Should Women's Breast Be Sexualized?

In the United States, men since 1935 have been allowed to be shirtless in public. Due to society sexualizing women’s breast/nipples it is illegal in almost every state for a woman to be topless. Women and activist have been fighting for gender equality laws that allow women to go topless in areas men are allowed to. It is argued that men and women nipples are different; that a female nipple cannot be exposed, even though males are free too. Women across the nation fight in the Free the Nipple Movement for gender equality laws and to validate that a women’s breast should not be sexualized and it is a choice to show their body. Firstly, this essay will discuss gender equality laws, how the anatomy of men and women’s nipples are similar and the

According to the New York Times, “Breast milk may provide the ideal nourishment for an infant, but two recent studies are putting a different spin on the bottle-versus-breast debate, suggesting it is mothers, and not just babies, who may have much to gain from breastfeeding”. So even though it is proven that breastfeeding is helpful for the baby and mother, why does our society make breast feeding taboo. Due to sexualizing women, it becomes natural for people to sexualize a women’s chest, even if she is doing something un-sexual. In the vast majority of the states, there is not law stating a woman cannot breastfeed in public; however, people still feel that their opinion is more important than the law. According to the Huffington Post a Karina Gomez was breast feeding in public and was asked to nurse her child in a public bathroom, “I was denied my right to breastfeed where I wanted to by a Marshalls employee. I was denied to breastfeed in a dressing room, instead I was directed to a bathroom stall to breastfeed…what a way to treat breastfeeding customers, shaming them for breastfeeding, making them feel embarrassed that you need to feed your child,” Gomez continues. “I am angry, upset, but more so humiliated. My rights have been violated.” People seem to forgo the law and harass women who decided to nurse their child publically. And their argument may be that it’s obscene and don’t want to see a women chest is a double standard. If they walk into any public area or open a magazine, a woman’s chest is used for advisement most of the time, usually front and centered. Breastfeeding in public is legal, and completely okay and it is a women’s right to decide if she wants or needs to nurse in public. That is what the Free the Nipple movement is also fighting