Attitude to women is more than just a storm in a B-cup

BOOBS, and our attitudes towards them, seem to have dominated the news cycle over the last few days. Right now there’s many a gurgly tummy in the Irish Daily Star following its decision to publish photographs of Kate Middleton sunbathing topless.

Part owner of the paper, Richard Desmond, (previous credits include Penthouse and Asian Babes) is suddenly disgusted by this kind of thing and has made outraged noises about closing the paper down.

Of course it’s not the boobs themselves that are the problem; it never is. It’s the context of the boobs. In isolation, the female breast is a beautiful wonder of nature. But they’ve become so weighed down with social, sexual and political significance that women may have to start wearing titanium bras.

In the case of Kate Middleton, the problem is that this is a royal boob. A topless X-Factor judge or a soap star would have been perfectly acceptable, but invading royal privacy after the phone hacking scandal is now regarded as politically poisonous in Britain. Desmond, who also owns the British Star newspaper, is not motivated by principle so much as the instinct to protect his publishing empire in Britain. Alas, the general principle of invasion of privacy will not be addressed because of this.

Meanwhile, Rosanna Davison’s boobs appeared on the cover of the German edition of Playboy magazine. The photograph had her adorned with coral necklaces like she was a member of some heavily made-up beach-dwelling tribe. Inside, there was more of the same, along with an article that breathlessly revealed that Davison feels good with German men and finds lederhosen sexy.

Since then, she’s given other interviews in which she said posing for the pictures helped her get over hang-ups about her body. Playboy, she opined is “hardly pornography”.

Rather puzzlingly for someone who works in the media, Davison seems to feel the only context in which her boobs are viewed is the one she has chosen: That it is all vaguely “empowering”. The language of feminism being used to explain appearing in a soft-porn magazine. She seems unaware of what context the million ‘readers’ of German Playboy might choose to view her body, or how this might bolster attitudes they already carry: that women like doing this kind of thing, and it’s always their own choice, that they are well-paid for it, so fair play to them. Attitudes that have been echoed in the media here.

And if all things were equal, that would be fine. But all things are not equal, and to pretend otherwise is, at best, stupid; at worst, obscenely hypocritical. “Choice” is a scarce commodity for many women. And more than ever, it seems, we live in a world where people are easily reduced to pieces of meat.