Are breasts offensive, LibertyScott asks? Of course the answer is no. But that is not the correct question. The correct question is, is it offensive to parade topless women down the street to sell pornography?The fact is that the Boobs on Bikes parade draws large crowds of men to leer at topless women. For that reason alone it should be restricted to a private venue, not a main street of Auckland.
But, but, but, what's wrong with leering at topless women, what's wrong with pornography? Yes, I can hear the brains ticking of some of the readers out there.
Psychiatrist Leslie Farber and others have described the depersonalizing effects of pornography most vividly by stating that it transfers the fig leaf to the face.Pornography encourages people to think of others as objects for their own use. Leering at topless women is using those women for your own gratification. Once you learn to use others for personal gratification, it's not restricted to the boobs on bikes women or images in magazines, it translates into a way of relating to every single person you meet. It translates into using your husband or wife or girlfriend or boyfriend for what they can give you, not loving them for who they are. If you're not having fun, you have no staying power when things get tough - you bail.
This parade is there for the sole purpose of selling pornography to men. It's bad enough that many men are already addicted to porn, but to allow this parade on the street to blatantly encourage a wider audience of men who seem to be clueless as to the dangers to their manhood that pornography poses is to give societal acceptance to something that should not be accepted. This parade is offensive for that reason, and to reduce it down to breasts being offensive is to be narrow minded and obtuse. There are larger issues involved, which most people used to be aware of in days gone past. And for good reason.
Related Links: Boobs on Bikes ~ NZ Conservative, post from last year
Pornography: Formula for Despair ~ Catholic Education Resource Centre
Good post and some good points, I do disagree, but enjoy the debate. I do bring it down to fundamentals - I don't believe it should be an offence for women to bare their breasts in public, which of course would mean this event would of itself have far less effect. Exposed ankles once were very potent and became a common fetish a few generations ago, now it doesn't matter.
ReplyDeleteThere is what should be controlled by the law, and what should be influenced by persuasion. This event is in the latter category. There is a good cultural argument about the banality of most pornography and that is how I'd like it treated.