A friend arrived in Manhattan with his three children just in time for the press to erupt with stories about topless women in Times Square (e.g., nytimes, Daily News). His response to the complaints that this kind of, um, exposure would be bad for children: “It is not even in the top 100 things in NY that can harm children.”
14 thoughts on “Parent’s view on topless women in Times Square”
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In the new, Disneyfied, corporate friendly NYC? Really? What are the other 99? Having the guy in the Lion King giraffe costume topple onto you from the stage? Being hit by a stockbroker jumping out of one of the office towers when the market crashes? Going into diabetic shock after overindulging in the M&M candy store?
OTOH, I remember Times Square back in the day (70’s and ’80s). I remember driving thru at 4AM after a closing that ran late (not unusual in those days) and the denizens genuinely looked like a vision out of Dante’s Inferno.
But today?
scads of homeless camped out on the sidewalks and dead rats in the curb(didn’t see any live ones in 3 days there though) in Chelsea & Flatiron might be more attention-grabbing for the elementary-aged child
Messengers on bikes running red lights and plowing down pedestrians. Cars with drivers not paying attention to the road. Terrorism. Falling onto the subway tracks. Being bitten by a massive rat. There are plenty of potential things that can harm you in a city, or anywhere else for that matter, that aren’t worth devoting more than a millisecond of thought worrying about.
But I truly can’t fathom why a bunch of people not wearing shirts and bras warrants any attention whatsoever. The only argument I’ve heard repeatedly is that it’s “icky” that women might walk around topless, and that it will somehow destroy the moral fiber of society, not to mention the permanent harm on the delicate brains of young children, who themselves were feeding from breasts a few years prior.
A curious nonchalance about exposing kids to sexual parts of adult bodies. Wouldn’t a teacher be fired and jailed for similar exposure?
This fear of female toplessness is as good proof as any of GENDER DISCRIMINATION. So The Naked Cowboy in Times Square can strut his stuff with impunity (worse! become a NYC cultural icon & selfie magnet), but a similarly endowed Naked Cowgirl would constitute a threat to morality???????
As a father of two I’d mark the uneven steps on the subway exit as a bigger threat:
My guess is that the only ones that are afraid of the topless women are the parents of teenagers lest it gives them even better ideas to annoy their parents.
Peter – Breasts aren’t “sexual parts” of childrens’ or adults’ bodies,.male or female. They may be considered attractive by other adults, but so can legs, feet, butt, etc, and all of those can legally be exposed (in the case of the butt: as long as the genitals are covered up, since those ARE sexual parts). The only difference with toplessness is the fact that western society has artificially made it taboo.
IanF raises an excellent point, inadvertently. What if the Naked Cowboy were to experience gender dysphoria and gradually become the Naked Cowgirl? At what point would his/her breasts become large enough for New York city and state politicians to complain about?
LOL. On the flip side, you can go to Jones Beach or Coney Island in any given summer day and find topless guys with breasts larger than most women.
I’m going to say it’s not size, but rather the moment the Naked Cowboy signs his gender change paperwork, that the trouble begins.
Journalism is maybe 20% civic-minded reporting and 80% carnival barking. I’m guessing the eruption of stories about attractive topless women is being driven by the opportunity it offers “news” outlets to sell the titillation.
cross-post but IssacD reminds me that another thing I fear more than Iran with nukes is getting man boobs.
Isaac D. – If breasts don’t seem like sexual parts of women why would my girlfriend ask me to to play with them?
Why would it seem wrong for me to hold my sisters’ or mother’s breasts?
I don’t think men tend to get nearly as much sexual stimulation as women from breast touching. Now, some women could take it or leave it, but no doubt they are sexual parts.
My son was close up and personal to my wifes boobs for his first year or so. Doesn’t seem to have caused him any permanent scars.
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