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The Week In Review: Breast Confusion

It's all about context, the message seems to be. We need less sexualization of women's bodies (breasts in particular) and more acceptance of them as functional and natural. But the matter gets confusing is when you add in women like Paulina Gretzky, whose scantily clad body is all over Instagram in unmistakably sexy poses-- because she has freely chosen to put it there. Is she a feminist foe who is ensuring that generations of little girls will grow up objectified and not taken seriously by men? Or is her personal decision to celebrate her sexuality and glory in controlling her own image, critics (and Dad) be damned, actually a feminist move?
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This week saw a strong contingent of popular feminist content on HuffPost. Blogger Toula Foscolos expressed her frustration over the endless gratuitous shots of scantily clad women and their breasts (so many breasts!) in male artists' contemporary music vidoes, including Justin Timberlake's latest. Meanwhile, readers flocked to a story about Hollie McNish, the U.K. poet who made an angry video (now going viral) about being shamed out of breastfeeding her child in public. This juxtaposition of equally passionate calls for baring fewer and more breasts is intriguing given that both voices are coming from a position of trying to empower women. It's all about context, the message seems to be. We need less sexualization of women's bodies (breasts in particular) and more acceptance of them as functional and natural. When the matter gets confusing is when you add in women like Paulina Gretzky, whose scantily clad body is all over Instagram in unmistakably sexy poses-- because she has freely chosen to put it there. Is she a feminist foe who is ensuring that generations of little girls will grow up objectified and not taken seriously by men? Or is her personal decision to celebrate her sexuality and glory in controlling her own image, critics (and Dad) be damned, actually more of a feminist move than it's given credit for? That's one feminists will be debating for a long time to come.

Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake, Then and Now

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