I don't think you're right about that. I never met anybody who objected to me nursing my baby in public, and I nursed everwhere: airports and airplanes, churches, park benches, restaurants, and once on a lecture platform seated next to a Catholic bishop!
Even here in FR, where there's usually a huge volley back and forth in breastfeeding threads, the majority of us agree that public breastfeeding is fine, as long as the mother doesn't turn breast-baring into a public statement.
(And BTW, on such threads I'm always a vocal breastfeeding advocate... check it out if you like!)
Germans consider it natural...and to object is obscene because you are seen as interfering with one of the most basic, wholesome, natural acts.
OK, then! Your kind of Germans are my kind of Germans! ;o)
To object to the billboard, you are a prude who can't appreciate the fine form of the human body (or, for the religious, appreciate God's finest creation).
Oh, come on. I don't think we're talking about classical Aphrodite, with or without nightie, which you can see in public buildings and parks and such all over America; nor are we talking about sacred images of Blessed Mary nursing the Christ Child.
I suspect it's commercial slutty shots to sell clothes, beach resorts and beer. And ubiquitous commercialized nipple and crotch-shots are something we can do without.
I re-assert what I said before: streetcorner display of female nudity doesn't translate into a sense of reverence for sexual wholeness. If it did, you'd have a lot more marriages and a lot more kids. Because marriage and kids are the results of whole and wholesome sex: sex with its bonding energy uninhibited and its lifegiving power full-strength and unashamed.
My wife got some nasty looks around Americans, and appreciative looks from Germans. They don't like bottle feeding over there either. Even the baby formula commercials say essentially "Breast feeding is always best, but if you can't do it, use our formula."
I suspect it's commercial slutty shots to sell clothes, beach resorts and beer. And ubiquitous commercialized nipple and crotch-shots are something we can do without.
I don't remember any that focused right in on the breasts (and none on the crotch). I remember two billboards off the top of my head: a hot tub scene with many people and a woman's breasts visible (nothing under the water visible) and one of those Las Vegas-type dancers.
I re-assert what I said before: streetcorner display of female nudity doesn't translate into a sense of reverence for sexual wholeness.
I guess you're right. It's not so much considered sacred, but natural. And you shouldn't be ashamed of something natural. An unsightly consequence of this is that very fat, hairy German men will wear small swimming trunks at the pool.
One other thing about the public pools, kids up to about five years old often run around naked. Americans tend to freak out at the thought, but Germans think they're just little kids, and if you see something sexual in that then you have a serious problem.
In general, German society seemed to have a LOT less sexual tension than ours. Yes, you'll see breasts on billboards on the rare occasion, but it's not always "Sex! Sex! Sex!" like it is here. And any of that that does happen is usually from American products. I also never heard of those young teenage orgies or oral sex on the bus like happens here a lot.
