This is not me.

It is a simple question. Why are nipples/breasts so taboo? I want your opinion. Guys with their shirt off it is okay, but a girl, "OMG DON'T LOOK KIDS! NIPPLES!!! YOU SHOULD BE ashamed OF YOURSELF!" Keep in mind a lot of men have bigger breasts than most women!

Also, is this picture not as taboo in your mind because the nipples have been erased? Finally, while we are on it. Why can we have nipples of african tribes on public TV but not other races? Why the divide?

I know these sounds like silly questions, but I want some rational discussion over this topic.

Peace and love <3


Tags: breasts, nipples, taboo

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there has to be a biological reason which made nipples taboo. I think male exposing their genitals and females revealing nipples are both taboo, also influence of media has played a major part into it.

I think it has also something to do with degree of sexual nature  (i am not being racist towards african tribes).


Why guys are allowed to keep their shirts off not girls, you can answer this question if you honestly ask yourself. I think degree of sexuality.

I think public display of female and male genitals are equally taboo in many places. Even in tribal societies where everyone goes topless, they both often still wear loin cloths (or fabulous looking penis gourds for the men), and there are certainly more topless beaches than nude beaches. However, in some situations, female genitals and nipples are actually LESS taboo than male genitals. In movies you see plenty of completely nude females, but rarely see full frontal male, though that is beginning to change. Perhaps we can thank Playboy for that rare exception but I'd like to see some penis liberation equality in movies!


Nudity is also looked at quite differently in other countries, so I'm not sure what you mean by biological reasons. America is just still very young and religious. In its puritan beginnings, women were completely covered with conservative tops and ankle length skirts. Society gradually began to accept tops getting lower as sleeves and skirts got shorter. But even in the 1920's, men's atheletic wear/swimwear was just as conservative as women's swimsuits. Swimwear marketing and popularity has done much for the liberation of bodies. I hope it continues.


I personally believe another one of the reasons female nipples in America still remain taboo is because breasts became nothing but a sexual advertising tool when American women stopped breastfeeding with the advent and successful marketing of infant formula. 50 years ago, over 75% of the infants in America were formula fed. I once had a mother yank her curious small child away from me in disgust and shoot me a dirty look when she realized I was discretely nursing (completely covered) at the food court in a shopping mall, yet she didn't think twice as she walked away with her toddler past the 10 foot tall boobs galore Victoria's Secret poster.

Breasts are signs of female being mature enough to reproduce. Breasts remind men of their Mom to the evolutionary (breasts resemble buttocks and prehuman ancestors mounted from behind), and the reproductive (breasts are an indicator of age and big breasts are a marker of high estrogen levels). These are some of the most likely reasons why breasts are beloved even in cultures that don’t eroticize them any more than the face.
But in societies where most people have never seen breasts used to feed young, the admiration of breasts for their nuturing purpose is lost and all that remains is breasts being beloved for sexual allure. This combined with the history of conservative religious values regarding female sexuality in America creates the negative attitude towards display of female nipples on beaches or even women discretely nursing in public though tiny bikinis displaying full cleavage are legal and socially acceptable. I agree there are many biological reasons why female nipples are beloved, but it really seems the nipple taboo is just residual religion which I hope will continue to die out along with religion.
Because the insecurities of small minded people (mostly men) who are afraid god will smite or judge them harshly at the pearly gates can't see the true beauty in the human form.  What I find even MORE offensive is the fact that kids can play video games for hours, killing and maiming their friends.  But, they see a butt or a boob or heaven forbid a vag, and the world stops dead in its tracks to ensure the children aren't emotionally scarred for life!
Oops dupe!  sorry...

I don't like my breast, period!

Doesn't it all boil down to dominance through bigotry? One strata of society has to denigrate and scape goat another in order to feel superior. How can the male bigot consider himself better than his female counterpart if she is treated as an equal? If one sex is held in higher regard than the other then that elevated sex is dominant and can exercise power and control over the inferior sex.

As far as we as a species have come we still have a hell of a long way to go.


But men put women up on a pedestal, as they say.

It's not entirely about "feeling" superior. It's mostly about reaping the rewards of a system that favors men.

I have a hard time thinking of the problem as bigotry-based, at least not entirely. A lot of it has to do with being patronizing.


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