Folks other than lactnetters are concerned about our culture's transformation of
the female breast from primary use as infant feeding to body part for sex play.
I thought you would be interested in the article that is in our local paper
today.  I have copied the first part of it for you.

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From The Charlotte Observer, a KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPER, January 9, 1996:

AMERICAN CULTURE CAN'T SEEM TO WEAN ITSELF FROM BREAST OBSESSION
by Susan M. Barbieri

They are milk-producing glands surrounded by fatty tissue, and they are designed
for feeding infants.

Breasts. Big deal.

But men, boys, aging Cosmo girl Helen Gurley Brown and TV's "Breast-ertainment
Tonight" are obsessed with them.  A national restaurant chain uses a slang word
for them to hawk burgers.  "Baywatch," the brainchild of beach boy David
Hasselhoff, showcases them -- giving literal meaning to the phrase "boob tube."

True, some of the world's great art treasures celebrate breasts.  But classical
art celebrated maternity, not crass commercialism  And at least in ancient Rome
there was some equal time.  Consider Michelangelo's "David."

You'd think the public appetite for breasts would eventually wane due to
overexposure and boredom, not to mention the weaning process required for anyone
to mature beyond babyhood.  But scholars, feminists and psychologists say our
culture seems more breast-fixated than ever.

"It has gotten worse," says Laura Kuhn of the Media Action Alliance, a Circle
Pines, Minn. based group that monitors media and advertising for images that
objectify women.  "On the covers of magazines, there's much more exposed chest
-- from the Naional Enquirer to Ladies fHome Journal.  They're everywhere, even
on product packaging.  Video covers, even greeting cards.  It's constantly in
your face.

"Nothing is really sacred anymore.  It used to be the breast was a symbol of the
Madonna and Child, a symbol of maternity and all these wonderful things.  Now
it's just the exploitation of the female body for selling something, the
commercialization of the human body.  It's no longer art."


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If you want a copy of this article, let me know your address and I will mail it
to you.


Pardee Hinson, MPH, IBCLC
Charlotte, NC   [log in to unmask]