
Of all of society's irrational and arbitrary attitudes towards the human body, breasts and nipples are the ones that feature the most contradictions.
The ongoing fight for a woman's right to breastfeed her baby in public illustrates the

The main argument seems to be that breasts are sexual. The truth is that people are sexual. While men may find the female breast sexy, it is certainly not women's exclusive source of sexuality. Conversely, women may find men's chests sexual but men are not forced to hide them. This inconsistency is likely derived from the archaic notion that women must hide to save men from themselves.

So we are generally left with legal definitions that only refer to the nipple and areola. That means that breasts are not bare if pasties cover the nipple and areola area. Clearly, society is now telling us that the only part of concern is the nipple and areola area on a woman's body.
So if women's nipples are so much more sexual

But the very best example of the arbitrariness of it all comes courtesy of a TV show called Dr. 90210. This is a reality show that follows the lives of plastic surgeons as they "improve" people's lives through surgery. Most of the surgery is comprised of the

But during the initial exam, one could clearly see the outline of female breasts but the nipples were obscured. As the operation began, the shows producers protected us from those upsetting female nipples by scrambling that portion of the image. No attempt was made to shield us from the blood and gore of the operation. The image of the incision and the cutting and hacking away of the internal breast material was crystal clear.

Interestingly, the same episode also featured labiaplasty. This is where a woman gets her labia reduced to "increase her self-confidence." Not surprisingly, the woman's labia was masked during the surgery. However, the show was more than willing to show the parts of the labia that were removed after the surgery. The message: the labia is only offensive when it is attached to a living woman. What does that say about our society's view of the human body?
Think you know whether that is a man or woman's nipple?
To see the original, full photo click here.
Breastfeeding photo by: Mike.Hanlon
Pasties photo from the Creative Commons.