What Would a Dinosaur Do?

ealperin:

therearecertainshadesoflimelight:

spoilergirl:

vthebookworm:

roseflavoured:

Omg

As long as its sexualized it’s ok but God forbid WE USE THEM FOR WHAT THEY’RE MADE FOR!

SO TRUE!

Well…slight correction to the above comment.  A woman’s breasts are made for nourishing and producing milk for your child.    A woman’s breasts also exist for sexual pleasure.   Stupid people in this world have a really hard time understanding that our bodies, as women, can exist both for sexual pleasure and as nourishment for our child and neither one of those uses is more worthy than the other.

The issue here isn’t that the female breast is sexualized because our sexuality is not in and of itself something to be shamed either.   The issue here is that our culture has brazenly sexualized our breasts so that they ONLY relate to the sexual pleasure of straight MEN.   We are seen through THEIR gaze and for THEIR purposes.

The advertisements and marketing for stores such as Victoria’s Secret have gone on to perpetuate this over the years by placing wording literally in the marketing of their products that are geared more for MEN than for the WOMEN who are actually going to be wearing the bras.  Ironically, when the store started years ago it had a slightly different focus as it was supposed to be about encouraging women to embrace their own sexuality on their own terms.  In the last 10-15 years, the store’s message has shifted more and more to being more about the pleasure for men and solely through the male gaze.

Interestingly enough, when Victoria’s Secret debuted and was in it’s early years of popularity the models were also often OLDER.  Many of the models posed for the magazine (which was more rare and special back then) well into their 30’s.  The sight of an 18 year old girl as the “ideal body” back in the early 90’s in the magazine was actually very rare.   The models were grown women…many of whom were over 30.   The magazine also had several very famous women of color as their premiere models and, in general, a more wide range of body types was featured.  Stephanie Seymour, Tyra Banks, Helena Christensen, Danielle Pastova, Latitia Casta seem almost full figured in comparison to the bodies that are glorified in the magazine now. 

Anyway, the point is…it’s not about sexuality and breasts.  Breasts are sexual and one of their uses IS to be sexual and to give us sexual pleasure.  They also exist to feed and nourish our children.   It’s a stunningly beautiful thing that, as women, we have these bodies that both nourish and give us pleasure depending on the choice we are making.  The problem here is that this isn’t even about sexual pleasure.  Not for us.  It’s about men controlling how and when we display our bodies and making us ashamed about our bodies—-calling us gross and inappropriate—-whenever we dare remind them that our bodies do not solely exist for their pleasure and consumption.   (Also just to be clear I’m not saying that anyone who responded to this picture is one of the “stupid” people I’m talking about.  I’m talking more about the general societal construct that often denies women their personal sexuality once they become a mother.)

^Excellent post, right here.^

(Source: moonlight-raven)