No, it is not stationary and fonts for nuns. It is a new feature the Playtex line of bras, long known for their attention to modesty and the use of the word in their advertising, offers its customers.
The Modesty pad is an extra circle of thin foam in the lining of the cup of the bra that insures that should ones nipples be hard…no one will see! Because, you know, having hard nipples- a reaction brought on by everything from fear to a cold breeze…is dirty and immodest! How dare we women have biological reactions to a variety of things that might make those filthy nipples hard??
My god, I almost sound like a feminist here…. somebody stop me.
Now, most women I know…if and when they wear bras…do it for one reason: support. Women with large breasts (especially of the natural variety) often want this support to stave off actual pain and to…ahem, restrict range of boob motion. Women with smaller breasts often wear bras to…ahem…make the most of what they have…lift and separate as it were. A lot of women, most really, probably wear some sort of sports bra when playing a sport. Many wear them under otherwise form fitting or see through shirts because, well, dudes blatantly stare at moving tits otherwise-so yeah, modesty. But the fact that bras are being marketed with extra layers because heaven for fend, a woman’s nipples might get hard and someone might notice and think she’s a dirty slut or immodest (even with a bra on and all) makes me…snarky.
I mean, is Playtex now going to develop a line of boxers for men with restraining sleeves in them to prevent erections and.ahem…ball creepage/dropage brought on by weather conditions or other factors? Or a series of men’s undershirts with modesty pads for their naughty, naughty, unruly nipples? Somehow I doubt it. The classic line of Playtex bras does not exactly scream sexbot, so why the need to pay such attention to the immodesty of hard nipples? Psst…nipples get hard, yo, it’s natural! It is in no way immodest!
Pfft. I gotta say, critique aside and all…the money I’ve saved sum total not having to buy bras is probably more than I spent on my boobjob…which you know, allows me not to need a bra…. hard nipples be damned!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
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35 comments:
I geuss I'm the only one who actually is primarily into bras that cover nipples. I'm an A cup, and it is the only reason I wear them. It's really just because I have pretty much a perpetual nip-on, plus piercings.
Making a big ad campaign of "Cover yer shameful teats, harlots!" is fucking irritating, though.
Hi,
Renegade, who, exactly, are you quoting? Who, exactly, associates hard nipples with, "dirty, immodest slut?" No one that I know.
When I see erect nipples on other women in the setting of work, play, or the freezer isle of the grocery store, I think it's distracting. I don't care to be seen with hard nipples myself, and pay extra for that bra technology. In the setting of the gym or boot camp class, it is nearly universal on sweaty women, appropriate to the setting, and not worth any more thought.
It's not a double-standard, it's a self-standard.
Colour me very confused as to why nipples are more sexual than breasts.
Maybe because they can be a sign of arousal?
Denial of one breast function (feeding babies)?
Modesty. That arbitrary thing that exist primarily to make people feel inadequete about how they are.
Ball creepage! Hahahahaaa!
Y'know, I wear sport bras all the time, and I'm not particularly sporty, but they keep these well used breasts of mine firmly in place. There are women who are mortified by nipples showing, and Playtex is providing them with an option. I don't have a problem with that, even if it is a little silly.
Seems to me, Ren, that Playtex has always played up to a more sexually conservative demographic, and those are the kind of women who would be more concerned about "modesty" and would be more likely to purchase such a product. It's not as if they design their bras and girdles and panties to be "outerwear" (those old Jane Russell commercials with her wearing her bra outside her clothes notwithstanding).
Plus, they can also say that it is also an issue of protecting the nipple from the friction of....shall we say, excessive movement.
Considering the usual male tendency for gawking at women's boobs, it's a bit understandable that most women would want to cover their nipples. This idea of "modesty pads", though, merely to cover up nipples, does reek of real sexism....not to mention that it probably won't stop men from gawking, either.
Anthony
I wear a bra, quite frankly, to stop stares and harassment. I'm A-cup, so I hardly need a bra for support, and I'd love to never ever have to wear one ('cept maybe for hiking, etc).
I'll go further ... what's up with men being able to take off their shirts and bare their titties when it's hot w/o being harassed, but for a woman to do so, it's a major crime? (Although, I read somewhere that it is technically legal for a woman to be topless in NYC. But she'd still be slut-shamed, and worse, out the wahoo.)
I take your general point about the squeamishness of people looking at nipples through a shirt and going, "Gah! It's a nipple!"
On the other hand, I know a lot of women who buy slightly padded bras in order for their nipples not to show, ever, no matter what. They feel a lot more comfortable with that, out of a sense of modesty or because they think they'll get less unwanted attention. Small breasted women, especially, tend to get lightly padded bras because they have pert boobies with nipples at constant attention and it annoys to share this attention with the world. By contrast, big boobied women like myself might not even need it - mine point straight down and would only be visible if I wrenched my arms all the way back and stuck my chest out.
I'm just saying - I haven't seen the marketing campaign or anything, but I can imagine it being fairly popular for reasonable as well as batshit reasons.
Wtf.
You know what else is crazy? The very, very common practice of adding these 'modesty pads' to swimwear. As if shopping for swimwear wasn't rage-inducing enough already...
I don't care if men look at my braless tits when I'm exercising, or dancing - if they're staring overmuch, I just flick them off.
i too save gobs of money NOT buying bras - one thing women with boob jobs and women with AA cups have in common (i fall into the latter category).
the only reason why i ever, EVER, wear a bra is if my shirt is see-thru. i mean, office job and all. and i only wear unlined, unpadded, unwired bralettes or camis. and my nipples still poke out.
take THAT, modesty!
JZ: This isn't hard here.
Modest- having or showing regard for the decencies of behavior, speech, dress, etc.; decent: a modest neckline on a dress.
immodest- not modest in conduct, utterance, etc.; indecent; shameless.
There I am quoting the dictionary. The fact that word MODEST is used in the advertising suggests that those who don't go for modesty pads and lining are...less or immodest. That bras without these things are immodest.
I think marketing an act of biology as immodest is....stupid.
Nipples are nipples. They do things. If people want them strapped down and not ever seen...fine by me, it's their nipples. But equating the suppression of a nipple in it's natural state as "modest"? Pfft.
Lady S: Colour me very confused as to why nipples are more sexual than breasts.
It's like those almost-naked magazine covers people like Britney Spears pose for - they'll show any and every part of the boobage, sure, but not the nipple, anything but that! What's with that?
Fair enough, Playtex is either
-creating insecurity in order to sell an unnecessary product
-prickling the naturalists who prefer to "shock and awe" others
-provide a valuable product desired by some.
At worst Playtex is opportunistic, but I don't see it as sexist.
jz- what's sexist is that the female nipple is so drastic and requires modesty and the male nipple doesn't.
A nipple is a nipple.
Is Playtex guilty of those "sexist" standards, or is that the collective thought of all of us? Men respond to erect nipples; women, don't.
JZ:
Ahem. WOMEN OBVIOUSLY RESPOND TO hard nipples and reactions to them or there would be NO NEED to worry about "modesty".
YES, absolutely BLAME SOCIETY for this. Blame it for women thinking that every sexual glance from a man is a horrible thing, that their bodies are dirty and need to be modestly constrained, that men (and a lot of women, actually) find a hard nipple rather interesting, but in a dirty, sexual way (rather than a natural one), and blame society for Playtex buying into and capitalizing off all that.
Doesn't change the fact that a nipple is a nipple, and there is nothing immodest about it, hard or not, on a man or a woman, or in or out of a Playtex bra.
I henceforth declare hard nipples being visable an act of biology, and Defiance!
what's wrong with modesty?
I like modesty because it makes some things special and unique, to be shared only with an intimate partner.
If my husband's erect penis, or my erect nipples were visible to all, then seeing them would be less special and unique.
JZ- Nothing. There is nothing wrong with modesty and a personal choice at all. Even I have modest moments...mostly because I really, really like suits and wear them often.
What's wrong is when its oh so not subtly implied that modesty is better, that modest people and modest dress are better, that people who don't care about modesty pads and hard nipples are immodest (see the dictionary definitions again) and that modesty helps reinforce shame in lot of people. You're intelligent. The opposite of "modest" in a lot of minds is "slutty"...and to a lot of people, that word inspires shame. And people getting bent out an ashamed over an act of biology (like a hard nipple) is bullshit.
If people prefer modest personally- go for it. Have at it. Enjoy. But implying that it is somehow better, which is what so much of this boils down to, VIA THE MEANING OF THE WORDS MODESTY and IMMODESTY, is CRAP.
JZ: wrt to you and your husband. That's great. A lot of folk feel that way, and I have no issue with that. But it's not a universal truth. To me, my husband brushing my hair is really intimate and special and something I don't let other men do. I don't feel that makes me in any way better than anyone else, or our intimacy somehow lesser.
Do you think the setting/context plays a role in defining "modesty"?
Do you prefer to see other women's nipples erect and natural:
-when walking up for communion in church?
-when sitting in the emergency department with your asthmatic child?
-when walking through the freezer section of the grocery store?
-when being lectured to in a class?
I don't.
-when finishing a 10k race?
-when swimming?
-when sitting across the table from your spouse who you plan to seduce?
no problem there, with me.
hair brushing......cool intimate example.
gallinggalla - I agree. One of the things that annoys me is the double standard with regards to toplessness. It really does just rest on nipples again (as you can wear the smallest bikini and still be 'modest').
I'd love to, in places, that are warm enough, go topless. It's not as if showing breasts makes them less sexual.
It removes some of the enforced eroticism (as evidenced by modesty pads - normal nipples = immodest!), but doesn't stop them being sexually attractive at all.
JZ: I don't go to church. However...those other places...all of them? I Do Not Care. In the ER, I am more likely to be concerned with whatever I am in the ER about. In the freezer isle...hell, bound to happen. In class...not really checking out other women's breasts...but over all...I don't care.
Do I think it's a fab idea to wear a slinky dress with no bra to...I dunno...jury duty? No. But if a woman in there in a form-fitting turtleneck and her nipples...in or out of a bra...can be seen...I do not care.
jz
It's not a matter of whether you *want* to see them. If you don't want to see them, don't focus on them.
Why should any one care what you want to see, especially regarding their nipples?
Lady S; NOD NOD.
I go to nude beaches sometimes. Guess what? Way less sexually charged than regular beaches!
I am completely boggled by people who notice other people's nipples when they're clothed.
"Do you prefer to see other women's nipples under various circumstances in which they are wearing shirts" blows my mind -- I don't see other women's nipples under those conditions because they have their freaking clothes on.
Do you think the setting/context plays a role in defining "modesty"?
No matter what I do, I'm not considered "modest." I inherited 34KKK (depending on the brand of bra) breasts. I have been reprimanded for wearing everything from v-necks (which deemphasize large breasts) to turtlenecks (which make them look huge!).
When not being reprimanded for the "type" of shirt I'm wearing, I'm fielding comments about the style of my bra...as if they make seamless bras in my size.
Or just having women look at me with derision and ask if I had consider having them reduced. I am not going to hack off body parts to fit societies ideas of appropriate breast size. I can barely tolerate getting a flu shot for Christ sakes. Surgery is a no.
In short, as Ren (and others) said, modesty is about making women feel ashamed of their bodies. And we shouldn't be ashamed in any context.
You want to talk about respecting the expectations of others in certain contexts...that different, but modesty is about shame and judgment.
Geebus. I'm not sure how I found you but y'all gave me the best laugh out loud I've had in some time.
summer, I hear ya.
I'm laughing with, not at ...
as my mother used to say.
JZ: Do you really not see the difference between an erect nipple and an erect penis? Sure, nipples become erect when you're arouse, but they also become erect when you're cold, when your shirt brushes against them in a totally non-sexy way, or sometimes just because. Some men's nipples are constantly erect, but that's not considered sexual.
Breasts are not set on "sexual" by default. And if you don't want to see nipples, stop staring at boobs.
Summer:
On the other hand, I know a lot of women who buy slightly padded bras in order for their nipples not to show, ever, no matter what.
I always wear slightly padded bras that have the effect of concealing my nipples. That's not the main purpose of them, though, at least for me. My nipples are just too damn sensitive, and if I'm wearing a sheer bra, my shirt brushes against them in a way that can be quite uncomfortable.
JZ: You seem to be reacting pretty strongly to erect nipples, albeit I suppose you feel your reactions don't count.
I'll put it out there...I'm a lesbian and respond to nipples on female persons.
I'm really glad you mentioned the Playtex ad, I was irritating me. "Modesty" is a VERY arbitrary value judgment. I wouldn't feel immodest having hard nipples while in class, however JZ would.
Sigh.
I breastfed for three years. My nipples will be hard for all eternity. I am not about to try to hide them. The most I will do is make sure that they are both pointing in the same direction.
And there is nothing less special or less unique about them because you can see that they are there.
to Laurynx, Plain(s)feminist, and others.
Some times/places I like modesty and will be the thankful Playtex customer.
Some times/places I like overt sexual messages and the erect nipples telescope the message.
Cudos to Playtex.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121201752162527645.html
jz: If my husband's erect penis, or my erect nipples were visible to all, then seeing them would be less special and unique.
So, your husband is currently outraged because there is no "Hide a hard on" underwear being marketed, right? I mean, since your erect nipples and his erect penis both deserve equal coverage, you must see the problem inherent in you having a choice and him not.
Ren,
Are you pissed with the product or the way it has been marketed?
dj- the marketing.
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