Showing posts with label Cupid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cupid. Show all posts

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Sex and Suffering on Valentine's Day

(Matt on Buddha's Wisdom) SEX in BUDDHISM: not a moral rule but a deeper question

Valentines is a heart-shaped box of chocolates
Valentine's Day (aka Saint Valentine's Day, Feast of St. Valentine [1]) is celebrated annually on February 14th [2].

This celebration of going from Lust to Love like the Go Go's, it originated as a Christian feast day honoring a martyr named Valentine, and through later folk traditions it has also become a significant cultural, religious and commercial celebration of romance and love in many regions of the world [3, 4].


Cupid is Mara and Kama
There are a number of martyrdom stories associated with various Saint Valentines connected to February 14th [5], including an account of the imprisonment of Saint Valentine of Rome for ministering to Christians persecuted under the Roman Empire in the third century [6, 7].

According to an early tradition, Saint Valentine restored sight to the blind daughter of his jailer [8]. Numerous later additions to the legend have better related it to the theme of love: Tradition maintains that Saint Valentine performed weddings for Christian soldiers who were forbidden to marry by the Roman emperor [7]. An 18th-century embellishment to the legend claims he wrote the jailer's daughter a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell before his execution [9].

Will consumers buy cheap cards?
The 8th-century Gelasian Sacramentary recorded the celebration of the Feast of Saint Valentine on February 14th [10, 11]. The day became associated with romantic love in the 14th and 15th centuries, when notions of courtly love flourished, apparently by association with the "lovebirds" of early spring.

In 18th-century England, it grew into an occasion for couples to express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines").

Valentine's Day symbols that are used today include the heart-shaped outline, doves, and the figure of the winged Cupid [who acts like the India god Kama, Greek Eros and Aphrodite, Roman Venus, and Buddhist Mara].

No sex please. We're Ameboids 'n Gatchularians
In the 19th century, handmade cards gave way to mass-produced greetings [12] thanks to capitalism. In Italy, Saint Valentine's keys are given to lovers "as a romantic symbol and an invitation to unlock the giver's heart" as well as to children to ward off epileptic fits (called Saint Valentine's Malady) [13], which could be thought of as an overwrought lover's obsessive mania, like St. Vitus' Dance. More

Thursday, March 13, 2025

Hinduism: throwing powder for HOLI


A celebration of the Holi Festival of Colors in Utah, United States of America, 2013



Holi Explained | The Hindu Festival of Colors
(ReligionForBreakfast) March 13, 2025: Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, celebrates romantic love (as personified by Kamadeva, a kind of Cupid-Eros figure in Indian religions, sometimes representing Mara, the worst demon of all), spring, and the victory of good over evil, but its meaning is deeper than just throwing bright colored powders.


Use code RFBINCOGNI at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: incogni.com/rfbincogni. Join Patreon community: religionforbreakfast. Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images and Reuters.
  • It doesn't feel toxic. *Cough-cough*
    When is this purnima? On the last full moon of winter (the Indian month of Phalguna), which in 2025 is March 13-14.
Holi (\ho-ly\) is a major Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colors, Love, and Spring. It celebrates the eternal and divine love of the deities Radha and her consort Krishna.

Additionally, the day signifies the triumph of good over evil, light over dark, as it commemorates the victory of Vishnu as Narasimha ("Man-Lion") over Hiranyakashipu. Holi originated and is predominantly celebrated on the Indian subcontinent but has spread to other regions of Asia and parts of the Western world through the Indian diaspora. More: Holi

Friday, November 1, 2024

Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos)




Wheel of Life/Death (Bhavacakra)
Why are Mexicans and other Hispanics in Latin America obsessed with a 
Day of the Dead? It is to remember and honor loved ones who have passed. They are still here. We still love them and want the best for them. (Filial piety is common in the culture just as it is in Asia and used to be around the world). The idea of death is not a ghoulish thing in that context, but it mixes with spooky American Halloween or tainted by Catholic All Hallows Eve and loses its Obon and Samhain (Sau-in) echoes, which aim to honor and remember, connect and care for those lost to Death.


Countless worlds, 31 planes
In Buddhism, who is the Grim Reaper? One might think it's Yama, the King of the Dead, the kind judge in the afterlife. "Justice" is meted out not by him, who is just the one who delivers the news, but by karma (our personal store of deeds coming up for appropriate results). If it's anyone, it has to be the king of the yakkhas Mara, the personification of Death, a kind of Santa Muerte who is actually a "Cupid" or "Lucifer" figure in Buddhism who resides in the highest sensual-celestial heavenly world. His aim is that people should go to hell but rather to stay trapped in his sphere of influence, of which he imagines he is the ruler. In his view, no one should escape the Sensual Sphere (the human plane, the subhuman worlds, and a few of the lower celestial angelic planes) to the superior Fine Material Sphere or the even loftier Immaterial Sphere. These three spheres (Kama Loka, Rupa Loka, Arupa Loka) are general categorizations of the individual planes (lokas) within the 31 Planes of Existence.

The scary thing about Mara is that he's alluring.

Karma leads to all planes
Mara's influence only extends up to the world where he was reborn and is referred to as Mara Devaputra (a literal being "Mara reborn among the devas or gods"). He frequently comes to earth where along with the asuras or anti-devas he causes a great deal of mischief for mortals who are fueled by sensual desires, craving, and clinging. They hear the Dharma, the path to liberation made known by the Buddha, but it is hard to follow with all the allure of the five sense strands of pleasure. What is the antidote? It is practice, which reveals what we are clinging to: that which is impermanent, disappointing (incapable of ever fulfilling us), and impersonal. We will not see these Three Marks of Existence, the true nature of things, so we go on trapped, revolving in samsara, faring according to our karma (deeds), constantly facing and having to endure the results. When our deeds (intentional actions) are motivated by greed (attraction), hatred (aversion or fear), and delusion (wrong views), the result is suffering. When our karma is rooted in nongreed (letting go), nonhatred (kindness, heart), and/or wisdom (right view), the results (vipaka and phala) are sweet. It's our choice IF only we were mindful and in control of ourselves, but we usually are not. Buddhists are as bad as the Mexicans, always going on about Death.
Skull face paint tutorial | Halloween, Day of the Dead, Samhain makeup tutorial | Snazaroo
Though the Buddha talked about 31 Planes of Existence, they were distilled down to just these 6
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(Shonagh Scott) Sponsored Shonagh Scott for Oct. 2017. Today's Halloween makeup tutorial is this beautiful but eerie skull face paint, sponsored by Snazaroo! Their products are so affordable, and their Halloween kits are great on children and adults alike and they're the sponsor. daz3d.com
Grim Reaper Makeup Tutorial for Halloween | ShowMe MakeUp

Death stands behind all rebirth.
(Shonagh Scott) Oct. 2014: As explained in the tutorial, I've created this look using cream products, face paint, and eyeshadows. Substitute the cream-based products for solely face paint. Hit subscribe to see more tutorials using a vast range of different media and brands. Watch me create special occasion makeup, stunning evening looks, and everyday makeup routines! Go with me behind the scenes on photoshoots, and even watch me create SFX makeup for fancy dress and The Dia de Los Muertos or Mexican Halloween (All Hallows Eve, Samhain, Obon)!

Good thing we'll never die and need not be mindful

Buddhists are crazy and stupid. Don't think about Death! Think about LIFE! Live it up, Man, live!!! Why the heck think about Death? - What if how we live is how we die? There is more than just this life. Samsara (the wandering through life and death) keeps going. We don't really die. We are wise to do something for the future, to prepare for it. If it all just "ended," we might be right to be hedonists living it up all the time. But it doesn't end, so we're neither insane nor dumb to be mindful of Death. It helps living life after life, and fearing (ignoring and avoiding) causes many problems that could be avoided with a little bravery to look even on Halloween.
  • Model - Bill Follow him: itsteambill Instagram; @itsteambill The boys YouTube channel; gorillazillavids Music; Music - Alchemists Tale Composer - Tilman Sillescu www.freeplaymusic.com Products; Supracolor - Kryolan | 521, 517, 043, and White Black Face Paint Matte Brown and Matte Black Eyeshadow Translucent Power to set the cream. Camo Eyes Coloured Contact Lenses; camoeyes.com/product/crazy-con...
  • Shonagh Scott, makeup artist tutorials on YouTube, 2017, 2014; Crystal Quintero, CC Liu, Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Saturday, October 12, 2024

Getting ready for the Day of the Dead

(Mikey & Wyatt) Spring 2024: When You Catch Your Best Friend “Hanging Out” With Your Girlfriend because your best bud doesn’t want to cheat with your ex, but what choice is there when Eros or Cupid run the show and call the shots? Directed by Wyatt Gallitz (wyattgallitz). Written by Wyatt Gallitz and Mikey Brockmann. Director of Photography: Andrew Judge l (liltoasterofficial). Edited by Mikey Brockmann. Performed by Claire Rice (clairebellerice), Mikey Brockmann (mikeybrockmann), and Mitch McMahon (mitchm659).

It's spooky time in the capital of the world, Los Angeles/Hollywood. One can tell because it gets dark sooner and cools off at night, unlike the holy city of Phoenix that burns by day to arise at night still burning.

The Latin communities in both Southwest metropolises are working on those costumes and make up tutorials. It's not easy being a ravishing Catrina to his Mara (the King of Death, sometimes appearing as Skeletor and sometimes as Santa Muerte).

But Mara is an old foe in Buddhism -- the ender of everything, which could end in peace if it weren't for all that attachment. Mara Devaputra ("Death Born-among-angels"), like a cross between Cupid and Lucifer in the West (Kamadeva and Vemacritin in the East), encourages
  • sensuality
  • affection
  • attachment
  • grasping
  • clinging
all the things we "love" (in the lower, non-agape) and hold onto for dear life. If Cupid knocked on the door like black-eyed children, would we answer and let them in? Most of us would. What harm can Cupid do?

We love, we cling, it's normal or at least very usual and commonplace. English hardly has words for the problem. If we were speaking Ancient Greek or Sanskrit, it might immediately make sense.

We are not talking about healthy concern, affection (kindness and comfort), nurturing, compassion, joy in the joy of others, loving-kindness (metta). All of these are wonderful. What would life be without them?


But there's a dark side, a creepy side, a -- ugh -- clingy side. What depravity enters our lustful longings, what greed poisons our ambitions to succeed and be safe, to enjoy sensual pleasures and satisfy our wants. Fire good. It warms. Brushfire bad. It destroys. It isn't just the size. It's how it quickly gets out of all control.

When we started, it was just an itsy-bitsy straying. It's so hard to walk the narrow way. When we on full moon observance days begin to rein (reign) it in, we begin to cultivate the sort of karma (mental, verbal, and physical deeds) that bring about happiness.
What is "happiness"? It is that feeling of accomplishment for receiving what is welcome, pleasant, easy to endure. It's easy to distinguish from dukkha (disappointment or suffering), which is hard if not impossible to endure, most unwelcome and unpleasant.

"Karma" means what we do now conditions what comes about then. Now and then, now and then, even the then only really manifests now. And all the nows can be considered to previous thens to come.

Spooky. What will we wear? Will we win a prize? Will everyone look and point and smile? What about the real Day of the Dead when we die? That's unthinkable, the impossible possibility!

But at that time, the Buddha said, it's great to have a store of good karma (merit, punna) to fall back on.

It's like the old saying, "Q: When is the best time to plant a tree? A: Thirty years ago. Q: When is the second best time? A: Right now."

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

I think I'm falling in love, not my partner

Cupid (Kamadeva, Mara Devaputra, Eros) seems so cute and innocent.

I know it's love cause she starts looking like this.
These things indicate a love that is slowly dying. It’s often easy to tell when a relationship is totally falling apart because there will be obvious signs, but it’s less apparent if someone is slowly falling out of love with his or her partner.

Keep an eye out for these 12 behaviors, as they may indicate that your lover’s interest is cooling when you wish that it would burn forever with more and more intensity, like an endless honeymoon. But it burns, dwindles, until is burns out.
I know I'm in love because it's blissful (piti) like serene meditating only not as good.
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This is how I pictured us. Details schmeetails!
Am I falling in love, how can I know? Maybe this flower can tell me with its petals. They love me, they love me not, they love me, they love me not... Omens. Signs. Who can predict the future? But what if my partner is slowly falling out of love as the old lovespell is coming undone?

1. They’ll have less interest in intimacy and physical affection. That's one sign.

We were like cats in a cradle reaching Purvana.
One surefire way to determine whether someone is quietly falling out of love (even if you're falling more and more in love) is to pay attention to physical intimacy, or rather the lack of it.

Couples tend to grow less passionate after the "honeymoon period" has worn off. That's usual. But if intimacy has disappeared entirely, including hugging or handholding, that’s a big warning sign.
2. They mention feelings of being “trapped.” It's time for A Conscious Rethink. Feeling trapped rarely happens in the context of discussing a relationship, but a partner may drop hints about feeling trapped or caged in various aspects of life.

This may be accompanied by restlessness and frustration, leading to behaviors such as going for long drives or walks “just to get out.” 

3. There’s less communication than there used to be. When and if this person does communicate with a partner, rather than avoiding conversation, it seems distant and unresponsive than before.

Maybe it's just to get an answer instead of having a conversation, or it's a grunt, a lackluster response, rather than actually having a discussion about a topic. More: If someone is quietly falling out of love, they'll display these 12 behaviors
SUTRA: Falling Apart
Numerical Discourses, 6. Brahmins, Ven. Sujato (trans.); Dhr. Seven (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
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Mara appears like an angel of light or monster
(AN 3.56) A rich Brahmin approached the Buddha. Sitting respectfully to one side, he said: “Master Gotama, I have heard that Brahmins of the past who were senior teachers-of-teachers, said:

“‘In the olden days this world was so full of people one would think they were squashed together. Villages, towns, and capital cities were no more than a chicken’s flight apart.’ What is the cause, sir, what is the reason why these days human numbers have dwindled, a decline in population is evident, and whole villages, towns, cities, and countries have disappeared?”

“Brahmin, nowadays humans love only illicit desires. They are overcome with immoral greed and are mired in wrong customs. Taking up knives, they murder each other, and many people perish. This is the cause, this is the reason why nowadays human numbers have dwindled.

“Furthermore, because nowadays humans love only illicit desires…the heavens [deva worlds on superior planes of existence] do not provide enough rain, so there’s famine, bad harvests, with blighted crops that shrivel into dry straw. And many people perish. This is the cause, this is the reason why nowadays human numbers have dwindled.

“Furthermore, because nowadays humans love only illicit desires…native spirits let vicious monsters [cryptids] loose. And many people perish. This is the cause, this is the reason why nowadays human numbers have dwindled.”

“Excellent, Master Gotama, excellent! …From this day forward, may Master Gotama remember me as a lay follower who has gone [to the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha] for refuge for life.” More: suttacentral.net

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Sex toys of the Secretum (British Museum)

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Would billionaires donate their toys?
The Secretum (Latin for "hidden away") was a British Museum collection of the 19th and early 20th centuries that held artifacts and images that were deemed sexually graphic.

Many of the items were phallic amulets, sexy charms, and votive offerings, often from pre-Christian traditions, including the worship of Priapus (constantly erect), a Greco-Roman god of fertility and male genitalia.

Newar Vajracharya priest, Nepal
Items from other cultures covered a wide range of human history, including ancient Egypt, the classical era Greco-Roman world, the ancient Near East, medieval England, sex-crazed Japan, and Kama Sutra India.

Many of the early donations or sales to the museum -- including those from the collectors Sir Hans Sloane, Sir William Hamilton, Richard Payne Knight, and Charles Townley -- contained items with erotic or sexually graphic images; these were separated out by museum staff and kept from public display.

Cupid, Kamadeva, Eros? Destroy this mad brute
Modern scholars believe the segregation was probably motivated by a paternalistic (in loco parentis) stance from the museum to keep what they considered morally dangerous material away from all except scholars and members of the clergy, who are very interested in sex and erotic material for coming closer to their God or gods or the children.

What materials and modern artifacts might be sent to the Secretum if the collection continued?
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Flute blowing Zen, Komuso
By the 1860s there were around 700 such items held by the British Museum. In 1865 the antiquarian George Witt donated his phallocentric collection of 434 artifacts to the museum, which led to the formal setting up of the Secretum to hold his penile collection and similar items.

The Secretum collection began to be gradually broken up in 1912, with the transfer of items into departments appropriate for their time frame and culture.

The last entry into the Secretum was in 1953, when the British Library found 18th-century condoms being used as bookmarks in a 1783 publication they held.

The last remaining items were moved out of the collection in 2005. More

Friday, September 27, 2024

National Crush Day (9/27)


"Love is like oxygen" (The Sweet)
Why would we have a day to celebrate crushes? Some say these are literal. We crush cans. We recycle. If we're smart, we pre-cycle (plan ahead about what will become of the waste) and use banana leaves instead of plastic plates or big rolls of seaweed instead of those maddening packaged ones in individual wrappers where the container weighs more than the contents. Of course, we all know what a crush is. And we should know it isn't harmless. Mara Devaputra (Kamadeva, Eros, Cupid) delights. It hurts pining, waxing, wishing, hoping, wondering, casting our hearts like lures into the sea to see if anything is biting. Those bites won't much matter. There's just the One who either got away or was never caught. And we idealize. We weave a fantasy that becomes a petard. We're hoisted by our own petard. We grow tendrils and then cry when the mass of vines grows so heavy it tears off the fence or pole. Oh, the hole! In our hearts, there are many spaces, but in all the space, there's only you. You send me, Crush. Woe upon us. If only, if only there were a way to snap out of it. If only there were a way to be mindful of the moment instead. This moment I'm free, I'm fine, everything's good -- ah, to be there. Where? Here. When? Now. Be here now? Yes. But Woo Deng is soo deng cuuuute!


Wednesday, September 25, 2024

When devas descend, they communicate


Akasha devas are the "shining ones" from the celestial worlds, the heavens, who from time to time visit humans, who note their grace, elegance, and orderliness. What do they say when they visit humans? They are able to communicate directly and telepathically, by mimicking human languages, and by archetypes and dance. Some ships or vimanas pulse lights, colors, shapes, and frequencies to send their messages down. Bali, Indonesia, retains a Hindu dance tradition from India (kathak), which seems to be the stylized body language and interpretive dancing of female devas (devis) and apsaras depicted on the bas relief walls of Borobudur, the largest excavated Buddhist temple in the world as well as the ornate Angkor Wat in the jungles of Buddhist Cambodia. - Wisdom Quarterly

Legong Semarandhana in Balerung stage, Peliatan
(Bernard Marchal) Marchal is an amateur videographer and a simple tourist. His channel has no commercial purpose. He often travels to Indonesia, in particular to the Hindu island of Bali.

As he is passionate about video and Balinese culture (Hindu ceremonies, traditional dances, and music), he often films events and shows he attends. It is his way of recording memories of his stays and, more importantly, making known the rich culture of the island.

Legong Semarandhana on Balerung stage, Peliatan, Tirta Sari. Dancers: Aan Devita and Nitha Suwitri. Recorded Nov. 23, 2018.

This dance was filmed on the Balerung stage, in the small town of Peliatan (near Ubud, Bali), where world famous Balinese dances and gamelan music began.

Indeed, the first international tour of Balinese artists in the US and Europe in 1952 brought together a group from Peliatan led by A. A. Gede Mandera.

Since that time, Peliatan has remained one of the historic centers of Balinese dance and music. Two groups of the famous 1952 troupe are Tirta Sari and Gunung Sari, which give shows for visitors every week. Tirta Sari on the Balerung stage on Friday evenings and Gunung Sari on Saturdays.

Many of the best dancers in Bali learn their art in Peliatan. Legong Semarandana is a dance that developed in Balinese royal courts.

The narration refers to a long Javanese Hindu poem, a myth about the origins of love and passion between humans, embodied by the couple in love: Semara, the god (deva) of love, and Ratih, the moon goddess, interpreted by two twin dancers who perform a choreography symbolizing their harmony.

Lord Shiva then intervenes, furious to have had his meditation disturbed by the couple [because what god wouldn't be furious to be disturbed by humans and their behavior on earth].

Semara tries in vain to pierce him with arrows [like Cupid is said to do in Western mythology]. Lord Shiva, who takes on the appearance of the terrible Rangda, curses the desire that forces him to create the mortal world and intends to reduce the two lovers to ashes.

Apologies for any inaccuracies in the story summary and thanks in advance to anyone who can correct or complete the explanation.

Sunday, March 31, 2024

Boobs illegal on Delta Airlines flights?

How much cleavage is too much cleavage for us to avert our nosy gazes and get airborne?
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If you're like us, you believe in science. And if you believe science, you know that staring at boobs is good for a man's heart. Why does Delta Airlines hate men's hearts?

Dependable shyster lawyer and sensational feminist attorney Gloria Allred is on the right side of history: Burn your bras. Free those definition of our species. We're "mammals," right? Is that a species?

I dress to feel good about me (at others' expense).
We're mammalian, part of the family of creatures who feed their young colostrum, fat, and protein. And we will not be putting them away. Avert your eyes. Or if thine eye offends thee, follow Saint Issa's advice.

However, when attending a Buddhist monastic complex, temple, or meditation center, have mercy: There are men and women trying to observe celibacy (brahmacariya) as part of the Eight Precepts.

Anything men can wear, I can wear better. Look:
Ample bosoms lead many to thoughts of distraction. Who's fault is it?

Surely lust must reside in the wandering eye of the beholder, but still. Does it offend a statue (or the deity invited to reside in that representation in many Indian religions and all animist traditions)? It might.

If we lived in a fair and equal country, we could all whip them out at will.
Fe/males are not equal. But we must gain parity and equal opportunity.

Julia: My eyes are up here, Pig.
Do visuals lead fellow visitors to thoughts of lust, to roaming eyes, to craving, to distraction, to a lack of restraint, to feelings of want, lack, obsession, addiction ("must have"), kickstarting arousal, craving, grasping, clinging (repeated grasping), and titillation over thing that bring pleasure to the senses? You bet they do.

And as Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich about a pair of boobs who get a law degree and go into environmental law to sue an evil corporation for polluting.

Does objectifying females lead to LGBTQIA+?
When asked about her amazing chest, Roberts, who is now a good Hindu, said "it took a whole army to produce what people saw on screen," that cleavage, that bosom, that set of legal tools that made The Brock or Erin Go Bra so successful in fighting industry. So, please, a little modesty.

I should be able to dress anyway I want for a flight. Gloria Allred's my lawyer! Lisa Archbold
"Women's rights! Human rights!" (FEMEN.org protests topless for sll our rights).
Ah, modesty! And it's bulletproof, too. Throw away those cancer-causing wire undergarments!
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Sophia Loren steals a glance at Jayne Mansfield
It's funny that if a friend of yours told you that he taped a bunch of twenty-dollar bills to his clothes and walked through the rough part of town, or a dark bar or club, and he got robbed, you would probably tell him what we would tell him. And no one would scold us for sexism, bias, or "blaming the victim."

Bras? We're rich socialites. We don't even wear panties! (Catholic Discipline)
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We're not role models of how to be women.
But if you told us you wore no bra and a transparent tee-shirt, a very revealing dress, a classy see-through blouse, or a no panties and miniskirt combo (like Paris Hilton and her bleached Redheaded Gang used to wear on Ladies Nights Out), and we dared to suggest someone was maybe being misinterpreted as "asking for it," "bringing it on themselves," or should not be surprised that people, when no one is watching, are savages and animals, we would be monsters, anti-feminists, and aholes.

Whatcha lookin at, Dog? Didn't ya had no mama?
We think everyone should be free to wear whatever s/he wants, at any time anywhere. But there is decorum, there are standards. Why a flossy thong bikini is alright at the beach but against the dress code in a corporate setting, we don't know. Productivity? Distraction? Woman says she was targeted by Delta for not wearing a bra (NBC Los Angeles)

"Cardi B" is not real. She's hypnotized/possessed, glitching reveals.

Our feed is full of boobs, and not just the mind-controlled Bill Maher/Cardi B kind.