Gender Bias in Toplessness?

No, I'm being dead serious. Why is it wrong and appalling in Western society for females to be bare-chested, but not males?

There's nothing wrong with the human body itself, but for the female chest to be such a taboo in today's society makes me wonder about the validity of the public ideal of gender equality.

And before puberty hits, male and female bodies are pretty much the same besides one major physical difference.

I don't know. What are your thoughts about this?

 

Well I never looked up the past of that topic, but I would guess that it runs back to our past in the Christian churches and such. Early civilizations had female toplessness that even today still exists in the more older cultures in Africa and such. But after the missionaries started taking over places and enforcing their religion, toplessness slowly became more taboo. At first it was just women because young girls lacked actual breasts, but eventually it spread so that even girls had to be covered up in public. Nowadays its considered indecent exposure and against the law, but recently there's been groups of women who are trying change things. They believe that women should have the same rights as men when it comes to exposure, and have even gotten some places around the U.S. to allow public breast feeding. Its all the usual double standards crap.

 

It depends on the historical and cultural contexts of how / why it has become taboo and how you decide to interpret those findings. You could say that the female body is art or a forbidden realm or take a Fruedian stance that puts men as the norm and anything outside of that norm is unacceptable or shameful?

Don't get me wrong, a lot of guys shouldn't go bare chested either, but I think it could be leftovers from our ancestral culture of modesty / biblical stuff.

 

As I was sitting here thinking of how to reply to this thread, another thought popped into my mind. Why are guys so attracted to the female chest?

If guys didn't make such a big deal about it, maybe women wouldn't feel they had to cover it up. But they know how guys would react to seeing a girl like that, so it became a general rule not to let guys see that except behind closed doors.​

 

I used to think this when I was little....Guys (and no I'm not trying to be stereotypical or sexist) but most guys, if they saw a topless girl, would either be embarrassed or go up to the girl. It has just been that way for hundreds of years, and I guess no one sees a reason to change it now. Just like the female population had to wear dresses and cover up as much as possible during the 1800's and into the 1900's, except we eventually got to wear pants too.

 

All I can say is, that's the power of breasts. And I'm being serious. As a breast guy myself, I don't really know why. It's just something about them that's arousing. It might be the fact that they stick out, or that they're soft. Or, it could be something deep down, something we don't even realize, a close connection to our mothers. When we're babies, mother's breastfeed them at first, and it's one of the best ways to bond with the baby. It could be possible that deep down we remember that feeling of closeness, and that's why we like them so much. This is merely just a theory I thought of.

 

That's like saying you were attracted to your mother when you were breastfed :v I guess your theory could make sense but its a much different type of attraction, think about it. The bond between mother and baby is completely different from the bond between two people sexually attracted.

Uhem, about women being topless in public... to be honest I can understand why mothers who are breastfeeding would want equal "toplessness" rights, but for the majority of women, they'd actually probably be too embaressed, since they know the effect it would have on men. Unless every single woman in the world suddenly began to work around topless and everybody adjusted to it, it's never going to happen.

Whoever metioned the Church (sorry my memory is awful) is probably right- women's chests were probably covered up because it was probably considered indecent to let others see something that would "bring about lust"

 

It's for public safety. The number of guys emitted into hospital - for various reasons - would sky-rocket.

 

True. But as I said, it was a theory. And have you ever heard about the Oedipus complex? According to that, as kids, we love are opposite-gender parent alot and want to marry them. Want to get rid of our same-gender parent and take their place. Most don't remember it, though.

 

this is a very plausible theory.

no, he's not saying he was attracted to his mum when he was a kid, he's saying he felt close to her.

for me, the site of breasts would cause some arousel, and i can't think of one guy who is different. i'm religious, and so to me that's like shouting "SCREW ME!" it's to inviting. strippers, whores, and ****s do that in private, to get a lay, but decent women shouldn't. i can understand the breastfeeding thing, but then again, don't they have special rooms for that? isn't breastfeeding something that should be done in private?

i kno it is culture for some poeple, like in Africa, and south america and what-not, but that's cuz 90% of the time the temperature was to hot for clothing. Now in Ancient Greece, it was another matter.

My opinion is that it's ok for guys in public, because it's kinda our way of showing off a big rack (like when Bucks rut) but for girls, it's kinda the privacy of a bedroom with someone you love, hopefully married.

that is all.

 

Who would want to remember something like that? (XD) but apparently the need for a female's chest goes back to being young. It could be that guys have simply evolutionaized to be that way, or society just teaches them to be that way.

 

aww, i actually remember that now. lol! i forgot till you mentioned it Sir.

lol! yeah, we evolved to be attracted to the chest of women :P

 

If you read properly, you would have seen I said "thats like saying" actually. :/

You can't think of any other guys? What about gay men?

Since when was breastfeeding "indecent"? That's utter crap, really. It's a natural thing. Okay, it's something if a woman randomly pulled off her top in the middle of a public place, but it's not like women should have to shut themselves in a room or something just to feed their babies :/

Your last statement was completely sexist imo :v What you basically said was "men can show off their good bodies but women can't, they can only do that in bedrooms when married"

 

:P


if you read carefully, i was STATING MY DAMN OPINION!

 

Yes, and I am entitled to state my own opinions on what you've said, dear (:

 

good point.........

 

I think it depends on the situation and what you mean by 'public'. If the need to breastfeed arrises, then there are ways to make it subtle even in public. We had a wedding just the other day where a mother and her infant were breastfeeding but she put on a type of sling and draped a showl over her infant. In all honesty, if you didn't know what the showl was you woudn't have even noticed she was doing it.

I agree that it is natural and instinctual for men to connect to infancy around breasts and kind of surprised i didn't make that connection early.

 

Holy cow that sounds like Freud's theories.

But anyways, I think it mostly has to do with the time period and culture. Woman in the past couldn't go out in public in short skirts because ankles were considered 'lustful' and therefore indecent. but then conversely, tribes in africa have topless woman everywhere and it's just as natural as topless men. We merely chose for breasts to be censored and sexy

 

Wow this is a delightful topic :/

Ok its because of guys, we are sex crazed, its true :/, women feel too pressured to leave it uncovered

 

We're sexist and we come from sexist roots and sexist cultures