In some parts of the world, the simple fact that women have cleavage is apparently deemed obscene, judging by a pair of incidents last week in which major western broadcasting companies chose to censor the the cleavage of two busty women. The first, as AVN.com reported, came when the BBC blurred out the cleavage of Kenyan social media star “Glamor Pam,” in a documentary aired in Africa.
But on November 24, according to reports from a viewer who posted on Twitter, an Asian airing on CNBC International of NBC’s The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon that featured an interview with, and performance by, global pop superstar Mariah Carey for some reason found it neccessary to pixelate the bustline of the 48-year-old singer, who was appearing on the show to promote her new album, Caution.
“Turned on my TV and it seems parts of @MariahCarey on @CNBCi have been pixilated out ... Hmmmm. #lifeinAsia,” wrote Twitter user Curtis S. Chin, who also included screen shots of Carey, who wore a tasteful, black evening gown for the Tonight Show spot, with pixelation over what would have presumably been her cleavage. The New York-born songstress is arguably as famous for her iconic cleavage as for her impressive vocal prowess.
Chin’s Twitter post actually caught the attention of Carey herself, who responded to the fan on her own Twitter account, posting a meme of herself displaying her renowned asset with a flashing banner reading “Caution”—not coincidentally the name of her album—covering up the area, albeit intermittently. In her Twitter reply to Chin, Carey wrote, “Here's what you missed lol.”
While Carey responded to the Asian censorship of her cleavage with humor, some commentators took the issue more seriously. In response to the BBC’s “Glamor Pam” cleavage-blurring, Guardian newspaper columnist Chitra Ramaswamy wrote, “cleavage is not offensive, but outrage about it certainly is.”
“What does this censorship achieve? It invites you to compare cleavages, to look at breasts as though they exist independently. It makes you objectify women’s bodies,” Ramaswamy wrote. “But neither the cleavage nor the woman baring it is offensive. What is deeply offensive is some media outlets censoring breasts while hate speech repeatedly slips through the net.”
Photo By SKS2K6 / Wikimedia Commons
