It's been a whole year since the last boobs parade and during that time I've been thinking a lot about NZ society and how a parade of topless women on motorcycles has become possible here. It really reflects a growing immorality that people take as a natural right. They feel they have the right to be able to watch parades such as this in public and stuff the people who don't want to see it.
I also wonder if the same people who vehemently defend topless parades are the same types who would be put off their lunch if a woman breastfed a baby next to them in a cafe. Breasts are fine as long as they are for sex and not for babies.
The widespread acceptance of the boobs parade shows a societal objectification of women that increases the idea that women are just here on earth for the sexual gratification of men. Because it's mostly men who want to see the boobs parade and mostly men who will turn up today.
I also wonder if the same people who vehemently defend topless parades are the same types who would be put off their lunch if a woman breastfed a baby next to them in a cafe. Breasts are fine as long as they are for sex and not for babies.
The widespread acceptance of the boobs parade shows a societal objectification of women that increases the idea that women are just here on earth for the sexual gratification of men. Because it's mostly men who want to see the boobs parade and mostly men who will turn up today.
A couple of thoughts.
ReplyDelete“It really reflects a growing immorality that people take as a natural right.” I think it reflects a growing sense of morality where people no longer need to be told what their moral standards should be by others and have that morality forced upon them; rather they are free to define their own moral standards. This, upon further thinking, actually in some ways supports your point, just with a different perspective.
“They feel they have the right to be able to watch parades such as this in public”
Well they do. That’s part of living in a free and open society.
“and stuff the people who don't want to see it.” I don’t see it like that. If you don’t want to see it, don’t go at the time it is on. It is not as though there hasn’t been plenty of advanced warning.
“I also wonder if the same people who vehemently defend topless parades are the same types who would be put off their lunch if a woman breastfed a baby next to them in a cafe. Breasts are fine as long as they are for sex and not for babies.”
Conversely I feel events like this will make society more open to such things as breast feeding. I think the more the body is exposed, the less it will be objectified. And from personal experience I have found those who object to this parade are more likely to object to public breast feeding, especially amongst my fellow males. Those who support the parade are not bothered by public breast feeding.
I just can't see the attraction myself.
ReplyDeleteBut Steve Crow certainly can- he makes money out of it from future sales etc. And he's running for mayor? Egads...
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ReplyDeleteIf you don’t want to see it, don’t go at the time it is on. It is not as though there hasn’t been plenty of advanced warning.
ReplyDeleteSocrates, I don't see it like that. You could use the same argument for lots of things. Maybe in the future there will be things like:
'People having sex in the street': if you don't like it, don't go see. 'Paedophilia on Parade'? If you'll be offended, stay away.
The things that people do in their own houses are their own business, but when you put it out in the open where if affects MY family, or someone I know, then it becomes MY business.
I've said it before; it's a double standard. On the one hand you have members of the Police like Brent Rickard whose career is up in the air because people don't like his sexual antics and on the other hand we have people promoting porn in the main street.
It just doesn't make sense to me that soft porn magazines are plastic wrapped, R-rated affairs put on the highest shelf out of reach of youngsters, only to have it on display in the street.
I also wonder if the same people who vehemently defend topless parades are the same types who would be put off their lunch if a woman breastfed a baby next to them in a cafe. Breasts are fine as long as they are for sex and not for babies.
ReplyDeleteNow thats's a great question Lucyna.
Its a pity that you can't get a $500,000 Marsden grant to answer it.
Feeding, biking or on the beach- I really don't mind- nor consider them a big deal.
ReplyDeleteNothing that would make me campaign for the Burka...
Lucyna, i have spent some time cogitating on this subject as well. Now anybody who has paid even the slightest attention to the comments I leave on various blogs will hopefully have realised that I am a committed atheist. I do believe in religion for everybody else though. Especially judeo-Christianity, I think it is a nice controlling mechanism for the masses and especially like Bishop Tamaki, in fact I would go so far as to say that he has done more for families in south auckland than 9 years of labour.The great brainwashed mob that he calls his flock are made to get jobs, not break the law and generally live wholesome lives. This stops them from bothering me on my infrequent trip through the ghetto to reach the airport.
ReplyDeleteAnyway back to the point, I also am against boobs on bikes and the sexualisation of everyday life, as a parent I struggle to explain to my kids why it is wrong and it makes me uncomfortable. Although if we had a poll on whether it should be allowed to happen I would vote yes..... But only so I can watch the fucktard Hubbard make a cock of himself on Breakfast TV complaining about it.
I.M Fletcher:
ReplyDeleteIf you can't see that "Paedophilia on Parade" would be evil but "Boobs on Bikes" is not, then you are one sick individual.
You also say: "The things that people do in their own houses are their own business." That's not true either. If people rape and kill their children in "their own houses" it is very much not their own business, but society's business.
You need to rethink things. What is wrong is the extent to which people exploit others' freedom. Some women making money from showing their tits is one thing, whether in private or public. The worst thing we should do is say tut tut.
Molesting children is quite another and those who do so should be executed.
Do you really not see the difference. Splippery-slope arguments are always silly.
I've said it before; it's a double standard. On the one hand you have members of the Police like Brent Rickard whose career is up in the air because people don't like his sexual antics...
ReplyDeleteSorry, Fletch, I'm not going to let that nonsense stand. Clint Rickards should be fired - not because of any distasteful "sexual antics" but because he has repeatedly shown a lack of professional and personal judgement I have the right to expect from a Deputy Commissioner and District Commander.
And his dear friends Messers Shipton and Schollum were convicted of incredibly serious sexual offences by a jury of their peers. Well, I take rape seriously anyway.
Finally, John Dewar is going to prison because he was convicted of multiple counts of perverting the course of justice.
As an afterthought, I think that one of the things that encourages pornography is repression and censorship.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I support the right of Crow and his ilk to hold their parade, I also find the whole thing rather distasteful and grubby. BOB was more silicon on parade.
I think a good counter would be a Real Breasts on Parade, where women of all shapes and sizes marched topless up Queen Street, or had lined the parade route.
As an aside, a wonderful site that celebrates real women and their bodies, especially after childbirth is http://theshapeofamother.com/
A book you might like to read if you haven't already is:
ReplyDeleteThe Evolution of Morality / Richard Joyce. ISBN 0262101122.
A book you might like to read if you haven't already is:
ReplyDeleteThe Evolution of Morality / Richard Joyce. ISBN 0262101122.
Socrates, ah, no thanks. I consider man to be more than just an animal. We are like animals, yes, but we are also the only physical being that could be considered an animal/angel hybrid. So morality is more than just physical.
ReplyDeleteBut, if there is some insight from the book that you would like to share, go ahead.
What I have trouble understanding is that a lot of people think it is legal for females to bare their breasts in a parade, but if there is no parade then they must cover them. Surely women should be able to choose themselves when and where to go topless just like men have the right to.
ReplyDelete