Monday, February 16, 2004
One of dad's duties to his daughters
By Russell King
I wasn’t going to comment on the Super Bowl Breast Incident (SBBI), because everyone else in the world did. But now, because everyone else in the world won’t quit commenting on it, I’ve got two cents to put in as a dad. Two cents, two words: Shut up!
Helping my daughters maintain healthy thoughts and feelings about their bodies is tough enough in this culture, and the message sent to them by your relentlessly expressed fury over SBBI only makes it tougher. You’re telling them, and millions of other women, that their breasts are "offensive," the sight of which warrants outrage and is somehow damaging to children. You’re wrong, of course, but you’re also threatening my children by potentially tainting their feelings about their bodies.
Now if your outrage were about the crude, loveless sexuality portrayed during the half-time performance (and many of the commercials), I'd agree. If your public outrage was aimed at the way Justin and Janet's performance insulted and degraded Janet’s body, I'd agree. But it's not. The thing that everyone seems so upset about is one breast, partially exposed for a few seconds. Breasts are not dirty: our minds are.
The FCC and Congress both immediately promised investigations into SBBI. Think about that. Amid a raging storm of conflict that calls into question the integrity of the White House, the Congress and the Supreme Court over issues of war, health and energy (that’s just the short list), our leaders leap into action at the fleeting sight of a partially exposed breast. Are we attempting to be the laughing stock of American history, or are we really this twisted, this perverse?
To my mind, as a dad, that’s not even the worst of it. The more important issue here is what we telling our daughters about their bodies when we speak of the sight of a breast in such negative terms. Are we to teach them that their bodies are not beautiful, wholesome, and sacred? Are we to teach them that they are dirty, degrading and dangerous? If so, count this dad out.
Have not breasts, for as long as we have recorded our sentiments, been an artistic, poetic and literary symbol for love and life? Have not breasts, and the rest of the human form, been honored, exquisitely and respectfully, by the likes of Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin, Michelangelo, DaVinci and Allegrain? Have not breasts been celebrated as clean and life-affirming even by the scriptures? (Read Proverbs, the Song of Solomon and Ezekiel.) Who are you to disagree?
It’s bad enough that the politicians, pundits and TV preachers are cashing in on SBBI, but now we have regular folks following suit by filing suit. Literally cashing in, Terri Carlin of Knoxville filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Janet and Justin for causing her to "suffer outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury." Carlin is asking for billions of dollars in "compensatory and punitive damages.” Yes, you read that right: billions for “serious injury.”
As a pastor friend of mine, who ministers to one of the more conservative congregations in our state remarked: “I have often been flummoxed over the fact that we can show blood, gore, incredibly violent beatings and dead bodies strewn across a field (on the network news, not just movies), but that the human body and natural intimacy should be governed. Now I don’t agree that we should show explicit love making on Sesame Street, but since when does the sight (flash, if you will) of a naked (even this is questionable) breast compare to the slitting of throats and police beating a black man on the street?” Amen, pastor. Since when, indeed.
Apparently, Carlin was able to endure hours of dogs biting men in the groin, horses lighting people on fire with their flatulence, disgraceful stereotypes of women, close-up commercial cutaways of cheerleaders’ breast, vampires, werewolves, the quality of Mike Ditka's erection, and the inherent violence of a professional football game--but the glimpse of a breast caused her enough "serious injury" to sue for billions of dollars. For the love of Pete.
Because our culture has long taught women—with disastrous results--that their bodies are inferior, inadequate and inappropriate, I’ve always seen it as the duty of a dad to teach my daughters that their bodies, their sexuality and their ability to create and sustain life are precious gifts from the Creator. Now, thanks to the reactions to SBBI, I’ll also have to teach them that anyone who would say otherwise is illiterate ill-mannered and immoral. You know who you are.
By Russell King
I wasn’t going to comment on the Super Bowl Breast Incident (SBBI), because everyone else in the world did. But now, because everyone else in the world won’t quit commenting on it, I’ve got two cents to put in as a dad. Two cents, two words: Shut up!
Helping my daughters maintain healthy thoughts and feelings about their bodies is tough enough in this culture, and the message sent to them by your relentlessly expressed fury over SBBI only makes it tougher. You’re telling them, and millions of other women, that their breasts are "offensive," the sight of which warrants outrage and is somehow damaging to children. You’re wrong, of course, but you’re also threatening my children by potentially tainting their feelings about their bodies.
Now if your outrage were about the crude, loveless sexuality portrayed during the half-time performance (and many of the commercials), I'd agree. If your public outrage was aimed at the way Justin and Janet's performance insulted and degraded Janet’s body, I'd agree. But it's not. The thing that everyone seems so upset about is one breast, partially exposed for a few seconds. Breasts are not dirty: our minds are.
The FCC and Congress both immediately promised investigations into SBBI. Think about that. Amid a raging storm of conflict that calls into question the integrity of the White House, the Congress and the Supreme Court over issues of war, health and energy (that’s just the short list), our leaders leap into action at the fleeting sight of a partially exposed breast. Are we attempting to be the laughing stock of American history, or are we really this twisted, this perverse?
To my mind, as a dad, that’s not even the worst of it. The more important issue here is what we telling our daughters about their bodies when we speak of the sight of a breast in such negative terms. Are we to teach them that their bodies are not beautiful, wholesome, and sacred? Are we to teach them that they are dirty, degrading and dangerous? If so, count this dad out.
Have not breasts, for as long as we have recorded our sentiments, been an artistic, poetic and literary symbol for love and life? Have not breasts, and the rest of the human form, been honored, exquisitely and respectfully, by the likes of Renoir, Cézanne, Gauguin, Michelangelo, DaVinci and Allegrain? Have not breasts been celebrated as clean and life-affirming even by the scriptures? (Read Proverbs, the Song of Solomon and Ezekiel.) Who are you to disagree?
It’s bad enough that the politicians, pundits and TV preachers are cashing in on SBBI, but now we have regular folks following suit by filing suit. Literally cashing in, Terri Carlin of Knoxville filed a proposed class action lawsuit against Janet and Justin for causing her to "suffer outrage, anger, embarrassment and serious injury." Carlin is asking for billions of dollars in "compensatory and punitive damages.” Yes, you read that right: billions for “serious injury.”
As a pastor friend of mine, who ministers to one of the more conservative congregations in our state remarked: “I have often been flummoxed over the fact that we can show blood, gore, incredibly violent beatings and dead bodies strewn across a field (on the network news, not just movies), but that the human body and natural intimacy should be governed. Now I don’t agree that we should show explicit love making on Sesame Street, but since when does the sight (flash, if you will) of a naked (even this is questionable) breast compare to the slitting of throats and police beating a black man on the street?” Amen, pastor. Since when, indeed.
Apparently, Carlin was able to endure hours of dogs biting men in the groin, horses lighting people on fire with their flatulence, disgraceful stereotypes of women, close-up commercial cutaways of cheerleaders’ breast, vampires, werewolves, the quality of Mike Ditka's erection, and the inherent violence of a professional football game--but the glimpse of a breast caused her enough "serious injury" to sue for billions of dollars. For the love of Pete.
Because our culture has long taught women—with disastrous results--that their bodies are inferior, inadequate and inappropriate, I’ve always seen it as the duty of a dad to teach my daughters that their bodies, their sexuality and their ability to create and sustain life are precious gifts from the Creator. Now, thanks to the reactions to SBBI, I’ll also have to teach them that anyone who would say otherwise is illiterate ill-mannered and immoral. You know who you are.
