Get your topless photos right here. They're red hot

Ann Althouse calls our attention to a collection of photos from the "Go Topless' protest at the White House. Breasts, of course, are always worth checking out but her additional reasons for sending us are really good:

... which I recommend not for the usual gawking at breasts, but for the careful contemplation of the expression and demeanor of the various women. The pictures tell a story, and each woman is different — not just in the size and shape of her breasts — but in her attitude about joining this demonstration... and the way that attitude evolves as the demonstration progresses and as the various women perceive the differences in breasts and attitudes of the other women. 

To which I add, What she said!

There is a device called a plethysmograph that measures sexual arousal in women. The first thought that is going to occur to you as you scan those photos is that one of the women, if she had been monitored with a plethysmograph, would have registered readings way up the scale. She's really happy to be there and overjoyed that everyone is looking at her breasts; not that they have much choice the way she keeps sticking them in everyone's face.

Check out the other women too. You can tell right away which women feel good about their bodies and breasts and which ones don't.

But the most interesting thing, and this is what I believe Althouse is getting at when she writes "the way the attitude evolves as the demonstration progresses," is that there is a real pissing contest going on here. And even in this  atmosphere where everyone is supposedly supporting these women, you can see that the losers in that contest know damn well who they are.

The vast majority of women already know this even if no one talks about it much. For public purposes, women play up "sisterhood" but they all know perfectly well what it's really like when the gloves bras come off.

Actually, it's like that even before the bras come off. Women are in cutthroat competition not for sex but for sexual status. Watch women in a group where there are no men present and you can be sure you'll see the women with high sexual status put the women with low sexual status in their places. You can't stop this from happening but one thing you can be sure of is that the competition will get more vicious the less clothing women have on.

Added below the read more is a mini screen capture essay.

 So you tell me, is this is the facial expression of a woman thinking about equal rights?

And this?

 This is the facial expression of a woman who is fighting the urge to clap her hands over her breasts.

Notice how much more comfortable the woman in the blue shirt is about being here today than the two topless women are. Unlike her, they are both intensely aware of exactly where the camera is and neither thinks anyone is looking at her face.

This is the facial expression of a woman who was willing to be here for the cause but really, really, really hopes this will be over soon:

These three guys all came to the protest because they support women's rights. By a bizarre coincidence, if you follow the sight lines in the complete photos, you can see that they are all looking at the same parts of the same woman's body. The body parts of one of the women above. Care to guess which body parts? Care to make a wild guess which woman?

Final thought, I love seeing women's breasts but their faces are much more revealing.

Missing from the original photo set, and this is a real shame, are any candid shots of the women assessing one another when they thought no one was looking. That would be interesting.