to walk around everywhere topless. Most of the time it's more comfortable to be wearing a bra, simply for the support. But, it's the fact that someone is telling me that I cannot do something because I am a female that I question it at all - especially when FEMALE breasts SERVE a distinct PURPOSE that REQUIRE occasional exposure. Restrictions like this are ridiculous, illogical, and unfair and need to be tested, pushed and broken.
If you are going to blur a womans breasts on television, you might as well come into my home and digitize my breasts while I shower and change my clothes...
----------------- After thought ----------------------
And, the same goes for the back side, the buttocks, the derriere... we all have one... what are we trying to hide by blurring it out. Oh, it's OK when it's a diaper commercial and we see a baby's bare bottom... it's not lewd because it's a child and it's not child porn because it's cute. Gimme a break.
We all have bodies under our clothes. We all have the same parts and to think that a simple mosaic is going to fool anyone is naive. WE TAKE OFF OUR CLOTHES EVERYDAY. Of course, some have BETTER LOOKING bodies than others... now THAT's a valid reason for censorship!