Tit for tat

2005-04-08 14:00

Today is National Cleavage Day.

So today is "National Cleavage Day". As a woman, and a secure one at that, I have a bone to pick about this general issue.

Firstly, I don't think most women are so insecure that they need to be given a day which gives them permission to expose extra flesh.

I've always thought that women who are proud of their breasts are going to do with them whatsoever they wish - be that expose, expand or conceal them.

So in many ways I'm all for Cleavage Day - but that should be whichever day a woman wants it to be, according to her mood and fashion sense.

I'm quite offended'

Then in other ways I'm quite offended by this whole idea. It started out as a marketing campaign by Wonderbra, cleverly, but thinly, disguised as a women's empowerment initiative.

The idea of a Wonderbra is a little offensive in itself - it makes women aspire to lofty teats beyond their god given quota, and frankly I find it unnecessary that they feel they should have to or want to.

Lots of exposure later, the day has become a regularly observed one. Most women I know don't bother - or they have a cleavage day every weekend and some week nights.

This day is not really about celebrating femininity or about having fun. Surely decades of feminism have shifted the balance from moving away from superficial ideas of what defines femininity anyway.

What's good for the goose?

Then, on the other end of this argument, what would happen if we gave men a national body-part day? Where are the men's underwear manufacturers' campaigns and why aren't they sponsoring a National Penis Day?

Think how excited men would be to celebrate the coming of the crotch into its own. Would they walk around in Speedo sponsored spandex with bewitching bulges and still be proud?

My unbiased opinion on this is that I think that we should have a National Crotch day just to even the playing field and make both genders feel like silly tits.

Donna, and all her team at Women24 are wearing high necklines today.

Send your comments to Donna or discuss this column now in our debating forum.

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