Cultural differences?

[Aidensmom]

Whether or not a breast is seen when women are breastfeeding is the least of our problems with how women are objectified as sex objects in this country. I don't think that our society is modest enough! The image of women in this country is horrifying. Have you been to a shopping mall lately and taken a look at our teenage girls walking around with sayings written on their butts?? Language about sex on television and the radio is more explicit than ever, and don't even get me started about the music and a good deal of it is completely demeaning to women and reduces sex to a response to an animal urge. I listen and watch a lot of it-but I'm an adult. If I had kids, I sure wouldn't want them soaking up the values about sex and the image of women being promulgated.


Does anyone know if sex crimes against women have increased or decreased since the sexual revolution? Sometimes I really think it backfired.

I kind of equate it to how kids are fascinated with curse words because they are "forbidden." I think in this country sometimes things are oversexualized because they are "taboo". It is human nature to want what someone wants you not to have. Post a thread here "For men only" and see how many women post, and you'll see what I mean. Nudist communities (they are common in my area) aren't full of people obsessed with sex, to them they see that stuff everyday and it isn't such a big deal to see a naked body.

I believe the problem you are seeing, and I agree exists, is kind of complex. Because something like a bare breast is such a taboo, it makes it a big thrill to see the forbidden. This, in turn, causes a little bit of obsession with it. When men are then focused on that, some girls/women find they get more attention by flaunting themselves, and some may start to base their self worth on their looks. (This by no means applies to all women, and I do think there is a time and a place for looking sexy.) If women start to objectify themselves, of course men are going to objectify them too. And, just have to add, women do sometimes also objectify men. And it goes on and on and builds on itself. Like you said, sex becomes reduced to a response to an animal urge.

Sorry for rambling, I've taken too many sociology classes in my life.

 

[Charade]

You're complaining about an exposed ****?

Whatta world .......... I've lived too long.

Ok ok ok... show me yours.


Seasoned not withstanding. (where did that ducking smiley go??)

 

[Charade]

Uh, totally agree here... In this country we should cover the poor baby with a sweater or blanket while he eats (and sweats under said blanket) I cannot tell you how many times I fed our children in our conversion van with blacked out windows, watching TV all the while... But, when I fed them (anywhere) I never covered the poor babies up with a blanket to do so, although I was discreet....

Some people (even one of my best friends) are just completely PRUDISH in this regard... my goodness....

Why did you feel the need to be discreet when you think some people are just completely PRUDISH!?

 

[Charade]

When it comes to sex, yes, I believe our culture is ahead of some but clearly behind much of Europe. It's actually kind of embarrassing IMO.

That's funny. You're embarrassed because some people feel the need to be modest, discreet and have not so much of a "if it feels good, why not?" attitude.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Why did you feel the need to be discreet when you think some people are just completely PRUDISH!?

I think she is speaking of what our culture expects...and then countered with what she actually did....

Like I would say--I'll cover my baby's head with a blanket...when you cover yours with a blanket while I eat my dinner. I will feed my baby sitting on the toilet, when you take your lunch tray to the toilet to feast.

You know--stuff like that.

 

[autumnbaby9]

Like I would say--I'll cover my baby's head with a blanket...when you cover yours with a blanket while I eat my dinner. I will feed my baby sitting on the toilet, when you take your lunch tray to the toilet to feast.

You know--stuff like that.

ITA!

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

Why did you feel the need to be discreet when you think some people are just completely PRUDISH!?

I can answer why I was discreet and feel the same about people being too prudish:

I did what was comfortable for ME (preferring not to nurse in public and covering up as much as possible when in public), while believing that if others are comfortable being more open ( a woman shouldn't feel she has to cover up) , there is nothing wrong with that.

 

[MerryPoppins]

I've seen this debate many times and I'll never understand it.

I breastfed my DD in public. I used a blanket when it wasn't too warm, but I wasn't about to make her miserable. It wasn't like I was stripping and dancing the hoochie-koochie. I was feeding an infant who was hungry. If someone saw my breast or nipple, so be it.

And the whole male nipples are okay to expose, but female nipples are another story. That makes me mad. Why? We women at least have a good reason to expose them when we're feeding a baby.

As a breast cancer survivor, the importance of breasts in sexuality makes me a little sad. I had a mastectomy and a breast reduction. I have little feeling in my remaining breast or on the mastectomy side. I'm not frigid and my DH and I find many other parts of our bodies to be stimulating. You can have a very normal sex life without having responsive breasts. And no, I don't feel incomplete or lacking. My DH is happy too. In my honest opinion, sex is not what breasts were intended for any more than other parts of your body. Yes, they bring pleasure, but so do knees and toes and ankles and hips.

I'm not being critical. I'm just saying people need to step back and think. Is this really that important? If your teen sees some mother feeding her baby and he sees a flash of a nipple, is that the end of the world? Talk about it. Make him understand that she was doing something natural. Maybe this wasn't the best choice of photos, but it wasn't a bad choice. Believe me, there are MUCH bigger subjects in the world to get upset about. Life is too short to draw up sides about something so trivial.

 

[letterdavidman]

I'm not offended at all but I don't think a baby sucking on a teat should be a front page picture in a newspaper. There are still things that some people should do (in public) discretely. Breastfeeding is a natural thing. So is sex. Should we allow people to just "get it on" whenever/wherever they feel the need to? Sure, babies need to eat at certain times and we don't need to have sex as living sustenance but you could bring a bottle of breast milk instead for public feedings.


I must ask though, why isn't the picture of a baby actually suckling? What is the purpose of the exposed nipple?

What would be the harm in it? I mean, besides the "harm" done to certain people's sensibilities? And I'm not just playing devil's advocate. Seriously, provide me with some concrete, inarguable examples of how seeing some woman breastfeeding her infant child actually hurt someone.

 

[tycopj]

I opened the link and automatically smiled and had an "ahhhh" moment. To me the photo is sweet, innocent and natural. I don't know what the article is about and why the photo is there, but I'm not offended by it at all.

 

[letterdavidman]

I think that's the whole point. Europeans are not as prudish as Americans when it comes to exposing the body. To them it's "just another breast". To us it's "OH MY GAWD A BEWB!"

Exactly. An exposed nipple really tells us more about the people looking at it than it tells us about the nipple's owner.

 

[pansmermaidzlagoon]

Exactly. An exposed nipple really tells us more about the people looking at it than it tells us about the nipple's owner.

now there's one for the tag fairy

 

[tycopj]

Sure, babies need to eat at certain times and we don't need to have sex as living sustenance but you could bring a bottle of breast milk instead for public feedings.
QUOTE]

Why should a mother have to bring a bottle of breast milk instead for public feedings? And to compare breast feeding to sex is crazy.

 

[letterdavidman]

I'm with you. It's a perfectly natural process-but there are a lot of perfectly natural processes that we don't display in public or we are discreet about. The baby is really cute though!

We had a woman at our church that would sit in the front row-every Sunday-and very dramatically breastfeed her children. No blanket over the "area" or anything-just whip it out and let the kid latch on! It wasn't about feeding and nurturing the child, it was about getting attention for Mommy. She sat there daring someone to say something to her so she could launch into her tirade. Finally, her last child reached an age where they would no longer do it. I think he was between 6-8 when he stopped.

I'm not a parent, but don't they get teeth at about a year old or so? OUCH

You asked her why she did this, and this is what she told you?

With all due respect, I really believe that you're projecting your personal hang ups onto her. I'd venture to guess that she probably gave the entire matter little, if any, thought.

 

[letterdavidman]

Absolutely true!!!!

In cultures/places, such as tribes in Africa, women go around with nothing on, letting their breasts hang down to their knees.... That is just how it is there.

I see NO reason for the OP to have even posted this thread other than to stir the pot and to pass some kind of negative judgement on our cultural values.

A good percentage of American women breastfeed...
I have NO problem with that whatsoever.
My sister is well endowed, and breastfed all three of her children. Her and her husband took to calling her the "Dairy Queen" (for those overseas who may not know, this is a big chain that serves ice-cream and milkshakes, etc...) I have NO problem with breastfeeding whatsoever.

I take offense if anyone wants to falsely accuse me of being uncomfortable with breastfeeding, when we all know it is God-intended, just because I don't think it is appropriate to have a full blown life size close-up of an engorged nipple displayed right in front of my face.

But why, exactly?

 

[letterdavidman]

Okay, I am loooking for posters here would deny that a woman of childbearing ages breasts do have a heck of a lot of sexual value and significance.... Anybody...... ?????

All ****ies have intrinsic aesthetic value, no matter the size.

 

[letterdavidman]

Sorry Freyja, you can backtrack all you want.
But I have seen enough of the "repressed or prudish Americans" comments to see judment calls and pot stirring when I see it.

And, yes when you say 'cultural difference' it IS indeed generalizing each culture as a whole.

I am not the one who has generalized and drawn those lines... you were.

Actually, you have been much more the pot stirrer on this thread than Freyja has.

 

[letterdavidman]

I think that you are very wrong in that assumption.

1. Anything to get attention and make a sale!!!

2. How is the addition of that nipple valid to that story??? It was not about breast feeding.

3. I maintain that nobody here will post that they do not see the sexual value and significance to a woman's breast/nipple. So, how could the 'sexual' aspect be completely unseen or ignored.

Hello? The answer's been given SEVERAL times on this thread--because, in America, we're much more puritanical about anything minutely related to sex than in some other parts of the world, so we cover up and hide from view the "sex parts", therefore affording them an aura of more seductive "mystery" and titillation (*snicker*). What one sees everyday becomes commonplace and a little boring; what one hides away becomes more... interesting.

 

[letterdavidman]

I already told you earlier that the photo did not bother me.

Actually this is a Disney discussion board, so a photo of a Denmark lesbian's breast and her cute bundle of joy is not really why we all came here. I do enjoy some of the OT threads and others seem to be started for other reasons (to spout out ones personal views on religion, politics etc.).



So why did you have to state this? You DID want to make a point that we are lesser than those far-sighted Europeans.

Actually, the thread was posted on the Community Board, where pretty much any topic is fair game.

 

[letterdavidman]

Sorry you got it wrong. The Op said it was a discussion board. It is not a generatl disccussion board but it is a Disney discussion board. Some Disney boards allow OT threads and some do not. We have many subboards that can and do go OT.

No, YOU'RE the one who has it wrong. This is the (say it with me) COMMUNITY BOARD. Which is described by the people who set it up as (and I'm quoting here):

"Join our moderators in a discussion forum for any topic, Disney or otherwise. Swap stories, information, ask questions...just be friendly "