The gloves are off
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How Bras Changed Canada
This whole conversation started off when my father and I decided to take on the awkward conversation of our dating lives. Most of the time, this father/daughter parallel is not breached. It is a weird grey area where you cannot exactly be truthful, in order keep the innocent perception you have of one another intact. To put it simply, we narrowly avoided admitting to each other that we are both big, confused tramps, like most folks are.
Quit lying to yourself sir or ma'am, you have respectfully, at one point, pulled a trampy stunt or two (I'm not here to judge: Tramp it up).
His main argument, which could be used as a giant cop-out for the millennial generation, is the whopping change in relationship expectations. Or more so, his introduction to sexuality itself, and its then-still-conservative ways. In his time, all he had to worry about was being nice and holding hands, until as a certain sassy R&B singer would say he: Put a Ring on It.
Now, pre-pubescent boys and girls are bombarded with images of half-naked celebs and all their much-expected debauchery. Sexually charged pre-teens are forced to be more creative with all this texting and social-media jargon. They are expected to meet standards that they have no way of actually understanding, but have all the means of acting out.
Gone are the days of the bra-burning '60s, when exposed nipples were a way of the future, instead of a fairly regular thing, especially after a certain ‘”wardrobe malfunction." (Okay Ms. Jackson, take your missing nipple slip and go home.)
It was this comment that led to the thought: What if bras were never burned? What if all the empowered flower-women and feminists never realized how quickly and powerfully those suckers would burn? Would this liberal-minded gentleman come in to power? Would his overtly liberal ideas and practices be accepted? We didn’t think so. If breasts were never exposed, if feminine equality was never forced down the throats (I say this with all the love and respect I have for my now-accepted human rights) of the general North-American public, how would many of his policies be introduced, let alone respected. How would this man, who blatantly shoved a well-played vocal middle finger to Nixon himself, come into power? Canada needed this liberalism, free breasts, bras or the lack thereof, to become the nation we are today.
So ladies, for chucking your lacy symbols of oppression: Thank you.
Sara Myers
Sara Myers is an aspiring writer struggling to be a productive member of society. Born and raised in Ottawa, she has spent many summers in Nova Scotia with the rest of her oddball family. Which, as you will soon discover, explains a lot.
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