Why is this so?

[Fynns Mommy]

I havent seen this mentioned on here really so I thought I'd share this interesting view on breast feeding, or really breasts in general.

Penn & Teller (magicians) have a show on Showtime called "B.S." (the edited name) where they expose a lot of things as B.S. It's a great show (in my opinion of course, though it does have some vulgarity) and they have episodes on things like circumcision, bottled water, etc. They have an episode specifically about breasts in which they strongly advocate the importance and beauty of breast feeding, along with rights to NIP. They talk to experts in human studies (and some stupid woman who wants to ban NIP completely).

Anyway, the experts they talk to bring up an interesting point. There was a time when women of nobility and class didnt breast feed, their babies were fed by wet nurses. The breasts of the poor were acceptable to be viewed, but the breasts of the well-off could only be glimpsed through clothing.

It's still that way now. Nobody freaks out about breasts of "poor" African women on National Geographic. I watched a movie in my history class my freshman year of high school about Chaka Zulu that had lots of breasts, but because they were poor breasts, it was okay and nobody even needed parental permission of any kind. And it wasnt even in the context of essential nursing. I just think it's funny because those women are just doing what's natural by not covering their breasts.

Our society also seems to be more accepting of breasts for their sexual purpose. Wet t-shirt contests are ok, very low cut shirts/dresses are ok, tiny bikinis are ok. A lot of people still feel uncomfortable even talking about breast feeding the way men feel uncomfortable talking about feminine products. Sure, talk about breast implants and it's fine. Talk about breast feeding, and "eww." 

I think that's the end of my rant...for now. Thanks for reading. Any thoughts on why "poor breasts" are acceptable, but not my breasts or yours?

[Heba]

Following this thread with interest.

Just looked up the show - the excerpt you describe is on YouTube (posted by CBS so presumably no copyright infringement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN2EdlK16Xo

Very interesting.

[BreastsTheMovie]

I am also following this thread with interest as I'm deep in the midst of studying all things cultural about breasts and how our society got to a point where we've degraded such a functional (breastfeeding) and beautiful part of a body to being nothing more than an object.

Thanks for posting the youtube video of this.  It was fascinating to watch, though I wish it was the entire show was available.  I found it quite ironic that they blurred out breasts in every part of the excerpt.

I wonder if the noble women farming out the feeding of their children really came from perceived inconveniences, discomfort and other breastfeeding traps rather than a want to cover up?  I also wonder if Fynns Mommy's National Geographic video example was not so much a rich/poor debate as a belief that those women were primitive and thus didn't know any better (though I believe they actually do know better)

Another side of the poor/rich ok/not ok debate is the women who get rich by flaunting their breasts as sex objects.  The excerpt hinted at this with a mention of Paris Hilton but didn't go into much detail on it.  Maybe the entire show did a little more on that topic? 

I agree our society seems more accepting of breasts as sex objects and I find that quite sad.  Personally I think seeing more breastfeeding is the answer to the objectification problem.

[Fynns Mommy]

Originally Posted by BreastsTheMovie 

I wonder if the noble women farming out the feeding of their children really came from perceived inconveniences, discomfort and other breastfeeding traps rather than a want to cover up?  I also wonder if Fynns Mommy's National Geographic video example was not so much a rich/poor debate as a belief that those women were primitive and thus didn't know any better (though I believe they actually do know better)

That was part of the point I was trying to make but you put it better than I could. I think that the reason why nobody seems to mind the "national geographic" breasts referenced in the show because a lot of people do believe that they are primitive and dont know any better. When as I said, they are the ones doing what's right and natural.

I dont know if either of you happen to use Netflix. Some of the show used to be available to watch instantly, but it's not anymore. But you can still get the discs in the mail. It really is a very interesting show, every episode.

[BreastsTheMovie]

Yeah I have netflix but only do ondemand and yeah I already looked to see if it was available and wasn't :-(

[Heba]

Blog post this week on a related subject from the fab Analytical Armadillo: http://www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2011/06/complicated-rules-of-breast-coverage.html