Letters to the Editor
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Holography
The national fixation on breast size is holographic: the part reveals the whole. Figuratively, not literally. On one level, it is just business trend generation in order to arouse new product demand. The trend will last a while, then new trends will replace it.
On another level, the fixation is an example of the confusion of form with substance. We live in animal bodies, and we don't have control over the bodies we are given. There are forms that I find more beautiful than others, but the people I prefer to be around have internal beauty. I know that's a cliche, but it's true. I get away from people I don't like.
I lived in a co-op once where some people walked around naked, and worked at a holistic studies center where the sauna was something of an au-naturel hangout after a day's toil. The variety was an eye-opener, so to speak, and was a consciousness-altering experience. I was amazed at how many women had completely flat breasts. One only had scars.
With all our empire-building over the past few years, our propagandizing media have been making much of the treatment of women in Muslim countries, especially how they cover themselves so completely in order not to attract or arouse men. I look at it as an acknowledgement of the weakness and rapaciousness of men rather than the inferiority of women. It is an imperfect solution, but it puts everyone on an equal plane, making internal beauty more important.
Nudity actually has the same effect. When the body is demystified by external enhancements, it is just a body. Some are more attractive than others, but we are all equal with our clothes off. Breasts evolved for feeding babies. Belly buttons are remnants of birth. Sex organs are necessary for propagation of the species. The pelvic area is also where we eliminate waste, liquid and solid. Hair likely evolved for cushioning and warmth.
Given that we in the industrialized world are becoming increasingly removed from our animal natures and moving increasingly toward the surreal, we can expect such silliness as this article describes to continue, and likely to get sillier. Can we get any sillier than having George W. Bush as our president for eight years? Time will tell.