by US Staff (Wed Jan 13, 2010)
Did you hear about the controversy last week when female Facebook
users started listing their bra color in their status? The idea (which went hugely
viral) was to get Facebook users wondering why every woman was putting a bra
color in her status, which would lead to a discussion of breasts, which would
lead to breast cancer awareness - I guess.
Well, as you might imagine, a common
answer to the question was ‘I am not wearing a bra,' which ensured at least the
first part of the chain reaction would take place, as you only need to suggest
to a man that a woman is not wearing a bra and the conversation will
immediately turn to her unfettered breasts.
I have no data on this, but I would imagine that any comments left
by ‘friends' of those woman who claimed no bra, went from the joking, to the
sexual to the harassing. In one particularly non-harassing case, a friend of
mine left the comment ‘hot' on the Facebook page of an ex of his. They were
friendly and had recently seen each other for a platonic lunch, so he thought
it of little consequence. The next day, the woman's Facebook page had dozens of comments about her answer to the question. He texted her later that day saying
something along the lines of ‘Your breasts caused quite a stir on Facebook.'
She responded to this text by reprimanding him and asking him not to
leave inappropriate comments on her Facebook page. She followed that up with an
e-mail that said, ‘How dare you. I am a married woman. This is not a joke. It
is my life. Please do not contact me ever again.'
I think women like this need to remember that boys will be boys.
Don't put yourself out there, even on Facebook, if you are not ready for the
reactions or the consequences. Grow up please.
