THE OFFENSIVE BREAST

A few years back in Ndola, a number of statues were put at the Ndola Central hospital roundabout. This was a new thing in Ndola and it was all done through the effort of one of the local businessmen through his company. 

The four statues comprised of a warrior holding a spear and it was quickly named “Shaka” by the residents. The second statue was of a man with a pick on his shoulders and wearing a hard hat. This was called “Shi Maini” (The Miner). Then there was a statue of a woman with a clay pot on her head. The last statue was of a woman sitting on what looked like a tree stump while holding a fishing basket on her lap.

The last statue of the woman with the fishing basket was topless and this caused a furore among some residents who claimed that it was against our tradition to show a woman’s breasts in public. They claimed that the statue was demeaning and portraying women as sexual symbols.  The statue was promptly removed and modifications were made to it. The exposed breasts were covered with “cloth” before it was returned at the roundabout.

In Zambia we do not have a lot of statues. The only statues that come to mind are that of David Livingstone, the freedom statue in Lusaka which depicts a man breaking chains of bondage, the statue of a woman holding a baby in her arms at the Ndola Civic centre and that of a man throwing stones which is in Kitwe. There is also one more statue in Ndola of a man fighting with a lion just before the traffic lights at BBC Boutique.

When I first saw the statues at Ndola Central hospital roundabout, I was overjoyed because this was something new and unique.  The bare breasts on that statue did not even provoke any harmful or obscene thoughts in me. It came as a shock to me when people felt offended and requested that the statue be removed.

 The argument has always been that it is indecent for a woman to go topless in public and that it is not traditionally right according to the African culture. The later has been disputed by some people because the African traditional dressing for women has a background of using hides and skin to cover the bare essentials. Is it truly un-African for a woman to expose her breasts in public? 

In my view, I do not think it is a valid point to say it is un-African for a woman to go topless because many people have witnessed African traditional ceremonies where women go topless without covering their breasts. We have the famous reed dance in Swaziland where girls go topless while with very short skirts. In Zambia we have similar ceremonies too where women, including very old women, go out dancing without covering their breasts. The Masai women in East Africa go about their daily chores without covering their breasts.

It is believed that breasts became sexualized when people began to clothe themselves.  It is no doubt that our ancestors did not cover their breasts. The lack of clothing above the waist for both females and males was the norm in traditional cultures of not only Africa, but North America, Australia and the Pacific Islands until the arrival of Christian missionaries.

Even then, men were attracted to breasts but they did not have the great urgency to view them because they were constantly exposed and the men some got used to seeing them like that.  In societies where breasts are covered, an exposed breast becomes more desired. 

Breasts may be viewed as just mummery glands by some people but there is no doubt that they attract men and make them think about sex. This makes breasts sexual by nature.  Breasts are considered as secondary sex characteristics, and are sexually sensitive in many cases. Bare female breasts can elicit heightened sexual desires. 

Since they are associated with sex, in many cultures bare breasts are considered indecent, and they are not commonly displayed in public. So what makes other cultures freely allow women to walk without covering their breasts and not cause a commotion?

Views on covering the female breasts have differed widely throughout history and across cultures. Exposed breasts were a norm in many indigenous societies. Most cultures in the world today have informal and formal dress codes, legal statutes, or religious teachings that require females to cover their breasts in public. 

Contemporary Western cultures permit displays of cleavage in appropriate social contexts, but exposing the nipples is usually regarded as obscene and is sometimes prosecuted as indecent exposure. From early prehistoric art to the present day, women have been depicted topless in visual media from painting and sculpture to film and photography.

Breast-baring female fashions have been traced to 15th-century courtesan Agnès Sorel, mistress to Charles VII of France, whose gowns in the French court sometimes exposed one or both of her breasts. In the 16^th century, women’s fashions displaying their breasts were common in society and were worn by both Queens and common prostitutes. From the mid-19th century onward, however, social attitudes shifted. Women's breasts required to be covered in public.  

The extent to which a woman may expose her breasts depends on social and cultural context. In our Zambian society, it is not common to see a topless woman in public except at traditional ceremonies of some tribes. There is also an occasional time when you can see a woman breast feeding in public. Showing the nipples or areolae is almost always considered partial nudity and sexually appealing by many people. Women who expose their areole and nipples are also considered as immodest and contrary to social norms.

I don’t know exactly what the law in our country says on women who expose their breasts in public. The puzzling thing is why is it indecent to expose breasts at a beauty pageant or any other social gathering and not at the N’Cwala ceremony or any other traditional ceremony that allows women to go topless? 

Image courtesy of marin, freedigitalphotos.net