Archive | August, 2016

By Daily Sun

An open letter to Kia Sinclair:

I am well aware as to what the Free the Nipple movement is trying to accomplish. However, it is woefully inaccurate to make the assertion that in not supporting Free the Nipple, one cannot support breastfeeding, an absurdity of course, as I wholly support the latter. Although I’m sure much support has been shored up by presenting Free the Nipple initially as a movement to reduce the shaming of breastfeeding, the two issues at hand are not inexorably intertwined.

The Free the Nipple movement has grievously failed in its main mission statement, creating equality for women and men. Do not delude yourselves into thinking FTN is about equality, it’s about empowerment, which is a very different animal altogether. We aren’t discussing matters such as equal pay for equal work, or equal representation in government or corporate management, the cost of household products for women versus men, women’s under-representation in the tech sector, and the alarming rates of rape and domestic violence toward women. We’re talking about exposing, agree with or not, what is universally perceived, especially by men in the U.S. as a sexual body part, a perception that is not shared for men’s nipples.

The female breast evolutionarily developed, according to many an anthropologist, to attract men. As primates moved from quadrupedal to bipedal motility, the principal physical attractant for males slowly moved from the once prominently displayed buttocks, to the fuller, more voluptuous, curiously butt-shaped breasts we women have developed today. Encouraging women to bare their nipples to empower feminist ideals, is not going to reduce or desensitize a man’s arousal when exposed to bare breasts and nipples.

Aside from supporting breastfeeding, the FTN is misguided in their baby-step approach to reaching women’s equality. Much like trickle-down economists, focusing entirely on one end of the spectrum, and in this case something you yourself claim to be insignificant, does not necessarily translate into further legislation and change in regards to more pressing and important issues, nor is it an effective strategy in producing efficient and radical changes for the betterment of all.

Simply because I wish unicorns exist, or that I could defy gravity and take off to soar the skies at any moment, does not make unicorns any more real, nor allow me to break the laws of physics, or yet defy the physical limitations of my body. Likewise, just because you wish female breasts were not sexual, does not make them not so, and just because the chest of a man is not sexual, does not mean your breasts should not be sexual either.

This is like feeling because men are more predisposed to developing greater musculature, and possess a higher level of free testosterone, that women’s biology should be changed to accommodate these desires. The fact of the matter is the sexes are not the same, and while both sexes need to be treated the same in terms of opportunity and representation, women and men are biologically different, and wishing it weren’t so won’t equalize this for you.

There is an inherent blindness and denial going on here, like claiming racism is dead, or white privilege doesn’t exist. Good intentions or not, these things, as well as many double standards for both men and women persist to this day, and will continue to persist, culturally ingrained in our collective subconscious. Whether a police officer considers himself racist or not, many studies show they are much quicker to shoot a black assailant than a white one, just as though you wish your breasts were not sexual, they are, perceptually, biologically.

My initial letter was not whatsoever directed toward you or your mother, and was indeed simply extolling my views on the movement. I think given your reaction, and your personal attacks, this speaks more to your own insecurities and inferences, and not any implication made on my part. It’s disappointing that someone who is suppose to be a leader and role-model would devolve into personal attacks in an open forum discussing ideas and viewpoints. The way to get your point across is not through ad hominem.

A brief addendum in regards to the other letter, while not specifically mentioning the bareness of nipples in the Bible, the shame of nakedness is constantly referenced. Nakedness is consistently exposed as an abomination, induced as punishment, as well as abolished in the face of the Lord or Jesus, but, understandably, sometimes the forest can be lost for the trees. I think the FTN movement may have spent too much time focusing on the rotten log on the forest floor, and not enough time considering the lush wilderness in front of them.

Chelsea Davis
Tilton

Research

By Jennifer Fulwiler

Last week Charles Pope wrote a thought-provoking post lamenting our lax modern attitudes regarding the way we comport ourselves in public, especially when it comes to attire. It was occasioned by an ad for Skinny Girl liquor (which you can watch at the bottom of Msgr. Pope’s post) that juxtaposes a caricature of a woman from the 1950s to modern women. The ’50s woman wears a tailored dress, white gloves, high heels — and of course the stereotype wouldn’t be complete without a gaudy string of pearls. While this woman sits stiffly and rattles off rules about how a real lady behaves, the ad flashes to images of modern women having fun while breaking all of these rules (and drinking Skinny Girl beverages, naturally).

There’s a lot one could say about this ad, starting with the crushing irony of the fact that its message dismisses the behavioral laws of generations past, while loudly proclaiming the unspoken laws of our own times (“A real woman watches her calories so that she can be ‘skinny’!” one hears in the undertones of the entire marketing campaign). But I think that Pope has identified the most telling aspect of the ad when he writes:

As the commercial rolls on, I think we see that we have lost a lot. The picture flashes away from the elegantly dressed woman, careful for modesty and dignity (though excessively portrayed), to the modern scene where we are suppose to rejoice and approve at how far women have come.

Skinnygirl Cocktails: Drink Like A Lady from Miguel Garcia Castillo on Vimeo.

And what do we see? Half drunk women, with painted nails and flip flops, liquor bottles in abundance, and the indelicate and boorish behavior of those who have been drinking too much. Further there are numerous displays of immodest dress, immodest posture and unbecoming behaviors. In effect, if you ask me, it is a celebration of all in our culture that is boorish, immodest, indelicate, and excessively informal.

This subject is a minefield, but I’m glad that Pope brought it up, because I think there are some issues worth thinking about here.

My 98-year-old grandfather often remarks upon how much more formally people used to dress. When he would talk about women pulling out their favorite attire to wear to church, or a man taking the time to press his shirt before going into town, I felt like there was something good there. Of course, this era had its own problems; like Pope, who went out of his way to make it clear that he doesn’t think everything was perfect in the past, it wasn’t that I thought my grandfather’s generation had everything figured out in all areas of life. Rather, it was just a vague sense that there was something positive behind the old customs regarding how people dressed and comported themselves in public, even though I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.

It finally clicked one day when I was sitting on an airplane, watching everyone board, and remembered a picture I’d seen of my grandparents getting ready to board a flight in the 1940s. I and the other passengers were dressed about five degrees more casually than my grandparents and the other folks around them in that old black-and-white photo. As I thought through what motivated the two different cultures, it occurred to me: Air travel used to be a privilege. People dressed up for it out of a sense of respect and gratitude, because not everyone got to do something like that. Today, most people take flights at least occasionally. It’s not a big deal anymore. We don’t feel particularly grateful to be able to do it. And thus, we don’t dress up.

I began to notice this in other areas too: Going out to a restaurant, or to a grocery store — perhaps even to church — are all activities that used to be valued more than they are today. The economy was different, and far fewer people could afford to go out to eat than can today. Many women who went grocery shopping remembered the days before the corner grocery store existed, back when people had to milk cows and churn butter and slaughter chickens in order to get the goods that were now wonderfully easy to pick up in a store. And some of it may even have be due to more awareness of the fleetingness of life: Though lukewarm attitudes about God have existed in all times and places, people certainly appreciated church more before modern medicine and conveniences made us feel like we could create our own heavens here on earth.

I don’t think that the social principle that you should dress up for what’s important to you has changed since the 1950s; I think there’s simply not that much that’s important to us anymore. I wore faded jeans and a t-shirt the last time I went out to dinner, because it wasn’t a big deal to me. As much as I hate to admit it, I wasn’t that grateful to be able to be served dinner in a restaurant; it felt more like a right than an honor. However, if I got an invitation from Queen Elizabeth to join her at Buckingham Palace for tea tomorrow, you can bet that that outfit would be the furthest thing from my mind. We still dress up when we feel that an activity is an honor or a privilege.

Hopefully it goes without saying that I’m not suggesting that those of us who dress casually most of the time are never grateful for anything. However, on a widespread cultural level, I do think that a blasé attitude toward our daily activities is at the root of our modern blasé attitudes about dress and manners. And so when Pope asks at the end of his post, “Have we lost something?” I would say yes; and I would suggest that if we hope to reclaim what has been lost, we must first reclaim a sense of gratitude.

Research