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Slut shaming or celebration – what do breasts deserve?

It is 2015. It’s early January so admittedly it’s only just 2015, but we are still in what is very much a modern year. Pizza can be ordered by app, televisions can be voice activated, and people are building careers out of their Instagram feeds. All very modern.

So why is it that although we can take advantage of all these technological advances, we are still stuck in the confines of history when it comes to the female anatomy?

Granted, we are permitted to flash our ankles now, so that’s already a giant leap forward from the Victorian era. But why is it that our breasts are considered to be so controversial and so shocking when they’ve been around for far longer than any touch-screen device or modern app?

More to the point, why are women’s breasts and nipples campaigned against and criticised while men are free to pose topless, stride around shirtless, and bare their chests to their heart’s content?

Today is a prime example of the sexist attitudes that our society has towards women’s bodies. Rita Ora has come under fire for appearing on UK television programme ‘The One Show’ before 7pm and baring her cleavage before the watershed. Keep in mind that otherwise, she is completely covered by a sophisticated white trouser suit – it’s just her cleavage that’s exposed.

At present there have been over 400 complaints, blasting her for being ‘revealing’ and ‘disgraceful’. One particularly charming Twitter user wrote ‘Watching #theoneshow @RitaOra manages to look like a trashy slut before the watershed. Put them away!!’

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In the meantime, tween idol Justin Bieber has recently landed a deal with Calvin Klein to star in their spring 2015 advertising campaign. As such, the internet today has been flooded with photos of the singer in nothing but their iconic Calvin Klein boxer briefs, which leave essentially nothing left to the imagination. Teen girls everywhere have been praising Bieber as a ‘sex god’ and ‘perfect’. Nowhere are the complaints of his exposed body being inappropriate,  or the derogatory assumptions about his promiscuity or class.

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Why? Because while men’s bodies are celebrated and accepted as the norm, women’s are scrutinised to within an inch of their lives, reviewed, objectified and regarded in a solely sexual light.

Kim Kardashian’s naked photoshoot for Paper magazine, Rihanna’s breast-baring dress at the CFDA awards, Miley Cyrus’s topless Instagram selfie – all were hounded by calls of ‘slut’. All were shamed, cruelly judged and torn to pieces as cheap or trashy. The shirtless Diet Coke hunk and Zac Efron’s naked torso at the MTV Awards in 2014 were meanwhile widely glorified as sexy and playful.

In this day and age, surely women’s bodies should not still be tarnished with the generalised and indisputably insulting brush of sleaze and sexism. Our bodies are not sex toys, they are not dirty, they are not things we should be hiding. They are natural, they are beautiful and are capable of amazing things – of Olympic medals and modeling and motherhood. I for one will not be covering up my body this year just to please the tutting and judgement of the ignorant ones – I will be making like Rita Ora and exuding pride and beauty and happiness with my own body regardless of anyone else’s discomfort. Breasts are not a burden, they are a blessing – so if my cleavage offends you, keep your eyes and mouth the same as your mind; closed.

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