It occurs to me that there is something of a double standard when it comes to what is considered to be “indecent exposure,” and how society reacts to it. The Canadian Criminal Code defines “nudity” as “so clad as to offend public decency or order.” Yet who gets to decide what is “decent,” “offensive,” or “orderly”? Why is a bare-chested man at the beach considered acceptable and normal, but a woman in exactly the same situation is not? Laws and standards such as these vary by time and place, and I think it is worth examining the common double standard regarding exposure of the chest for males and females.
Based on changes in fashions and social attitudes over the past few years, I had assumed that the female breast was on its way to respectability, or at least not being as taboo as genitalia. Then again, back in the 1970s it looked like the bra might go the way of the corset, but that didn’t happen, and most women nowadays wouldn’t be caught dead in public without one. Social change does not always go in a straight line or go in the direction you expect.
Ultimately, cultural, and by extension legal, standards of decency are changeable and arbitrary. At the beach or pool, a woman can wear a micro bikini that only covers two per cent of her body, but if she reveals the faintest sliver of areola, suddenly she has gone too far. Seventy-five years ago, swimsuits that exposed the navel were considered shocking, which goes to show how standards have evolved.
Personally, I believe that both women and men ought to have the right to be topless in public. I do not consider any part of the human body inherently sexual or obscene. By my standards, being “decent” is more about how one carries themselves and overall care in personal appearance rather than how much or how little one wears, but that’s just me.
Even though I am male, I too have breasts and nipples. I generally avoid going bare-chested for both personal and cultural reasons. My personal reasons include: general self-consciousness, severe bacne, and low body mass which means I get cold easily. There is also the matter of cultural conditioning. Even if toplessness were to be declared universally legal tomorrow, with no ifs, ands, or buts, I doubt many people would go shirtless in public any time soon. In Canadian culture, it is simply considered uncouth to go about half-clothed, legality notwithstanding, and this attitude would not change overnight. A bare-chested man is just as likely to draw my shocked gaze as a bare-chested woman.
Even so, I still support the right of anyone to wear whatever they please as long as there are no health and safety issues, and I am not being forced to dress the same. I may find the way you dress distasteful, but that is my problem, not yours. I make a point of not criticizing the way anyone dresses, since I would not want anyone to do the same to me.
I recall an incident in the not too distant past wherein Google flagged photos of Swazi and Zulu women in traditional costume which does not cover the breasts. Even though the context was not at all sexual or intended to titillate, Google nevertheless applied the cultural standards of their (Western) moderators to those who do not share them. Many Muslim cultures consider exposure of womens’ hair indecent, so shouldn’t we censor photos that show women with uncovered hair as well? Why does mainstream Western culture get to dictate standards, while others (whether more relaxed or modest) are expected to toe the line? In my opinion, this sort of thinking goes beyond mere prudishness and crosses the line into cultural imperialism.
What we see in these crackdowns on non-sexual nudity by private companies like Google, or by governments, is the imposition of cultural norms by a powerful minority on a populace that does not necessarily share them. How acceptable nudity is to me varies, but I try to avoid holding beliefs that are inconsistent, and I cannot abide abuse of power under any circumstances. If the only ethical choice is between everything or nothing, I would choose everything knowing full well the negative consequences I might have to put up with.
Naked or niqab, you do you. All I ask is that you allow me and everyone else the same privilege.
Illustration: Kayt Hine
