Possibly the stupidest idea I have ever heard

[crowdog66]

Behold, The Open-Source Boob Project. (Check the journal as a whole for later posts on the subject, including an attempt at clarification.)

The skinny: a proposition that at some sci fi conventions, men should be free to ask any woman if they can grab their breasts.

More commentary (and more links) here.

And here.

All I can say is this: in my present mood, any guy who walked up to me and said "Can I feel your boobs?" would instead be feeling the painful end of some Wen-Do self-defense techniques.

So what do y'all think? Is this actually a good idea, or do you agree that it's really not? I'm willing to listen to reasoned arguments.

Comments

[crowdog66.livejournal.com]

I appreciate the extra "behind the scenes" information by someone who knows him from other situations. It puts a more human face on someone who, truth be told, I only knew from this kerfuffle.

Still... I just think the whole idea is a bad one, no matter who came up with it. It's unfortunate for theferrett that he decided to be the point man for it, as he's certainly discovered.

[beckyzoole.livejournal.com]

Yep. I agree to both your points.

I think that by looking theferrett's take of the idea, we can see how very different basic worldview assumptions can be, even when we're talking about well-meaning, generally feminist people.

I am a woman whose breasts are no more sensitive than any other normally-covered part of the body (nipples are a different matter, I mean the "body" of the breast). I beastfed both my children, including in public, and I dealt with plenty of people who thought it was shameful to let any part of my breasts be seen, even when they were doing what they're there for.

So to me treating women's breasts differently from men's seems like a mass artificial fetishization. It requires me to wear a shirt when I'm working in my yard on a hot day, even though my husband may remove his shirt. It makes men I dated think that breasts were an especially erotic zone, even though I would have gotten more physical pleasure out of a good back rub than breast fondling.

I would LOVE it if breasts were defetishized, if "may I touch your breasts" was no more shameful or awkward than "may I rub your back" or "may I braid your hair" -- questions that are fairly common between acquaintances at cons.

But, here's the thing: theferrett didn't seem to lose his fetishization of the breast. I can't say it was reinforced; it seems to have shifted somewhat for him; however, the fetish is still there.

Meh, to each his own. It's just not going to work that way, I think.