Quote:
Originally Posted by jewels
What about the fact that breastfeeding is considered a faux pas in the USA? I remember attempting to discreetly breastfeed my infant in a public place some years ago. Despite the fact that nothing was 'whipped out' and the girls were fully covered, I was removed from that location and people stared at me as though I had a red "A" imprinted on my breast, rather than a tiny infant suckling there.
I've seen similar news stories continue, and the advent of nursing areas in ladies' rest rooms. Nurse my baby two feet from a toilet? Really? Even smokers are treated with more respect.
And why? Because the conservative American woman says so. We know the men wouldn't give a damn. Breasts are all about love. Despite the objectification of them in this country, men love 'em. But American women feel threatened when their man might catch a glimpse of another's glory and will stop at nothing to keep that temptation from their man. Hide them!
Who's obsessed?
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There is a long history of this obsession with sexuality and the female body. There were pre-Christian cultures who virtually worshiped the female body, tying it into fertility and healing. However, with the advent of patriarchal Christian societies, you get this infusion of sin and shame when regarding the female body and its functions. (The American Puritans were a late development.)
There was a time when a woman was forced to go into hiding when she was menstruating, because this blood was considered impure and filthy. Today we have the running horror comedy joke: "If it bleeds for a week and doesn't die, it's not to be trusted." But the very spirit of this dates all the way back to this ancient time when women and their bodies were subjugated by various means.
I think that this has very male-centric reasons behind it. I could go into evolutionary theory and state how men have quite a disadvantage compared to women with regard to parentage, etc., but I think we'd be getting too far off topic. I guess my point is that I think our contemporary views of the female body have an ancient lineage with a patriarchal source. I'm sure you could find a number of feminists who would agree that contemporary women are self-regulating in this as a matter of habit and expectation.
So generally we have this nasty mix of the female body as unclean, the female body as temptation, the female body as property to be guarded. Basically, the female body as object instilled with desire, anxiety, and fear.
This is why, I suppose, I felt it futile to draw gender lines. Both genders are complicit in this to a degree. The only real reason to draw lines would be to make distinctions in
how each obsession takes form and operates. I don't see this as a useful means to determine who is
more obsessed.