Once the Abrahamic Religions (Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) became huge. It’s all about “Women are evil sluts who do nothing but sin and tempt the good and pious men”, it’s pretty evident in modern societies that have large populations of people that follow these religions.
The correct answer has three upvotes, and Victorian era rises to the top. Well, at least you have 4 upvotes now.
Since we are all going; here is my take. Breasts were always sexual in nature. For most species they signal fertility and what part of the cycle the individual is in at the moment. At some point human females evolved to have perpetually inflated breasts. There are a few different theories as to why that happened, but it is beside the point for this discussion. So considering they were evolved to attract or dissuade males, I say they certainly have a sexual function. In addition to this, breasts play a big part in sexual pleasure for the wearer.
Now consider people pairing up in monogamous couples. The male suspects that other males might be motivated to pursue his mate by the visage of his mates nice boobies. He asks his mate to cover them up so he feels more safe in his position. Now hundreds of years pass, and what do you know, it is in grained in the cultures. It’s not really too bad for the women, so they have lived with it, for the sake of peace. Sometimes it is even convenient to be covered. For example in cold weather. I bet there is a correlation between climate and a cultures willingness to have boobs in the open.
Tribes have not only hidden their populations breasts, they have been known to hide their women all together, so the neighbouring tribes don’t steal them. I feel that this is a bit similar. Put a gold bar in a glass display long enough, and someone will try to take it. Everything carries risk. If your society isn’t good at maintaining law, then it’s a bad idea to display the gold bar. In some places it might not be an issue at all. All women could go around topless as well, but the risk that they are approached by an aspiring male will probably be slightly increased.
So why do it now, in my amazing, functioning, egalitarian and lawful country? It is down to history and people being comfortable with what we have always done.
My humble opinion is that we abolish any law that prevent any boob owner from showing them anywhere. But I’m lazy, so I won’t start a revolution over it.
I’m in physical pain reading this
Why? You’re disappointed with the explanation? Disagree with it? Or you don’t like its somewhat informal tone? I thought it was well written, enjoyed the information / humor, and can respect the explanation.
Literally the only thing this comment manages to say is that its writer views women as objects, that women exist a status symbol for men, like bro he literally compares women to a gold bar in a glass box what the fuck do you mean hahahahaha. The most discouraging part out of all of this is that people here are agreeing with it.
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He’s saying that HISTORICALLY women were viewed as such. That’s his guess at what logic prehistoric humans went through, not his own.
Where?
There’s more than a few countries even in Western Europe where women can go topless in public.
Depending on where you’re talking about, there’s lots of different answers including “they don’t”
Can but it’s still not normal or typical.
In Spain, nudity is a constitutionally guaranteed human right - that’s a stark difference compared to America and voyeuristic spying is considered a crime entirely on the peeper and not on the person having their privacy violated.
Right, but it’s not normal outside of beaches.
You’re correct, you won’t find topless women wandering around city streets - but a woman may feel comfortable hanging up their laundry topless or being topless in their home near windows. In some parts of the US and Canada you can actually be fines for casual nudity if some asshole judge deemed it exhibitionist.
