The bare upper body has always been a sticky topic in Kerala’s political context, with multiple movements associated with it.
In this context, the cover page of a Malayalam magazine that depicted a woman breastfeeding a baby, has stirred a controversy.
The Kerala High Court has now upheld the magazine’s right to expression in its verdict on a case filed in this regard.
What is Kerala’s historic context regarding bare-breasts?
Oppression - Many battles were fought in Malayali society of the early 20th century (and before) over the exposure of the upper body.
Caste rules in Kerala had traditionally required that the lower castes (both female and male) must be bare chest in front of ostensible social superiors.
Perhaps, such exposure of lower castes was a way of making their vulnerabilities visible to the powerful social classes.
Reform - While the exposure rule was gender neutral, social reformism in general seemed outraged only by the nakedness of the female form.
This bias was because 19th century reformists largely based their worldview in “Victorian morality”, that was hawkish to upper caste sexual predators.
By around the 1970s, reformists had managed to secure for all women, the right to cover their breasts, while the male bare chest was hardly noticed.
Nonetheless, breastfeeding openly continued to persist widely in the keralite society till the turn of the 21st century.
What has brought the libertarian debate back to centre-stage?
The cover-page of a leading Malayalam women’s magazine “Grihalakshmi” recently displayed the image of “a woman breastfeeding a baby”.
This attracted courts cases and stirred a controversy, with some calling it obscenity and others seeing it as an excellent artistic expression.
A writ petition was filed in Kerala High Court, claiming that the image in Grihalakshmi was obscene, insulting to women and in violation of child rights.
But the judges in their verdict have explicitly stated that these claims were unfounded and cited recent scholarship on free speech to drive their point.
Kerala High court has now dismissed the claims of obscenity and given an eloquent judgment, which is likely to have far reaching implications.
The court has also advocated a liberal attitude and also cautioned against an anti-pornographic position sliding into rank conservatism.
The verdict has hence been hailed as a vindication of the righteousness of the bold depiction of motherhood and the mother-child physical bond.
What could be read form the image?
The magazine carried an expressive image of a young model breast-feeding a baby, and thereby breaking a relatively modern but entrenched social taboo.
From the depiction, one can infer that the woman is clearly married, respectable, and elite in appearance (unlike the topless downtrodden).
More importantly, the image has been clearly intended as maternal with all its motherly charms, and begs to clearly distinguish itself from sexual gaze.
Hence, there has been an attempt portray a familiar stereotypical mother’s body that is locally perceived as non-sexual and above physical pleasures.
A critical scrutiny of the statement being made on biological motherhood would’ve been a healthy; but it was lost amidst the conservative opposition.
Nonetheless, having beautifully portrayed a professionally-groomed young woman in a home setting, the picture deserves artistic appreciation.
From another perspective, it is a case of “a modern woman balancing community sanctioned traditional ways with her professional responsibilities”.
