One of the easiest and most low-cost things you can do in this world when it comes to other people’s bodies is mind your own business. That’s the sort of 2022 etiquette lesson some people might need a reminder for after a few years of low human contact. And you can always count on Reddit’s “Am I the Asshole?” (AITA) to help with that kind of reminder while give some prime examples of how not to treat other people — especially when it comes to talking about other people’s boobs.
One user, u/witcherlady, shared how she went for some breakfast without having the time or energy to throw on a bra. If you’re a person with breasts, we’ve all been there.
“I was standing in line to pick up my food when an older woman grabbed me by the arm and told me I needed to cover up immediately,” they wrote. “I asked her what she meant and she squeezed my arm even harder, which was now making me very upset, and she told me to cover up my breasts. I should note, I was wearing a light blue shirt. It wasn’t sheer at all, you could just tell my nipples were standing up underneath. I jerked my arm away, told her not to touch me and to mind her own business. She responded that I was lucky she didn’t call the police for indecent exposure.”
The user went on to say that even though she didn’t think of their outfit as anything “risqué,” the whole interaction had them feeling like they were in the wrong for having a body in public and telling someone not to touch her or shame her about it.
While obviously, if you see the first line of this story, you can pretty comfortably guess our POV on this situation. It feels extremely exhausting to still have to have conversations about why nipples (and all of the boob — along with any part of a person’s body) shouldn’t be stigmatized or sexualized. Like, we first had the “free the nipple” talk a whole decade ago, and it’s long since past the time where people should be able to recognize that the fatty areas on a person’s chest (the things used to feed babies) do not to be inherently treated like scandalous, sexual objects. It’s just not the vibe of this— or any — era.
And, if we’re going to see body positivity and neutrality take their final and most powerful form — a cultural understanding and respect for individual’s space, no matter what their bodies look like or do — it’ll have to start by us making it very clear that a body existing in a public space is a neutral thing that will never warrant this kind of behavior.
And, don’t worry, the energy in the reddit post underneath had most people agreeing that the only a-hole in this equation was the other person surveilling and policing how another person existed in their body. And, as one wise user wrote “It’s such a double standard. Breasts are just two globes of fat stuck to a persons chest. They are not even sexual organs but for some reason it’s unacceptable for someone to have those out…”
And, yes, hard agree. This is your friendly reminder that you’ll never regret anything (or end up being the villain of a viral reddit post) by opting to be cool, mind your business and keep your hands to yourselves.
Before you go, check out our favorite quotes to help inspire healthy attitudes about food and bodies:
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