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nadine_mn

(3,702 posts)
Mon Feb 27, 2012, 06:33 PM Feb 2012

What is the big deal with nipples?

All this kerfuffle about JLo's supposed nip slip at the Oscar's makes me wonder ... Why nipples - women's nipples - are such a big deal?

I'm not talking about breasts - heck even I appreciate a nice set. But we see on tv everyday lots and lots of breasts. Sometimes we see skimpy tops or that just barely cover the nipple. The nipple - depending on the size of the breast - makes up just a small part of the actual breast..so why is it sooooo taboo?

And it's only women's nipples - we see men's nipples all the time. Some men are fit and athletic, showing off exercise equipment with oiled down chests and some men (in the same commercial at times as the "before" pic) not so fit with big man boobs and breasts larger than many female models' bosoms and again their nipples are prominent.

So it's not the actual nipple that is so taboo? It's that it's attached to a female breast of any size even when we can see 90% of the actual breast?

I don't get it...I really don't

32 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
What is the big deal with nipples? (Original Post) nadine_mn Feb 2012 OP
i dont either La Lioness Priyanka Feb 2012 #1
I don't understand the big deal with breasts period av8rdave Feb 2012 #2
Only in America! AsahinaKimi Feb 2012 #3
Frickin' Puritans. Too bad their boats didn't sink in the Atlantic on their way over. Arugula Latte Feb 2012 #18
I think Japan has been getting a little more uptight about that in recent years Art_from_Ark Feb 2012 #19
It's amazing Doc Holliday Feb 2012 #24
Tell me, and we'll both know n/t arcane1 Feb 2012 #4
It's boobies. WhoIsNumberNone Feb 2012 #5
This thread is useless without pix. baldguy Feb 2012 #6
I've handled many of those nipples backwoodsbob Feb 2012 #8
Because female breasts are commoditized and viewing a female nipple costs more. Gold Metal Flake Feb 2012 #7
Ever since I visited that health club in Nurtingen, Germany... trof Feb 2012 #9
Remember this country was founded by Puritans, you knw, PRUDES csziggy Feb 2012 #17
Jlo showed her nipple on German TV properly jakeXT Feb 2012 #21
Years ago, Gene Roddenberry ran afoul of censors at NBC because he had hedgehog Feb 2012 #10
Clearly breasts indicate we are mammals and therefore go Darwin! RedCloud Feb 2012 #11
All I can think of is Helen Lovejoy sakabatou Feb 2012 #12
It's a gateway drug. rug Feb 2012 #13
Well played, sir, cliffordu Feb 2012 #20
Did you mean gateway 'dug'? trof Feb 2012 #22
LOL Once when I was in 6th grade a Weimaraner bitch visited the school playground marzipanni Feb 2012 #27
Beats me...even pipi_k Feb 2012 #14
We're sophisticated. We have the sense to be ashamed. dimbear Feb 2012 #15
HAHAHAHAHAHA! Kali Feb 2012 #16
For reals? UnrepentantLiberal Feb 2012 #31
I don't get it, either Doc Holliday Feb 2012 #23
It's a guy thing. HopeHoops Feb 2012 #25
not sure but whenever I order two breasts snooper2 Feb 2012 #26
I was in line behind a guy at Kentucky Fried Chicken UnrepentantLiberal Feb 2012 #28
Believe it or not, women can go topless in NYC. UnrepentantLiberal Feb 2012 #29
I prefer to keep mine covered/protected Kali Feb 2012 #30
Nipples Major Nikon Feb 2012 #32

av8rdave

(10,573 posts)
2. I don't understand the big deal with breasts period
Mon Feb 27, 2012, 06:37 PM
Feb 2012

When I saw my first pair (that I can remember), I was quite surprised to find that I didn't go blind OR crosseyed.

AsahinaKimi

(20,776 posts)
3. Only in America!
Mon Feb 27, 2012, 06:37 PM
Feb 2012

Last edited Mon Feb 27, 2012, 07:59 PM - Edit history (1)

I don't think this applies to Europe, South America or Asia. Maybe we can thank the Puritans for this kind of thinking. People in this country are wound up too tight..

 

Arugula Latte

(50,566 posts)
18. Frickin' Puritans. Too bad their boats didn't sink in the Atlantic on their way over.
Mon Feb 27, 2012, 11:18 PM
Feb 2012

The religiously insane have had way too much power in this country ever since.

How come we got the grumpy boat of bandy-legged Puritans? How come we didn't get the Italian party boat with the cappuccino makes and the gelato machine? That was the sexy boat, man.~Greg Proops

Art_from_Ark

(27,247 posts)
19. I think Japan has been getting a little more uptight about that in recent years
Tue Feb 28, 2012, 04:34 AM
Feb 2012

It used to be that late-night Japanese TV was quite unabashed when it came to showing women's bare upper torsos, but that has apparently, like the beer vending machines, gone by the wayside.

Doc Holliday

(719 posts)
24. It's amazing
Tue Feb 28, 2012, 11:53 AM
Feb 2012

how we as a society can be both wound up too tight, yet be not too tightly wrapped....at the same time.

Only in America.

WhoIsNumberNone

(7,875 posts)
5. It's boobies.
Mon Feb 27, 2012, 06:49 PM
Feb 2012

And we don't want the boys getting overstimulated, do we? But how much boobie can we see before it's too much? I think the nipple was just a convenient & non-subjective line of demarcation between decent and indecent.

trof

(54,256 posts)
9. Ever since I visited that health club in Nurtingen, Germany...
Mon Feb 27, 2012, 07:31 PM
Feb 2012

and sat totally nude with a dozen or more total strangers in the sauna...and the steam room...and the pool, nipples haven't been such a big deal for me.

It was the town's health club, located in the hotel where I was staying.
Clothing 'optional', but if you wore a bathing suit you'd stick out like a sore thumb.
Everyone from seniors to toddlers wore nothing but a smile.
Europeans generally have a much healthier attitude about nudity than we do.

It was considered 'polite' to wrap in a towel if you went in the cozy bar for a cold beer.
Yup, a beerstube in a health club.

csziggy

(34,136 posts)
17. Remember this country was founded by Puritans, you knw, PRUDES
Mon Feb 27, 2012, 11:00 PM
Feb 2012

People so obnoxiously convinced that they knew the only way into heaven, they were thrown out of nearly every country in Europe.

hedgehog

(36,286 posts)
10. Years ago, Gene Roddenberry ran afoul of censors at NBC because he had
Mon Feb 27, 2012, 07:35 PM
Feb 2012

alien women dressed in costumes with cut-outs on the underside of the breasts!

trof

(54,256 posts)
22. Did you mean gateway 'dug'?
Tue Feb 28, 2012, 11:05 AM
Feb 2012

dug
2 ? ?[duhg]
noun
the mamma or the nipple of a female mammal.

marzipanni

(6,011 posts)
27. LOL Once when I was in 6th grade a Weimaraner bitch visited the school playground
Tue Feb 28, 2012, 12:02 PM
Feb 2012

She had dugs, 4 pairs of rather large ones, as she apparently had recently whelped a litter of pups. My friends and I thought she'd look funny wearing four strapless bras.

pipi_k

(21,020 posts)
14. Beats me...even
Mon Feb 27, 2012, 08:04 PM
Feb 2012

when they show breast surgery stuff on TV and they're showing the whole breast, they always block out the nipple.

Weird.

dimbear

(6,271 posts)
15. We're sophisticated. We have the sense to be ashamed.
Mon Feb 27, 2012, 10:09 PM
Feb 2012

Just like your dog is ashamed when you give it a bath.

Some things aren't meant to be seen.

Doc Holliday

(719 posts)
23. I don't get it, either
Tue Feb 28, 2012, 11:15 AM
Feb 2012

and I don't think I want to. While I've never been a "bottle baby", I like a perky set of nips as much as the next man. Most hetero males of my generation remember the cover to Carly Simon's No Secrets, even if we didn't buy the album.

It's one of those things that I don't wish to analyze too closely for fear that it'll lose whatever minimal mystique it holds for me.

 

UnrepentantLiberal

(11,700 posts)
28. I was in line behind a guy at Kentucky Fried Chicken
Tue Feb 28, 2012, 03:26 PM
Feb 2012

when he told the girl at the counter that he wanted two breasts. It seemed like she thought he was being a smart ass.

 

UnrepentantLiberal

(11,700 posts)
29. Believe it or not, women can go topless in NYC.
Tue Feb 28, 2012, 03:43 PM
Feb 2012

There are women who sit in Central Park and read books topless. When we were marching on the Brooklyn Bridge there was a woman who was topless. I have her picture, and the only reason I didn't post it with the other pictures of the march is because I didn't want the thread locked for showing -gasp- naughty bits.

Topless women are no problem on European television, but violence is frowned on. We have channels that wallow in violence 24/7, but breasts? You'll freak out the children! We're a very strange country.

Kali

(55,008 posts)
30. I prefer to keep mine covered/protected
Tue Feb 28, 2012, 03:49 PM
Feb 2012

I have a light switch in a narrow bathroom doorway that is just the right height...OWWWW

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