It is a nice cool night, but my room stays warm. I have to keep shutting the door and those wee white beasties, so the breeze from the fan by the open patio door gets shut out.
This is the time of year when I am reminded of my annual pet peeve....I can't take off my shirt in public, no matter how hot it gets. Oh sure, technically it may be legal in the city of Madison for a woman to remove her shirt any where that a man is permitted to. That doesn't mean she *can* though. A woman (especially a large breasted woman) takes off her shirt in public and all hell breaks loose. Stares, whistles, lewd comments, rude comments, sermons from the (self) righteous. Any harrassment or attacks....well, she was certainly asking for it, wasn't she?
Our culture has over fetishized the female breast. Toddlers are about the only females totally allowed to go shirtless. (Though I do remember being allowed to run about without a shirt in the yard, at least, until I was about 5 or 6.) Men desired them, therefore women must cover them, for the public good. What was the first thing Western missionaries would do when reaching a new tribe in a tropical local? Make the women cover themselves.
Unfortunately, the only way to disarm this stupidity is to for women to start going topless, for the cultural desensitization to occur. Pioneers in this movement won't have it easy. I know I don't have the courage to be one of them. I also won't be opening a car wash any time soon.
