Boobs

Here’s a follow up to The Awesome Power of Breasts Revisited.

From: “Ann and Allen”
Date: Wed Mar 8, 2006 7:58 pm
Subject: RE: Society’s “Boobs”

My wife Patty (the Ann part of Ann and Allen) has had more time lately to read group postings. Finding this thread she brought my attention to it as she knew it would be of interest. The reason is that our daughter did her master’s thesis on this specific subject.

During her research she found an interesting article about how society’s perceptions about women’s breasts have formed. The article reviewed that in the early part of the 20th century women’s breast were not seen as a vulgar part of a woman’s anatomy. That it was not uncommon for a woman to expose them for the needed task of child feeding, etc. Subsequently my father (now almost 90) confirmed this by saying he remembered in a very conservative protestant church environment in the Midwest, the ladies thought nothing of exposing a breast to take care of the needs of an infant. During that time in history there was not even a second thought given that this action was improper or had to be hidden to be respectful.

The article then discussed that in the early 20s a rather large company in the United States was attempting to introduce infant formula to the American public. Its efforts were largely failing because of the perception by the ladies that “mother’s milk” was best.

In order to gain market share, their product campaign determined that it would be necessary to destroy the public image of a woman’s breasts as wholesome by creating the impression that they were unsanitary, vulgar, and something to be disdained. The proper replacement was their infant formula which was sanitary and wholesome.

To further cement their position, they enlisted the support of a well known puritanical protestant bishop. Armed with religious backing they began lobbying governmental bodies for the creation of laws that would make it indecent for women’s breasts to be exposed in public (in other words it was necessary to destroy public views).

So well did the marketing campaign work that their infant formula by the 1930s along with other competitors products were exceeding the election to breast feed by a 3 to 1 margin. Also there was a proliferation of obscenity laws criminalizing a woman’s breasts being viewed in public.

It has only been within approximately the last 20 – 30 years that we have seen a reversal of the trend back to were it was acceptable and preferred for a woman to breast feed her child.

The conclusion is that many of our so called morality laws have nothing to do with being moral, but are the result of someone’s attempt to reap financial gain or control over a group of people. I would bet that if we were to look into clothing, we would probably find similar roots buried somewhere along the path.

By the way, my daughter at the time did her master’s thesis in conjunction with her healthcare professional license.

Bob of Bob and Patty

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To suggest that a mother’s breasts are dirty, unsanitary, or obscene is ludicrous and insulting. A woman’s breasts are, more than likely, much cleaner than the hands that handle the bottle and the formula. If there’s any doubt, an alcohol wipe will take care of it. Breast milk is the perfect food for an infant and contains nutrients and antibodies that can’t be duplicated in formula. To top it off, it comes in the perfect container. The breast keeps the milk at the perfect temperature and it doesn’t have to be boiled between uses.

Presumably, when God created Eve from Adam’s rib, He gave her breasts; all the other mammals He created had some biological method of feeding their young. Unless God is a pornographer, He would not have created obscene bodies for His favored creations. Any effort to make something that God created in His image obscene obviously has some kind of evil behind it. It would seem that the devil wears a suit and often stands behind a pulpit.

I also find it difficult to believe that society’s attitudes towards breasts have always been so puritanical and irrational. It makes sense that as America became more urbanized and industrialized, corporations would seek to manipulate and control their markets by using advertising to influence and change our beliefs and attitudes. All of this was done for the holy grail of profit and for our own good, of course. This has worked for nearly a century and with the advances in technology and the immense influence of mass media, the corporate message of what our morality should be is more powerful than ever. There’s a damned good reason why I limit my television viewing and make liberal use of the mute button when I do watch. We do have a choice. We don’t have to listen to them and we can use reason and common sense to decide what is moral and right.

The original article stated that the important issue was critical thinking, which from my observations, is in short supply in this country. For that matter, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of thinking at all going on. It was General George S. Patton who said, “If everybody is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.”