The current tempest...

[pat]

I am really behind the curve, and most people are so tired of reading about this they could scream, but my mind can't help returning to the current OSBP drama, and why I think stickers saying "Yes you can ask to touch my breasts" -- even when initiated by women, even when done with the best intentions -- are such a horrid idea. And all I can say is "Just because it is...."

Which is a lousy answer to anything.

But it's the only answer I've got.

The Open Source Boobs Project is a bad idea because....

Because there are women just like me who often cannot wear bras and who can tell you just what sort of looks they get for that.

Because people make Dolly Parton jokes, even though she is in fact an incredibly shrewd businesswoman.

Because it still is a big deal that Brandi Chastain tore off her shirt.

Because there are still places where nursing mothers get harassed by restaurant owners.

Because there are high school seniors who want breast augmentation surgery for graduation.

Because Stephanie Kuleba is not going to see her nineteenth birthday.

Because as much as we may wish it away, there are large portions of the population -- not exclusively male, either -- for whom a woman's breasts are of paramount importance in any evaluation of her attractiveness. Encouraging people in that assessment -- even unintentionally -- is a bad thing.

Comments

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

My god, when is it going to *stop*???

(Sorry, splatting my frustration here, but you're one of the people who *understands* that frustration without me having to explain it in painful detail, so, yeah, here ya go.)

Also, I would *love* to have lunch, anytime, and more than once before I actually make jam :).

katherinewalton at comcast dot net is my main email address. So far I'm free all of next week.

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

I chose to have breast reduction surgery as a way to reduce the amount of pain that I was in. In retrospect, it would have been worthwhile if it had only stopped the unwanted attention that they brought me. I suspect I'm seen as smarter and less attractive now. I commented in my own LJ about how transsexuals get to see life both with and without sexism, which brings sexism into sharper focus. I think the same thing is true for me wrt judgements about women and their breasts.

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

I've heard this from other women who had breast reduction surgery. I'm at the small end of the scale myself, and I was already aware before the current thing that I have small-breasted privilege, if you can imagine such a thing.

[si-anenome.livejournal.com]

Small breasts make people seem smarter? I know big breasts, especially when attached to a blonde, can make women seem dumber, but I always equated that with the blonde factor.

I think the glasses make you look smarter. :)

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

I don't know if small breasts make women look smarter than average sized breasts. (and I'm not sure if mine actually count as "small") but I'm seen as smarter without the large breasts. (Though I admit to having had some fun being vastly underestimated when I was a 19-year-old law student with shoulder length blonde hair, no glasses and the big breasts.

I didn't even know the term "macromastia" until after the surgery. See, smarter now!

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

Kuleba was undergoing surgery to correct asymmetrical breasts and an inverted areola, Stanziale said.

and in order to "correct" the fact that her breasts were two different sizes, she wanted the other one made bigger. making the other one smaller, which is a less risky surgery in the long run, was apparently not an option.

[si-anenome.livejournal.com]

Don't get me started...

Coffee?