Law & Society - Essay Proposal

I am writing an essay proposal for my Law & Society class on whether or not legal feminist would feel that female public toplessness constitutes as a social harm. I just feel like I am off track. I am pretty much rambling on about how public perceptions of female breasts is the social harm and not the actual exposure itself. Does this make sense? I am pretty much out of ideas too & I am only on the first page of a 6 page essay. What else can I write about? How do I get on track?

Wow, interesting issue! You have a great way of expressing yourself even here in this post... your introspection about rambling on and getting off track is impressive. It is good to be able to take an objective look at your process.

Have you found some good articles about this? Some feminists emphasize the importance of breaking free from societal expectations, so they promote nonconformity over adhering to social conventions. Other feminists emphasize the importance of women NOT perpetuating the trend of objectifying women, etc, so they would be opposed to public flaunting of sexuality. So, it depends on how you look at it, ande it is no wonder that you ran into difficulty.

However, you have an excallent topic!! There is no one right answer, because women are either perpetuating the problem by letting themselves be objectified or they are resisting conformity -- both of these can take the form you are writing about. Included are also practices such as wearing provocative clothing, erotic dancing, etc. It does not have to be all about the breasts! It encompasses all acts that can either be construed as resisting social pressure (which is good) or succumbing to the pressure to become obbjectified (which is bad).

The way to get through this essay is to spend some time explaining one perspecteve, and then the other. By the time you explain both arguments ( I assume you can find articles to cite for each argument.), you will be on page 4!! Then, you can get to the heart of the matter and shed light on the real issue, which is -- what kind of conduct from women will lead to greater gender equality for future generations?

Perhaps you might ask yourself what social harm, if any, would come from letting everyone, male and female, wander around naked if they so chose. Would there in fact be any social harm in this, or is it our insistence on viewing the human body as shameful and ugly that causes social harm? Or is there some moral reason why public nudity should be forbidden? Depending upon your answer to this, you might then look at how responses to the idea of female toplessness are either congruent with or divergent from the larger issue.

Also, you might point out that the only parts of our bodies that it is illegal to reveal in public tend to be those associated with reproduction. Presumably, then, the laws against public nudity, including female toplessness, are meant to prevent people from being exposed to sights that might inflame sexual desire. What about sexual desire, if anything, is sordid? Do these sorts of laws merely reflect an outdated, Puritanical view of sex, or did that view evolve in the first place for very good social reasons?

I don't know if this helps much, but good luck.