Enraged over male voyeurism.
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About two dozen women marched topless in Portland, Maine Saturday to protest the inequality of male/female nudity - after all, men can run around with shirts off. No - that's not it - they were actually protesting the double standard which exists over male/female nudity. Historically, men have paid money to see women topless. No - I'm sure that's wrong too. Anyway...
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"The women, preceded and followed by several hundred boisterous and mostly male onlookers, many of them carrying cameras, stayed on the sidewalk because they hadn't obtained a demonstration permit to walk in the street. About a thousand people gathered as the march passed through Monument Square, a mix of demonstrators, supporters, onlookers and those just out enjoying a warm and sunny early-spring day.
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Ty McDowell, who organized the march, said she was "enraged" by the turnout of men attracted to the demonstration. The purpose, she said, was for society to have the same reaction to a woman walking around topless as it does to men without shirts on.
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However, McDowell said she plans to organize similar demonstrations in the future and said she would be more "aggressive" in discouraging oglers." - Story
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What the hell did she expect?
Anyway - no arrests were made for sexual harassment or bare-breasts; nudity is illegal in Maine only if genitals are exposed.
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Oh, that's good.
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Photo: Ad for male bra. This might placate things.
In reference to the image:
ReplyDeleteI think this subject natter was aptly addressed on Seinfeld. It's either called the "Bro" or the Manzier."
I prefer fellow-cups.
Don't read anything into my comment or nothing, but...what's the cost of living in Portland?
ReplyDeleteAaahhh, but start nursing a baby and the crowd begins to squirm with embarassment and discomfort.
ReplyDeleteThis stems from a steadfast refusal to admit reality: men and women are different.
ReplyDeleteFire is hot.
Water is wet.
Ice is cold.
I have to wonder if they are actually doing this perhaps because deep in their psychology a major part of their life is missing...
ReplyDeleteTom - I loved the scene where George and Estelle walk in as Krammer is fitting the Bro on Mr. Costanza.
ReplyDeleteMe too!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was stationed in Germany men and women were equally comfortable topless at the lakeside beaches and pools...in fact you were ticketed if you were caught by the police "gawking."
ReplyDeleteYou could definitely pick out the prudish Americans....as for me...well, when in Rome :)
And I totally agree with belinda, when breasts are utilized for their TRUE purpose Americans seem tototally freak out...awhile back I seem to recall one blog when the blogmeister got flamed for posting a classic work of art of the Blessed Virgin Mary nursing the Infant Jesus..
And then to top it off there is a billboard just down the street from my gym which touts the latest procedure from a local plastic surgeon in the fine art of reducing "man boobs", with Before and After photos...uh..the price of the plastic surgery will pay for a whole lot of gym time...
speaking of gym time..off to shovel SNOW....ggrrr..got almost 4 inches already with more to come overnight..
Sara
Amen, Belinda and Sara.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of sicko thinks using boobs the way God intended is anything less than awesome?
Expect me to feed my child in a disgusting bathroom? How bout you just go wait in the bathroom - I'll let you know when we're done.
Breastfeeding, when done properly, is discreet and there's nothing to be ashamed of. (Or even to see.)
You can see much more boob on a stroll through your local mall.
Re: the snow: hatin' it for you, Sara!
:(
I agree with you ladies on breast feeding - excellent points. There is nothing more natural, beautiful and pure.
ReplyDeleteI posted a comment on this last night, but I must have not hit the submit button. The women above have made my points though! :-) I was going to say that it isn't so much a question of "what were the women protesting expecting?" as it is "what were the women protesting expecting would happen in this country?" As the sexual obsession with breasts is a cultural issue not a male/female issue, and obviously, it is so deeply conditioned in this country how is a walk-by protest going to change anything? Fr. Loya is an artist and has often spoke on the beauty of the human body when not perverted. He states that what this country needs is all women to be openly breastfeeding. He has a great podcast called the Body of Truth and had a slide show on there last year of beautiful paintings of the Blessed Mother nursing. You never see that anymore....
ReplyDeleteMrs.Obama rants (rightly so) about childhood obesity but she might consider pushing breast feeding for the good of our children as a public health issue. I was re-reading about the health benefits yesterday and the savings from childhood illnesses would be astounding.
ReplyDeleteYou can't make something better than God. I remember watching a PBS documentary about Polio and that it took off when women began giving their babies bottles as they no longer received immunities from their mothers milk.
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Cathy wrote..."You can see much more boob on a stroll through your local mall." I would add that you can see much more boob any given Sunday at mass! I'm expecting the usual "Spring time" rants about attire- and again- rightly so!
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Sara! I'm so sick of the snow. You poor girl!
belinda-Yes! In one drop of breast milk-ONE drop-there is a million white blood cells, which basically eat germs. How amazing is that?! Babies breastfeeding often will not receive the family cold/flu as they receive immunity through breastfeeding-or will receive a milder version. AND the longer you breastfeed the greater percent reduction in getting breast cancer. God thinks of everything!!
ReplyDeleteI call Mrs. O as a formula kind of girl.
ReplyDeleteKM, the benefits of breastfeeding in reducing the possibility of breast cancer are limited; by three months, both mother and child have received most possible benefits.
The problem with breastfeeding in public is not the discreet people, it's the in-your-face militant exhibitionists. And the ones still breastfeeding children who are old enough to walk up to them, ask for a drink and whip up their mother's shirt.
Nan- Yale has completed a study that found that breastfeeding for two or more years can reduce breast cancer up to 50%. This study, according to the article linked, was conducted in China and has a lot of implications given their one child policy. Also, the Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer did a study that states that the findings suggest "if women had an average of two-and-one-half children and breastfed each one an extra six months, five percent of breast cancers would be prevented each year; if they breastfed each child for an additional 12 months, 11 percent of cancers would be prevented each year." Some studies also suggest that the time noted is not always consecutive but over a lifetime total.
ReplyDeleteoops! I meant to link to the articles above but I'm not that adept at html. The first is here http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=3336 and the second article is here http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA345324
ReplyDeletePersonally, I wouldn't pay close attention to a study from China; my information was derived from a talk I went to a few years ago, before I realized how biased studies are, based on the sponsors thereof. I think the studies indicating that the longer you breastfed the better are underwritten by the people who think that women must breastfeed, because there are a ton of people out there who think that choice means their choice and that women who don't comply are evil.
ReplyDeleteNan-The study was done through Yale using a group sample of women from China. Not a study done by China. I agree sometime studies can be biased due to the underwriters. But, then everyone is at a crossroads aren't they? As you say you think the studies are biased because you believe they all have an ulterior motive-then I suppose just the opposite could be true regarding the talk you attended that perhaps their bias is formed because they "think that choice means their choice and that women who don't comply are evil."
ReplyDeleteI know that many Moms can't nurse their babies and would like to but to be really honest many more moms would rather not. It's requires a mom (with dads support) to give more of herself to her child and it physically ties her to her child for a longer period of time. Anyone can prop up a bottle and walk away and there's more personal freedom in that. I see it all of the time at the daycare at the gym. Don't kid yourselves it happens all of the time.
ReplyDeleteI have wondered what a husband would say if a wife handed him some sort of a device to satiate him instead of giving him herself. She wouldn't be married very long and husbands wouldn't put up with it. Babies have no choice. It's wrong and weird not to breast feed and for several reasons.
...Again send my hate mail. to
www.tnelson@hotmail.com
To me the point of this post is how strange we've become as a people. We have sex but we don't procreate. We have babies but we don't feed them from our bodies.We eat ourselves into a lethargy with no regard for our health. We have huge homes with few if any children. We have large fast cars that carry one or two passengers and can only drive 65. We have women going bra-less and men wearing them.
Our world is getting curiouser and curiouser
Thanks all for the compassion concerning the snow...I ended up with 1 1/2 feet at my house..but fortunnately the roads are clear...and then I go to take a picture of the "man-boob" billboard and it has been taken down....my ultra-conservative Mormon community must have protested :) Although I WAS waiting to see if they would do a women's breast augmentation billboard :)
ReplyDeleteIncidently--it's the same place I get my Botox done :) Very nice Orthodox Jewish doctor :) Talk about being a stranger in a strange land....
Sara
Ah...I wouldn't "touch" this exchange with a ten-foot pole...and I mean it:<)! (Safe Environment restrictions, and all!)
ReplyDelete