It's not bad to think boobs are sexy

This might be an unpopular post, but I'm willing to take the risk.

I've noticed an opinion trend that has been on my nerves. I usually see it when I am perusing the "sexism" tag on Tumblr, but it's been around other places too. Someone will go off on a long rant about how breasts have nothing to do with sex, they're just "sacks of fat" (<--very popular phrase in these rants) whose only purpose is to nourish babies. This argument is usually in response to a man who has oversexualized a woman's body and made a big deal someone revealing their breasts.

Now, there are aspects that I agree with about this train of thought...but there are some things that I just can't get on board with. Let me walk through a few.



First of all, I take offense to any argument which, at its core, reduces women's bodies to a reproductive function. This viewpoint is not only severely cissexist, but it also overly emphasizes a biological process not all people with uteruses choose to do. And it makes me feel like it's one small step away from, "women are SUPPOSED TO have babies" or "women are MEANT to be moms. Your body is designed for it!"

Nope.

Just because my body CAN do something doesn't mean it must.

That aside, if you're actually going to take the "nature" argument seriously, it's a pretty well accepted hypothesis that humans have much larger mammary glands because they evolved from playing a role in attracting mates. They are, for example, much larger than our primate relatives. So while breasts might not play a necessary role in human sexual reproduction, they certainly have a long connection to attraction in our history as a species and therefore are relevant to many people's sexuality, either having breasts, liking breasts, or both.

Of course, I don't actually hold much stock in "BUT NATURE!" arguments, so take all that with a grain of salt. What actually bothers me the most about this whole "they're just sacks of fat!" argument is how it dismisses the feelings of someone who has breasts themselves and sees them as a part of what makes them feel sexy. 

I've compiled two lists for this topic. First up we have list 1, which is some things that are actually perfectly fine:

• Thinking boobs are sexy.
• Liking your boobs.
• Feeling sexy showing off your boobs.
• Deriving pleasure from consensual boob action*. 

And now here is list 2, things that are NOT ok:

• Reducing someone's value down to their breast size (or their body in general.)
• Shaming, stigmatizing, and/or sexualizing breastfeeding.
• Objectifying breasts (like how the media often has them severed from any actual person.)
• A cultural obsession with breasts that is so great that there is a lot of pressure for all women to have bigger breasts.
• Breast size shaming (but ya know, body shaming in general.)
• Policing someone's feelings about their own bodies. 
• Slut shaming. 
• Any unwelcome attention sent to someone with large breasts. 
• Making breast cancer about boobs instead of people. 
• The media promotion of one type of body that is "hot" (ie, big breasted and small waisted.)

Because of all the shit that's on list #2, I get why it could be really tempting to go off on a rant, but I think that rant should be nuanced enough to not tread on list #1. For example, you can say, "It's disgusting how breasts are oversexualized" without saying, "Breasts are not sexy!"

Or, ya know, you can say whatever you want, but I'll be silently judging your "sacks of fat" anti-boob tirade because I fall firmly in the "boobs are awesome!" camp.


*Yes, I did just write a blog post with the term, "consensual boob action" in it. You're welcome.


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