The Breast of the Virgin

Posted on February 9, 2004 in College Sexuality

Many years ago, when I was in Greece, I picked up an icon of the Virgin Mary in a jewelry store and sent it home to my mother. When I got home, she made a big deal of pointing out that the baby Jesus was suckling from his mother’s naked teat.

What I felt was clearwater rage. Mothers suckle their children was what I thought. “It’s a badly drawn breast. Nothing more. A fact of life, a page out of the National Geographic.”

My mother was and is one of those people who thinks that any expression of anger, any denial is a confirmation. She took my silence to mean embarassment and that delighted her.

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The controversy over Janet Jackson, the Super Fowl, and the Grammys continues. Two of the best articles are:

A very brief history of the breast as propaganda at Yule Heibel’s Post-Studio

Um… She Asked For It at Chari Daignault’s Techfluid

These two feminist bloggers are asking the right questions.