The Terrorist War on Breasts

The official government body, the same ones who have given us the color-coded signals to panic, are, to give them credit, reacting quickly to the British liquid-plane plot. One of their recommendations is:

We encourage everyone to pack gel-filled bras in their checked baggage. We recognize the sensitivity of the issue and we are reaching out to key women’s medical associations to assist passengers and make information available to them while respecting their privacy. Passengers with medical gel prosthetics will be permitted through the security checkpoint.

This comes on the heels (same page) of allowing baby formula (a small amount) and some prescription medication in liquid form.

The issues abound. Sure, I can see some variant of a Chechian Widow who would want to martyr herself and, given the cultural, religious presecription against exposing any part of herself, want to sneak liquids in a gelled bra. A little on the edge, but certainly conceivable.

So, here we are in the situation where breast cancer survivers are put upon to adapt or face scrutiny, that lactating mothers may have to endure extra attention (not every bra that looks gel-filled may be full of gel). What about implants? Is it not just as conceivable that instead of saline that the terrorist woman may be transporting acetone or peroxide? What about butt implants? The human body is up to 80% liquid, so there are opportunities for creativity here.

So, that is the state of things. We spend half a trillion dollars on a war to ensure a steady stream of hate-filled extremist, yet respond with actions against self-image enhancements of our women.

[I will return to this topic when I have a little more time to devote, but there is an active, American, internal conflict about the nature/use of breasts in our culture--see Nipplegate, etc. There are sites dedicated to educating about "real" breasts and breastfeeding, and there have been some strange and disturbing comments in a recent Bitch PhD post--will look for link--where one commented about feelings of abandonment about his wife breastfeeding. I have a lot to say on this, so don't let me get away from posting this topic.]

tag: breasts, breast feeding, bras, terrorist, safety, gel