“[W]hat does it say about our culture that it’s plausibly a ‘nightmare’ for a physically attractive 30-year-old woman to be seen topless at a private home with her husband? I wouldn’t dream of criticizing any Duchess Middleton reaction to this. In a similar position I might well be very upset at the invasion of privacy. What I couldn’t help but imagine is how awesome it would’ve been had Middleton called a press conference on a nude beach, arrived topless with a thousand women, and told the assembled press, “The photographer who invaded my privacy had no right to capture those images, but I face that nightmare on a daily basis. And no one gives a damn until one of them photographs me topless? Grow up. I am unashamed of my body. In fact, I rather love it, as all these woman love their bodies. That makes some immature people uncomfortable. And it is their problem, not mine. If you’re sitting at home obsessing over photos of me topless, or giggling and pointing on the streets, it’s you who should feel embarrassment and shame, not me. I refuse to do it anymore.” Ours is a society where that People cover makes sense, and that speech would never happen. We’re doing it wrong.”
– The Atlantic writer Conor Friedersdorf in a fantastic piece about how we all need to learn how to deal with boobs. That’s basically the thesis: Boobs — deal with ‘em. I strongly encourage you to read the whole piece, which addresses the dual stories of Kate Middleton’s nude photos and also the teenaged girl, Amanda Todd, who committed suicide last week after a man photographed her breasts and showed them to her friends. Neither of these things should be a big deal, he argues, yet they are persistent cultural taboos. Friedersdorf hits the nail right on the head: the very same society that tells breastfeeding mamas they should go feed their infant in a dirty bathroom stall is the same society that makes teen girls think their naked boobs are something they should be ashamed about. The simple fact of the matter is that breasts should not be taboo. Be modest, if that suits you. Don’t be modest, if that suits you better. But breasts are not sinful or shameful or bad. [The Atlantic]
