Body Art and Breasts

Does anyone besides me find it incongruous that the generation that made slicing and then stuffing a woman’s breasts with silicone as ubiquitous as male circumcision would dare condemn the current body piercing and tattooing rage as having attracted the full frontal wrath of God? Now that I mention it, where was that wrath when the Israelites introduced adult male circumcision?

Mind you, although in private I might admit to an occasional inkling that such things could be delightfully titillating in the right circumstances, I am generally not a fan of multiple body piercings and tattoos. That is my choice and preference. But why don’t our religious leaders find enhancing one’s breasts just as ungodly a practice as piercing or poking one’s skin? While the burgeoning breasts of their parishioners may have understandably escaped their notice, could it be that since breast "artists" have the sacrosanct title of doctor, wear a suit and live in a mansion that their laying on of hands is somehow less evocative than the tattoo artist's handiwork upon the same? Are sex-based Barbie values somehow more palatable than sex-based Tattoo Parlor values? And other than reconstruction after a mastectomy or some other disfiguring tragedy, don’t tell me that breast enlargements have nothing to do with sex or feeling and being seen as sexy. It certainly isn’t done to enhance their functionality for breast feeding or for some other utilitarian purpose like keeping the cows at bay come milking time; nor have I heard of them being marketed for use as auxiliary airbags or flotation devices.

Fact is, they have everything to do with sex. (Is this a surprise?) Moreover, unlike tattoos and piercings, most women who elect to have their otherwise perfect breasts enlarged do so because of our culture’s dictation of what is sexy. Let’s admit that before we claim that one particular body-mutilation art is somehow more evil or more damaging than another. As for me, and I hope other men, although nurture and nature may have inclined our eye toward the more visible of nature’s mammary organs, and although the occasional trinket or discreetly placed tattoo may momentarily intrigue--poise and knowing how to use what God has blessed you with will always trump as more sexy the body artist’s embellishments of breast and skin. Vivé la natural!

Loren M. Lambert
© November 4, 2002