January 25, 2005

blogging the blues...

I've discovered an interesting new blog, interesting to me as a blue state conservative, that is. It's called Blue State Conservative. (Thanks to Betsy N)

I noticed some posts concerning California, including this item: ...Calling it the "the last criminal sanction that treats women differently than men," a California laywer is trying to get topless sunbathing made legal for women in the the state...

Bad idea. On aesthetic grounds....

A fine woman shows her charms to most advantage when she seems most to conceal them. The finest bosom in nature is not so fine as what imagination forms.
-- Dr Gregory

This initiative is Blue State thinking at its worst. It's the same logic that thinks poetry will improve if we dispense with rhyme and meter, or that art will flourish if artists don't waste their time learning how to draw. Or that putting pornography on TV will make people more interested in sex. Or that homework is bad for children.

Posted by John Weidner at January 25, 2005 08:49 AM
Comments

A minor quibble: It's not so much "what imagination forms" as "what Maidenforms." Or "what Victoria's Secret forms," if your sweetie prefers to shop by mail.

Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at January 26, 2005 02:08 AM

I agree with the lawyer. And, if you object on aesthetic grounds, there is another option. Require men to cover up too.

Posted by: Kathy K at January 26, 2005 03:02 AM

I wasn't actually commenting on the legal/rights aspect, or the things lawyers do (though I would have no objection to men being required to cover up.)

Rather, I'm objecting to a certain type of thinking, that imagines that life will surely be better or happier if restraints or restrictions or limits are removed.

Posted by: John Weidner at January 26, 2005 11:09 AM

But it might be better for women if they are not required to pretend they are covering something that really only requires a few onces of cloth and string. The issue is a dumb law that is all but ignored. I mean women can "paint" tops on themselves and be covered enough to skirt the law.

Frankly, any law that treats women differntly than men is unfair. For example, I think men should be allowed to kill an unborn child too, regardless of what the woman wants to do. I mean it's only fair isn't it?

-SangerM

Posted by: SangerM at January 26, 2005 10:00 PM
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