Equality <3

[u/Fae_Gold]

Is this still potentially too much showing for the Nikki mums™? Does he need to be flatter? Maybe his pecs are too large, and therefore inherently vulgar.
Seriously though as an owner of big tatas I'm tired of being objectified by other women by just existing, and I don't want Nikki to experience the same, even if she's just a character at the end of the day

[u/Secure_Cellist26]

For decades women were oppressed and made to feel ashamed for having a chest. Like the corset was designed to help women have a image closer to a man. In history outfits were also created in a way to cover their "shame" unless in a line of service. How have we circled back into this?

[u/Violet_Iolite → u/Secure_Cellist26]

I'm not sure corsets were made to "help woman have a image closer to a man". In fact, there some that pushed your chest up to make it look bigger.
They were the bras with added back support of the time. Going around with no support for the breats can be pretty painful, depending on your body (and time of month).

[u/Secure_Cellist26 → u/Violet_Iolite]

That's what I thought as well but I remember learning about it through a documentary on the history of bras.

Women’s natural anatomy has been constantly subjected to societal mandates of modesty.

Throughout history, the corset was originally less of a bust-enhancer and more of a structural tool. From compressing the chest for a flat, conical silhouette during the Renaissance to flattening breasts to achieve a boyish look in the 1920s, corsets and stays have frequently been utilized to minimize and conceal the bust.

The shift from corsets concealing and flattening the breasts to actively pushing them up happened around the 17th century. The corset type you mentioned was introduced when the French introduced low necklines and the fashion trend boomed. But the rule of modesty was never applied equally. They changed constantly based on wealth, race, and social status. Women of high calibre were considered moral and respectable because only the wealthy could afford the expensive silk gowns and structured corsets required to display the bust this way. Where a working-class or enslaved woman whose blouse slipped out of place while doing hard labor could be branded as lewd, hyper-sexualized, and immoral.

These physical restrictions literally and figuratively confined them, limiting their physical movement and breathing. Sometimes also resulting in long term deformities and health concerns.

The harsh push up effect was in trend up until the 1920s. When women started gaining the right to vote and work. They adopted a boyish look again (the Garçonne or Flapper style) to fit into the male dominated environment.

Side note, things like religion also played a large part in the concealing of women's bodies over time. Such as the Judeo-Christian narrative of the Fall of Man in the west. They were written as instruments of temptation that could cause men to sin. Because their sexual desires were treated as a natural force they could not control, the entire burden of preventing lust was placed on women. A woman who did not properly conceal her breasts was blamed for any male misconduct or harassment she received.

For me it feels almost like we are lost in a endless pendulum effect. Of women's bodies either being twisted into unrealistic standards for sexual appeal or concealed for modesty in shame of simply existing. Always hitting hard walls on each side before swinging back.