Boobies

This summer, I holidayed in Croatia, as is my wont. Playing in the sea with my kids one afternoon, my eyes instinctively gravitated towards a topless woman on the beach, who was also playing with her kid. I suffered two shocks, the first at seeing naked boobs outside in real life (a thing that doesn't happen much in dreary England), but then a second shock, an aftershock at my first reaction of shock (if you follow). 


It was such a natural and beautiful thing to see, and I felt rather horrified at my initial puritanical reaction of shock. We think of ourselves as such an open and permissive society, yet the elephant in the room is that women still have to cover themselves up for reasons unexplained. What would happen if women went topless in the same numbers as men do on the beach? And what are we frightened of? Would there be a massive uncontrollable increase in population? Would men go crazy and frantic with lust? I certainly didn't, I just thought, "oh, that's nice, why don't we see more of those around?"


It gave me the thought that, although we think we are living at the forefront of all we can achieve, with technology, supposed equality, permissiveness in society and all, we actually still have a long, long way to go. There was some frustration in that, but also some comfort. The hope that things will still get better in the world, because they need to. I dreamed that afternoon of a day way off in the future, where all the beautiful mothers are playing with their beautiful children on the beaches, with their beautiful boobies swinging free in the breeze.