Men's nipples used to be
as shocking as female ones.
Indeed, it was illegal for men
in many states of America
to expose their breasts in public.
The difference is that
in the early 1930s,
men decided that enough was enough.
On the beaches and Coney Island,
Westchester, Atlantic City.
Male swimmers stripped off their shirts
and nipple covering swimsuits.
Other swimmers and sunbathers,
as well as law enforcement agents and jurists,
were actually outraged.
They were called gorillas.
They were fined and threatened with arrest.
Luckily, shirtless men
actually won that debate
by the end of the decade
these gorillas were free to flaunt
their breasts and their nipples.
Now today,
men retain the right
to walk around topless,
but in the UK and many parts of the states,
the female breast remains taboo
in public places.
Indeed, unlike our counterparts in
many parts of continental Europe,
Britons and Americans still seem
rather alarmed by the female breast.
Instagram claims
that pictures of women's nipples
are instances of abuse.
There was public outcry when
Janet Jackson's nipple was inadvertently
revealed during a televised Super Bowl game.
The 'costume malfunction' led to hearings
before committees in the U.S. House of Representatives
and the Senate.
Michael Powell, chairman of the
Federal Communications Commission,
the FCC.
Maintained that it was
"Just the latest in a growing list
 of deplorable incidents."
He complained that,
"I share the displeasure and fatigue
of millions of Americans
about the erosion of common decency
on television."
The CBS was fined more than
half a million dollars by the FCC,
and a five second delay on
live broadcasts was introduced.
Why is catching a very, very brief glimpse
of the breast of an African-American celebrity
on a stage in Los Angeles
regarded as scandalous?
While poring over
arty black and white photographs
of semi-naked women in the Sudan
during humanitarian crises
is unexceptional.
