The Feast of the Gods

It all started when I looked at this topless photo of my grandson. I began to wonder about my “top.” When and why (I said to myself) did it happen that men get to show their nipples and women can’t? Isn’t this discriminatory? Shouldn’t I be outraged?

Because I was an English major, not a history major (sniff…those dying-off majors!), I figured that maybe historically that was just the way it played out. Women did not ever show their boobs; men could do whatever they wanted. BUT THEN…I did some research (probably like a good history major would do).

My research first reminded me of the huge numbers of bare-breasted women in famous art. The NYTimes just had a great article about how “New generations of women painters are challenging centuries of art history with their nuanced, empathetic renderings of bare-chested bodies.”

If you need a refresher about breasts in famous art and throughout history, Medium.com has a brief but “revealing” article. My research indicates that there have been times when it was okay for a woman to bare her breasts but not her legs. Interesting. Maybe that was applicable to the famous statue of Venus de Milo – which you can see the next time you’re at the Louvre.

Or you can go to The Art Institute of Chicago and see Salvador Dali’s Venus de Milo with Drawers.

My curiosity about women baring breasts was titillated by analyzing two other famous paintings.

Analyzing Bellini’s The Feast of the Gods (housed at the National Gallery of Art in D.C.), one might surmise that while paintings could show such a bountiful display of boobs, that the average woman of that time would not have exposed so much. However, Wikipedia has this to say: “in many European societies between the Renaissance and the 19th century, wearing low-cut dresses that exposed breasts was more acceptable than it is in the early 21st century; bared female legs, ankles and shoulders were considered to be more risqué than exposed breasts.” You can check this site out to see some nice female portraits from that era.

BTW If you’re trying to figure out who’s who in that painting, HistoryToday.com states that the gods feasting include Amphitrite, in the center, along with husband, Poseidon (Neptune). Amphitrite is holding a quince, the symbol of marriage (and love and fertility).

(An aside: if you want to be really amused and/or horrified, click on the link below (only if you’re over 18 🙂 ) to learn more about the god portrayed on the far right, lusting after the bare-boobed – and possibly drunk – Lotis. He’s identified as Priapus – god of fertility, vegetables, and male genitals. Another site notes Priapus was a protector of beehives, flocks, and vineyards. Multi-talented, for sure.)

My excellent CC English course on Shakespeare makes me a little more aware of Elizabethan England – when it was common for women to show one or both breasts in public. For upperclass women, it often was a sign of wealth – because the physical appearance of a woman’s boobs indicated she could afford a wet nurse for her children. Or if unmarried, her breasts’ appearance apparently confirmed she was a virgin (Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, displayed her breasts frequently.)

Harumph. So it appears we’re backsliding in regards to a woman’s freedom to bare her upper body?

Andy in today’s Andy’s corner suggests that women may not be backslliding in the bare boob department as much as I thought – at least under special circumstances; and that it’s beads rather than quince that that we should be thinking about.

The other famous painting with bared breasts that intrigues me is Liberty Leading the People by Delecroix. Basically, if and when I come back in another life…I want to come back as Marianne, the woman leading the people (all men?) in this painting of France’s 1830’s July Revolution. Can you blame me? What a great cause. What a great role-model. What a great outfit. What great boobs.

The perfect conclusion to my historical research into bared breasts is the lawsuit brought in my hometown of Fort Collins, Colorado, a few years back. In 2015 the city barred women over the age of 10 from showing their breasts in public. Two women sued the city, claiming the law violated the 14th Amendment because it applied only to women. The case went the the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals – which in 2019 ruled against the city. Fort Collins decided not to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Since that Circuit Court oversees 6 states there was – for a time at least – the possibility that women could legally go topless in Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma. But then here’s a map from GoTopless.Org which indicates that going topless is legal now in the majority of states but against the state law in Utah – and is not clearly a right in Oklahoma.

All of this is overwhelmingly complex to an English – but probably not History – major. If you’re confused and want to try to learn more about the status of toplessness in the U.S. today, here’s one of the better articles I’ve found.

Those who participate in Go Topless – or the #FreeTheNipple Movements – are gearing up for August 25, when GoToplessDay will be celebrated. But as long as I know I have the right to do what I want with my “top” here in California, I’m perfectly content to stay covered up in my sweatshirt, while cheering on the GoToplessDay participants

I can’t tell you how relieved my friends and family are.