Bare chested women?

[Moontanman]

Men have had the right to be bare chested in public for a very long time although at one time it was considered to be a bad thing very much like a woman bare chested in public is today. I can see no reason that makes a womens chest somehow more obscene or bad than a mans. Should women have the right to go bare chested in public the same as men? One thing is for sure if women went bare chested the same way men do it would take the wind out of the sails of things like topless bars and other places and things that use topless women or their images as a way to make money or other wise exploit women. August 23 there is will be a topless protest to show that women have the right to bare their chests the same as men. A woman breasts or nipples or chest is no more of a sex object than a mans and both should have equal rights.

GoTopless

[Jway]

Originally Posted by Moontanman

Men have had the right to be bare chested in public for a very long time although at one time it was considered to be a bad thing very much like a woman bare chested in public is today. I can see no reason that makes a womens chest somehow more obscene or bad than a mans. Should women have the right to go bare chested in public the same as men? One thing is for sure if women went bare chested the same way men do it would take the wind out of the sails of things like topless bars and other places and things that use topless women or their images as a way to make money or other wise exploit women. August 23 there is will be a topless protest to show that women have the right to bare their chests the same as men. A woman breasts or nipples or chest is no more of a sex object than a mans and both should have equal rights.

Call it social conditioning, but I think a woman's chest is more of a sexual object (or two) than a man's.

I don't disagree with what the thrust of the OP is advocating for. But if saying that (protruding) breastesses are no more sexual than non protruding breasts, then that throws me for a bit of a loop. From that, I believe I could extrapolate argument that suggests genitalia is no more sexually obscene / stimulating when looked at than say navel, or thighs.

Somewhat related to topic:
> I've always been amazed at how much of a buttocks is allowed to be displayed. It's as if portion that is least protruding in this region is considered stimulating / obscene.
> I've also been curious for while why female in non see-through lingerie is considered inappropriate or risque, while female on beach in nothing but 2 piece suit is treated as normal, fun loving, appropriate attire.

[lemit]

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought you were just trying to get our attention.

I was going to give you a psychological, mass-cultural reason that involved the development of movies and television and magazines. (The early editions of Life magazine, in the thirties, had bare-breasted women.)

That was my plan, but it's wrong. The early editions of Life had nude women, not just bare-breasted women. But I have another theory, which I can't defend any better than the first.

Female breasts have traditionally been considered erogenous zones while male breasts haven't. I wish female breasts weren't considered erogenous, because I think they are. But if I stay true to culture and not to my own wishes, I doubt they'll be coming out soon.

As for why we show some parts of the body and not others, that's pure tradition. In 15th or 16th Century Europe, bare, bustier-supported breasts were briefly fashionable. The world didn't end; the fashion did. I've known that simple fact for many years, but I've never found out why the fashion changed, in either direction.

But I do hope people will change their outdated notions, although I am hoping for precisely the wrong reasons.

--lemit

[Moontanman]

Social conditioning, yes that is why womens breasts are taboo, mens chests are not sexual? Ask a woman not a man about that, I've seen women drop everything to go to look at a mans bare chest (not mine unfortunately) but to say a mans chest is not an erogenous zone is looking at it from a heterosexual mans point of view. My grand father told me about being willing to walk 10 miles to see a woman ankles when he was a young man. I wouldn't walk across the street to see a topless woman and I do like women. I have been a nudist most of my life, and if nudism teaches you anything it's that the human body is not sexual unless you make it sexual. i have been in the presence of literally hundreds of naked women, you learn to see who they are rather than what they are quite quickly when they are all nude. Admittedly very few are of the body type seen in "mens" magazines but to be honest very few women meet this false standard in society to begin with. to me a womans eyes are the most erogenous zone she has physically, her smile is important too but what she says and how she thinks is what it's really all about. if indeed women went topless routinely or even nude it wouldn't take long before the the idea of exploiting women for their bodies or to see their bodies would go away. Women are put on a pedestal of angelic sexuality, any woman who doesn't measure up is somehow flawed. The only way to stop this is to stop the idea that a nudity among women is some how special and taboo. The more you hide something the harder people will work to see it. lets stop the madness of suppressing one gender by sexualizing them beyond all reasonable means and allow them to be just be people with all the weaknesses and strengths that all humans have. Clothing is used more for an intimidation factor and to glorify false beauty and titillate more than anything else. Beauty is not skin deep, beauty is inside people, trying to pump up false physical beauty by hiding behind clothes and taboos cannot be good for our society.

[Jway]

In our puritanical culture (both West and East, it seems to me), I think such a statement as one in this thread is unlikely to make progress, and more likely to regress. Saying that men are allowed to go bare chested, why not women? - I think that will lead to movement that says, "yeah, why are men allowed to go bare breasted. We shall change that!"

Anyone who leans pro-nudity is hardly (that's what she said) going to give you a sincere argument. I can't think of anything OP has conveyed that strikes me as outside of how I wish the world was set up. We've had 3000 years (or more) to work through this pubescent approach to our own naked bodies, and we still seem to be around square 1.5. People who are anti-nudity are, IMO, going to (ahem) penetrate the argument by advocating for change in what you say is being allowed now - i.e. cloth men's bare chest before we even consider for a second unclothing women's chest region. And that wouldn't be all that hard to change. I already feel like the "no shoes, no shirt, no service" policy is why I don't go into Starbucks displaying my upper region. (Well that and because my man boobs might scare the kids.)

Originally Posted by Moontanman

i have been in the presence of literally hundreds of naked women, you learn to see who they are rather than what they are quite quickly when they are all nude.

Are you Peter North?

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by Jway

Are you Peter North?

No a nudist.......

[lemit]

I think we can see one reason not to expect change for a while. This discussion is among three men.

It is not our call. If women decide they are more comfortable topless, and are sincere and persistent enough, things will change. But things will change ONLY because women want them to change.

Still, it's fun to think about.

--lemit

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by lemit

I think we can see one reason not to expect change for a while. This discussion is among three men.

It is not our call. If women decide they are more comfortable topless, and are sincere and persistent enough, things will change. But things will change ONLY because women want them to change.

Still, it's fun to think about.

--lemit

Yeah! I figured we would, if not applauded, at the very least get spanked but to be totally ignored by our female fellow hypographers is just humiliating

[Boerseun]

Thousands of women marching down the street bare-chested for women's rights?

HELL YEAH!!!

They've got my FULL SUPPORT!!!

(Sadly for them, I'm sure this idea was dreamed up by men... or maybe even college kids laughing their asses off...)

The answer, my friend, is flopping in the wind...

[Turtle]

men are interested in women's breasts because the nipples look like little penises.