GIP: icons, breasts, nursing, et cetera

[redbird]

This image is not obscene, but I suspect that more people will be disturbed by it than by a photo or painting of a nursing mother, whether or not her aureolae are visible: .

I was thinking about the arguments about default icons and obscenity, and realized that most images of naked breasts are either of breastfeeding or intended as explicitly sexual (and yes, some are both).

There are images of naked or partially naked women that are neither, but focusing specifically on a naked breast makes it difficult to get away from that. Especially at 100×100 pixels, which often means cropping the image to omit the woman's face and most of the rest of her body.

This icon wouldn't violate the Terms of Service for a default, not because breasts aren't obscene; not because it's glorious and defiant; but because it's of a breast cancer survivor, and the ToS are focused on nipples, not tattoos or scars. [It's not my default; for the moment, the purple trilobite keeps that status.]

Comments

[madshutterbug.livejournal.com]

I am several days gone in wandering into this discussion; and just FYI wandering in by way of janetmiles though I believe I've seen your moniker elsewhere.

I'm not sure I disagree with your comment "most images of naked breasts are either of breastfeeding or intended as explicitly sexual"; on the other hand, I'm not sure I can agree either. One of my passions in art (as may be deduced from the particular icon) is photographing the human form. Most of the work I do, I am rather consciously trying not to be sexual in nature, hence the uncertainty about disagreeing. However, I keep that focus (pun intended) in my work because I am quite certain that any image of a nude human will for someone carry sexual overtones.

This image is one of my favorites; it is a celebration of life, not death or disease. It is one of my favorites because of the power in it. It is an inspiration in another of my favorite subjects while photographing the human form, which is intended to bring people to face the reality of breast cancer.

And none of what I said here bears didly-squat on the business of LJ crying Foul about nursing mothers as default user icons. So, I'll wander on out of your corner of LJ-land now.