When did breasts become a thing that needed to be concealed in public and why? - eviltoast
  • gramie@lemmy.ca
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    7 months ago

    But this ignores all the cultures where women’s breasts are not considered sexually. I lived in Africa, and it was actually a big adjustment for me, even though the local people’s attitudes were changing due to Western media. 25 years of Canadian upbringing made it hard not to look when women or teenage girls took off their shirts. But that was my problem, not theirs.

    And not just Africa. In rural Japan japan, before WWII, women were often topless.

    • xePBMg9@lemmynsfw.com
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      7 months ago

      I am not arguing that this happens everywhere, in the same way and is then set in stone forever. People in different places and times had different circumstances. Hence, they could have chosen to handled things differently. Cultural norms can also sometimes change over night. Look at the sexual revolution of the 60-70s for example.

      I was trying to answer the question where this norm comes from. Not why this norm isn’t universal.

      It seems obvious to me that a culture that have normalized breasts in everyday life, would also consider them less sexual in nature.