Baring all for Biafra

Once in a little while, the social conversation turns to that most ubiquitous subject – a woman’s breast.  It really does not matter what the subject matter is: healthcare, fashion /beauty, politics- somehow it just turns up.

Conversations vary equally. There is the question of utility: what is its real, God-given use- erotic or nutritional? The question was famously asked on national television in the nineties by veteran broadcaster Frank Olize, then reporting on a network program and creating a national standing joke.

Should they be exposed or tucked securely out of sight?  There are those that claim to gag with disgust at the sight of a cleavage, yet there are those who cannot seem to have enough.

How should they be maintained?  Can they be maintained? How does it add or detract from a woman’s beauty?

But those appear to pander to the pedestrian. Conversations about breasts lend to deeper issues than those- the health, politics, the economy.

In the 1960s when the feminist movement became global, women taking off their bras and burning them was supposedly the major symbol of freedom and liberation from the social shackles of gender inequity and inequality. The wearing of corsets by women was said to be a male idea supposedly to control women’s sexuality; and it needed to be done away with. And though recent reports hold that bra burning in the era was more of a myth than a reality, it remains the political symbol of women empowerment of the era.

Meanwhile, women are taking their bras off for a completely different reason now: their health. Not only has recent research shown that bras reduce the shelf life of the proverbial twins and are more likely to contribute to their droopiness than otherwise,  there is also a fear of tumours associated with the persistent wearing of breast shackles.

In the United Kingdom, where cancer blights the breasts of as much as 30% of women, it is not uncommon for some to have their breasts removed. A-list celebrities such as Angelina Jolie have lent their sympathy to this cause by having their breasts surgically removed in anticipation of cancer, a move now considered prudent rather than radical, as it had been viewed.

On the other hand, a new politics has emerged in contemporary times concerning the right of nursing women to nurse in public as well as the social effects. Activists have jumped on this global debate and it is likely to become a subject of political campaigns in the years to come. In fact, nursing contemporary women had protested by posting pictures of themselves while in the act of breastfeeding , on social media, including one of a woman in her graduation gown which went viral .

Female protesters the world over have also been known to deploy their breasts in the hopeful intimidation of the targets of the protest. Earlier in the year women in Argentina went topless in protest of a ban in their country of topless sunbathing in the country’s beaches. Shortly afterwards, police detained a group of topless protestors who scaled a polling station to demonstrate against Marine Le Pen, as voting opened in the final round of the French Presidential election. Needless to say, there have been countless topless protests against US president Donald Trump by women who accuse him of misogyny.

In fact it is by no means unusual for women in Nigeria to protest with the baring of their breasts. Perhaps most memorably, topless women were on rampage in the dark Post June 12 days of the nineties, demanding the swearing in of MKO Abiola. More recently things have taken a more comical- if somewhat coy- turn. This month in Ebonyi State, dozens of women took to the streets to protest the arrest of some local political bigwig.  The majority, when questioned, had trouble grasping the principle of what they were protesting against.

And if you think rent-a-crowd runs make a mockery of the highly symbolic feminist onslaught that is topless protest, what might you then think of the women of the Indigenous People of Biafra in their half hearted attempt at a topless protest in Abia last week?

While the dastardly acts against which they protested remain completely deplorable, it remains to be seen that there is any good to be gained from their display of imported underwear.

The truth is that naked female protesters are more and more disregarded the world over. Gone are the days when bare female breast intimidated anyone, and topless protesters are more likely to attract derision than solidarity. Especially in Nigeria.

Perhaps the most important conversation we ought to be having concerning breasts right now, ought to be economical. In Nigeria, we have mastered the art of selling products and services with breasts, from Nollywood; where pneumatic divas such as Cossy Orjiakor breathe their lines seemingly through their expansive bosoms rather than their mouths; to the car industry where motor shows can easily and reasonably be confused for mammary shows.

Beyond that, their potential in the fashion industry remains untapped. Victoria’s Secrets did $7.2 billion worth of business in 2015, and that is instructive in determining what conversation about breasts we ought to favour at this time. Beyond lingerie, top cosmetic companies are literally churning out creams of all kinds formulated specifically for the breasts. Most fly off the shelves, even at top dollar.

It is safe to estimate that there are 80million females in Nigeria, at least half of which have breasts. When we have a better relationship with our breasts, we could actually be holding one of the keys to economic recovery.

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