breasts not bomb - our boobs as public enemy number 2

Breasts! Public enemy number two!

Sacramento police arrested two women from the Mendocino based organization Breasts Not Bombs after they removed their tops during a protest on the steps of the California State Capitol on Monday, November 7th, 2005.
Sherry Glaser 45, and Renee Love 40, of Albion were charged with indecent exposure, disorderly conduct and going beyond the scope of their permit to demonstrate on state property. The two women were hauled off in front of at least 100 people while protesting Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ballot measures. Officials at the Sacramento district attorney’s office were to decide whether to prosecute the protesters and if they did, whether to include them on the state’s list of registered sex offenders.
YES. You read that correctly. Going topless is now a crime so heinous; an offense so serious, it could land you on a list along with pedophiles, violent rapists and other sexual predators. The idea that a woman’s bare breasts could be considered a crime worthy of description as “sex offenders” should outrage every citizen with nipples! Since when has the human body become so dangerous and subversive that it is a crime to show it under any circumstances? Only in the United States of American can you view guns, shootings and violent crimes to your hearts content on prime time television but you will NEVER, EVER see a naked boob. Only in the United States are we proclaiming our superiority as a nation, while our leaders like John Ashcroft cover the marble breasts of benign nude statues in shame and disgust. Is it any wonder, then, that our beloved country has given birth to some of the most violent criminals in the world? Men like Jeffrey Dahmer, Gary Ridgeway and Charles Ng are all home-grown America sexual predators who grew up watching gun slingers on television but were censored from seeing psychologically damaging nudity.
Glaser and Love held up signs at the protest with slogans that read: “War is indecent” “ Poverty is indecent” “ George Bush’s agenda is indecency.” They bared their breasts to call attention to their cause but also to illustrate the graphic hypocrisy in our flawed society. When we are force-feeding our so-called democracy down the throats of third world countries but are unable to show our beautiful bodies in the sun, what kind of freedom do we really have? While we are piling up billions in debt to spread democracy, American women are still unable to perform a natural act like breast-feeding their infants in some public places. While it is perfectly legal for men to go shirtless in public, women risk being classified as sex offenders for baring the same body parts!
I love breasts. I think they are all beautiful. Little perky peach sized ones - Big ol’ floppy ones - Skin tags and flesh bags – Silicone implants or prosthesis - ain’t any of us would be here today without a pair of tits somewhere in the world who gave us life. I think more women should bare their breasts as a protest symbol. I think all people should have the right to walk around topless on a hot summer day. I have seen many hairy chests with large breasts on males at the beach and I. for one, would much rather see more naked female breasts.
I am ashamed sometimes of this civilization that treats half of its people so uncivilized. In Europe, it is common-place to see naked breasts and bodies at the beach. No one notices. No one cares. Why are we so hung up on nudity? Why are we treated like little impressionable children in this country who cannot even handle viewing the human body in all its glory?
I dream of a time and place where women’s breasts will be honored and worshipped as sacred and cherished; a time where we will all be able to embrace the similarities of our bodies and love each other because of our collective humanity. Yes, we are all different in our languages, races, customs and religions but when we are all naked, we are all one human species.
Breasts are not dangerous weapons. They are beautiful symbols of life. They give life to suckling infants. They make life better because of their existence. We are all cradled in the bosom of Mother Earth. The sooner we realize how much we are alike and how little really divides us, the sooner we will all evolve and reach our higher ground.