Stop Staring, They’re Just Breasts

            The Luvs diaper company recently stirred up some controversy with their commercial about the two stages of mother hood. It shows a first time mother fumbling with a blanket while trying to breastfeed her newborn in a restaurant. Later the same mother is seen, blanket free, breast feeding her second child in the same restaurant. When her waiter comes over to the table there was a moment’s hesitation as he stared at her exposed breast. Her cavalier response to his gaze indicated that she had been in this situation before. As a response, the public took to the Luvs website to give their opinions on the commercial resulting in some backlash and some congratulations against the underlying message. The hidden message was of women wanting to breastfeed in public with out being ridiculed. Unfortunately societies current obsession with breasts are affecting how both men and women view breasts.

            The commercial advertised that all moms, who are experts, know that Luvs is the best diaper choice, but many people saw it an advertisement for female liberation. The controversy caused by the commercial is not unlikely amongst the public and added to the debates and questions about public breastfeeding and the exposure of the female anatomy in general. What the Luvs commercial so correctly displayed, was a female being made a spectacle of because her breasts were exposed. The reason why her waiter’s eyes were fixated on nothing else but her bare breast was because of over-sexualization of the female body and breasts. 

The problem, however, doesn’t stop at mother’s breastfeeding in public. It is affecting all women in all walks of life. Women face the male dominated opinions and views of their breasts, which make them self-conscious, like the flustered, new mom in the advertisement. Although the image of the female body has changed over the centuries, it seemed to have stopped at breasts. The fascination with female breasts is continuing to influence the younger generations of both males and females alike.

Throughout history the image of the human body evolved, first embraced during the Renaissance, beginning a revolution of self-image that is continuing today. It also produced a wave of new female clothing, which bridged the gap for current fashions. The female fashion included low cut dresses and props for pushing up the breasts. However to the Christian and Catholic churches breasts were, and still are, symbolized as demonic items, where women are criticized and presumed as temptresses or enticers (Yalom 22). Despite the criticism of the Church and from older generations, through the centuries, conservative fashions evolved into more free, bearing pieces. With more inventive fashions, which show off more of the body, people, women in general, who wear these fashions feel more expressive and comfortable with their appearances straying away more and more from traditional views of  sexuality.

            Along with these rampant changes in female sexuality came growing consciousness of the media with ways to exploit it. As a teenager growing up in a media addicted world, I understand the strain on everyone to be appealing to everyone else, seeing that the body is such an important issue. Sexual ads that show busty women tend to bring down the self-esteem of people more, especially impressionable adolescents. The media and advertisers “pummel” people with the ideas of “large breast attached to small women” (Geneva). The whole idea is contradictive because women who actually flaunt their attributes are considered “sluts and morons” (Geneva).

So why are people still altering their bodies for acceptance in a forever changing society? One minute big breasts are in and the next they are repulsive. Many women are also manipulated by the current culture and use their “girls” to get ahead. Restaurants like Hooters promote promiscuity with their waitresses wearing skin tight clothes that show off their cleavage and posterior, just to earn more in tips. When a female sees the popularity that is associated with their dress code, she feels the need to imitate it for her chance at attractiveness. The outcome of these assumptions aid to the rising percentages of women who perform self-altering surgery, not only in the United States but in other countries. It is known that many females always have a sense of insecurity when it comes to their body. Millions of women in the U.S. undergo plastic surgery procedures every year. The American Society of Plastic Surgery assumes that there are about 300,000 breast augmentations and 100,000 reductions yearly (Castleman). No women will ever be satisfied with the size of their breasts, whether they believe that they are too big or not big enough. Women with larger breasts usually complain of embarrassment and insecurities and although they know all the risks and complications of having an operation done most are more than willing to face them to fit in (Modifications to the Breast 135).

Insecurities about breast size are obviously not an uncommon thing, but it may seem that way because many women are too ashamed, frustrated, or weary to bring up the tender subject. Most people assume that only women with small breasts have insecurities about size, and some opt to get surgery to fix their problems. But there is another side of the spectrum that no one seems to realize. Busty women have just as hard a time as those with smaller busts. The poem “Breasts,” written by Mary Clark depicts her struggles with large breasts as a teenager. Her breasts grew in at a rather young age, gaining her attention from prepubescent male teens, which other females envied or ridiculed her for. The constant attention caused her to hate her appearance all throughout her teenage years and adult hood, where she would wear ill fitting clothes just to hide them. Only at the end of the poem did she show some sort of remorse for hating her body after all those years, when she should have been embracing it (The Iowa Review 70-72). Clark is an example of one of few bust women who grow to love what the have, but there are those who are still trying to come to terms with their bodies. In an anonymous letter written to a Seattle newspaper outlines one woman’s life long strife with large breasts. She writes that they become over whelming and she doesn’t think of them as sexy, and neither have some of her ex-boyfriends. On top of the sexist stares and ridicule she experienced on a daily basis she was once told by a school nurse to “get a breast reduction” (Internalized Sexism in Seattle 19). Her point in writing this letter was to get advice on how to accept and love her breast, without getting any work done. She says that she is afraid to bring up the subject to anyone because she is afraid of the responses she might get. Those along the lines of “you should love your self” or “at least you have breast” (Internalized Sexism in Seattle 19). How can she be told to love her self when she is being subjected to self-consciousness due to the sexism of the modern day world, which gives her breasts a negative connotation?

Some might say that it is human nature for men to be physically attracted to a woman’s body through biological wiring, but is there a limit to their fixation? The attraction might be natural but there are breast fetishes that argue otherwise. Mazophilila is a type of extreme breast fetish occurring in both men and women. There are many reasons for men and women to be attracted to each other with out having irregular preoccupation with it. With all the different euphemisms and names for breasts, there’s no wonder where the strange desires came from. Topless bars, peep shows, strip clubs, and porn also do their share of damage at making people believe that this is acceptable.

As a female whether you refer to your breasts as breasts, bosoms, or the girls, your views of them should be one of pride not judgment. Pre-pubescent girls wait eagerly to develop and be like their mothers, grandmothers, or other women. But when they do have a pair of their own, they realize the hassle that comes along with it. Both males and females can be held accountable for certain views of the female anatomy. Girls need to appreciate their breast and not try to change their appearances because of the perceptions of others. The ladies of the late sixties and early seventies took stands against their misogynistic oppressors by burning bras and female protestors of thus decade proudly go topless to fight for equality. They fight for their rights here in the United States and for the rights of little girls, adolescents, and older women all around the woman.