Have your B***S been stared at today?

Let me first tell you why the headline of the post does not spell the word out. It’s not because I won’t, ahead in the post. It’s because I didn’t want to sensationalise the post; because it must have already got you thinking what this post is gonna be about. Half my work’s done :)

Okay, so let’s get to business. Why this post? And what’s it about anyway? Let me begin at the, well, not beginning, but somewhere in between. I recently started going for morning walks (the treadmill has been given a break for now). So, dressed up casually in my Capri pants and a simple, workout-favourite pale green Reebok tee, I set out. In Cochin, even that can attract attention. But let me tell you, my intentions were not such (have you even seen the crowd that’s out here for morning walks!!!?).

And as I happily swayed my arms (and my plentiful hips), I was, for obvious reasons, stared at. The question is, where? Not my hips, as I would have thought; but at my—you guessed it right, I’m getting to the point—my boobs!

Most glances were pretty casual—“I shall gaze at your face for a good 3 seconds but as a parting gesture will take a quick look at your boobs so they don’t feel neglected.” Thank you, I say!

But there are other, more intense ones—“Hello boobs, you have a person!!!”—that drive me up the wall. I like being acknowledged for my womanhood. But this…is something way off the mark.

Boob-ogling is a hobby that cuts across men of different classes, castes, creeds, ages, social status and marital status. So, yeah, I have encountered many of them:

• The I-don’t-intend-to-stare-but-my-eyes-have-a-mind-of-their-own colleague;
• The I-am-in-love-with-your-boobs creep on the street;
• The you-are-my-daughter’s-age-but-not-my-daughter elderly ‘gentleman’;
• The hello-how-are-you? How are your mother-daughter-husband-doggie-job ‘friendly’ neighbour.

…and so on (please feel free to add your own versions of boob starers).

The fascination with boobs, I can understand. But how they become independent entities, and take over the person we are, is simply amazing! It’s also amazing how some men pay individual attention to them. I don’t mean to be vulgar here, but if you are a woman who has ever been stared at, at you know where, you’ll know what I mean. It’s infuriating, belittling and objectifying.

But what’s even more appalling? Not strangers doing it; but people you know doing it to you. Some even have conversations with the boobs. Like a woman colleague once said about one of our male co-workers who was a compulsive boob-talker, “I always wanna ask him—ABC (name withheld to protect privacy-LOL!), please, the face… the face… look at my face…” :D

Maybe an Anti Breast Staring Campaign can help. But what would that entail? Staring back at their privates? Nah! That would only delight them. An any such sort of delight will be ‘uplifting’ for them, and hair-raising for us! So, no thank you… 

Solutions?