Germaine Greer and unsuported breast

[gingernuts]

I'm looking for a balanced view on the controversy over Stephen Bayleys book - Woman as Design, so I have come here.

Germaine Greer says that bra's distort reality. Really ?

 

[B_Dustydo]

I don't give a rats arse about the views of a bitter, twisted attention whore like Greer!
She says provocative crap when she is about to launch a new book.

I need a bra and be damned if some loon is going to tell me different.

 

[D_Fiona_Farvel]

Interesting question, my friend! :smile:

Having not read Bayley’s book, I cannot offer a comment on the text. However, I have always quite liked Germaine Greer and have been of the same opinion on a few issues, including her view of the bra as rather silly in daily life, but required as not to violate some social comme-il-faut. (that’s for SilverTrain :wink

I personally find the breast beautiful in its natural state and while there may be reason to wear a bra in sport, for support, or because they are pretty. I dislike that so many forget the strength of an unbound breast and the way it falls into a shape, its movement, or natural location in favor of what I, and likely others, were taught was the appropriate female form.
Therefore, in that regard I will agree with Greer that they are a perversion of the natural state. However, as I believe in choice, if a woman feels the need or desire to wear one, I would not cast her as a brainwashed tool of the patriarchy either.

 

[ZOS23xy]

I'm looking for a balanced view on the controversy over Stephen Bayleys book - Woman as Design, so I have come here.

Germaine Greer says that bra's distort reality. Really ?

Uhm. This is about presentation: if a woman shows up and about wearing something akin to a potato sack, she's a different "reality" if she to dresses up like Marlyn Monroe..

What's so hard to understand. ?

My wife's chest needs a bra, or they'll be called "leg warmers".

 

[SilverTrain]

I have always quite liked Germaine Greer and have been of the same opinion on a few issues, including her view of the bra as rather silly in daily life, but required as not to violate some social comme-il-faut. (that’s for SilverTrain :wink

Oooohh, insta-woody. Vive la France!

 

[dolfette]

greer can shove that one up her arse.
i like being able to jump & run without uncomfortable bouncing.
bras are no more anti-feminist than tight jeans on guys are anti-men.
i'm not going to be uncomfortable all day just to tow the line...her line or society's line. it matters not a flying fuck to me.

 

[helgaleena]

When younger I did not need a bra. I needed one when pregnant and nursing though. Now it depends on the clothing I have on over it. It's all about gravity and comfort, just as it is for men and their dangly bits.

 

[whatireallywant]

I don't need a bra (for support...) since I have very firm (like a teenager's, although I'm in my forties!) B-cups, but MY bras definitely distort reality - just about all my bras are padded push-ups! :biggrin1: And I like 'em that way (actually, I'd just like to have naturally bigger boobs, but since I don't, I distort reality by wearing bras that make me look a bit bigger).

 

[deleted356736]

My wife doesn't really need to wear a bra, and she's a 47 year old mother of two. Bras are a relatively recent innovation, post World War One. Women are naturally small-breasted, and it's only been in recent years that, for various reasons, the average has grown from bra size 'a' to something larger. In many countries, and I can think of France as an example, average bra size would still be 'a', but French women watch what they eat and work at keeping fit.

 

[Catchoftheday]

I don't think anyone has read this book

I haven't

Women everywhere ? please send a picture of your unsupported breasts to Stephen Bayley | Germaine Greer | Art and design | The Guardian

Steven Bayley: Why my book is not sexist | Art and design | The Guardian

 

[ripvanwinkle]

ahh, back to nature. let's see...
wrinkled rough skin from staying in the sun all day searching for food bare-feet with heavy duty callouses. sure, tits hanging to the waist. bring on the cro-magnum look

 

[Phil Ayesho]

oh fer christ's sake...

When will women stop falling for this psychoguilt crap FROM OTHER WOMEN...

The female breast comes in a lot of shapes... for those toward the larger end of the scale those shapes are profoundly affected by gravity and time.

Look up any old National Geographic and check out what 'natural' breasts look like when liberated for 20 or 30 years...

What? Don't like the idea of your pretty titties ending up looking like some shriveled and dangly appendage?

Greer should grow a fucking brain and realize that, in a "natural" state, MOST women would not live to survive their child bearing years.
She should wake the fuck up and realize that people wear clothing LARGELY to conceal the ravages of time on the beautiful bodies we all had in our youth.

She should grow the fuck up and realize that women want their men to stick around, and that trying to be attractive to them, from dying their hair, to wearing a lacy underthing that makes their breasts look more youthful is both SMART, and a kind recognition of the kind of visual cues that their men need to maintain sexual interest.

Go ahead... burn your bras, stop shaving your legs and stop brushing your teeth, stop wearing makeup and let every flaw in your complexion shine forth...
and for god's sake stop wearing clothing that flatters your figure...


Yeah, totally disregard that whole half million years of evolution in which humanity developed a sense of AESTHETICS and became far more driven by beauty, by metaphor, and by context...

Sorry, Greer... you stupid cow, but women figured out how to USE "pretty" because men respond to pretty.

And women were also the ones who figured out the rules for what kind of things are "fair" in competing for men.
Its not MEN complaining about busty women going braless... its the less well endowed women who understand that it's taking unfair advantage.

 

[dolfette]

aside frm anything else, braless women everywhere is the perfect male wank fodder.

 

[SilverTrain]

aside frm anything else, braless women everywhere is the perfect male wank fodder.

Mostly true, I gather. However, there are instances in which I find that a particular pair of boobies supported by a bra makes the situation more wankable.

 

[dolfette]

Mostly true, I gather. However, there are instances in which I find that a particular pair of boobies supported by a bra makes the situation more wankable.

if you mean my av, try not to spunk in the keyboard.
makes the keys stick.

 

[SilverTrain]

if you mean my av, try not to spunk in the keyboard.
makes the keys stick.

[Ponders the first interent porn superhero/villain - able to gum up others' keyboards from miles away]

BTW, I was actually referencing those circumstances wherein a bit more support would be a good thing (not an issue re the Dolf).

But now that you mention your avatar..........I'll just be offline for a bit.......

 

[helgaleena]

Ayesho, the OP was a male. Does that tone your rant down or not? And who spat in your cornflakes? M or F?

I don't dress for your personal pleasure.

 

[Phil Ayesho]

Ayesho, the OP was a male. Does that tone your rant down or not? And who spat in your cornflakes? M or F?

I don't dress for your personal pleasure.

I was responding to Greer, not the OP... and no, the manipulation of women by women does not tone down my rant.


And, BTW, I never claimed you dressed for my personal pleasure...

However, you are capable of comprehending that most heterosexual women WILL, from time to time, don an article of lingerie in contemplation of it stimulating their man, right?

So please don't pretend you, like any other woman, are unaware of the effect your attire and figure can have on men, and don't pretend you do not occasionally play to that audience.


And no, most of the time women don't dress for men... they dress to impress or suppress the catty critique of other women.

 

[gingernuts]

One issue is what would happen to the people who make bras ?

You have to respect Germaine Greer for her impact on society, woman have gone from being practically slaves to just plain poorly paid like the rest of us, and she shoots from the hip which is always refreshing, but targeting bras seems a bit bizarre.

The only issue I have with bras is that they are so damned hard to open !

 

[B_spotted_duck]

ahh, back to nature. let's see...
wrinkled rough skin from staying in the sun all day searching for food bare-feet with heavy duty callouses. sure, tits hanging to the waist. bring on the cro-magnum look

but at least they didn't have GEICO making fun of them...