Crain's Boobs

Every week I get a Crain's Chicago Business "10 Things to Do This Weekend" e-mail. The 10 things often includes things like opera and art gallery openings, concerts at Ravinia, parades, family-oriented events in the park, etc. The list is a mix of the upscale and the urban/suburban, but never too edgy or urban. I remember a couple/few years back, one of the events they listed was the annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade in Chicago, and they got at least angry e-mail from a subscriber. The lists sometimes include interesting events, but get kind of dull, as inoffensive and playing it safe editorial can be, at times.  

Sometime you can play it too safe. In the most recent "10 Things" e-mail from Crain's, they listed an event that both is for a good cause and sounds like fun, the Beverly Breast Cancer Walk, an event that will be held this weekend on the South Side of Chicago, to raise funds for breast cancer awareness and research. Along with the 3-mile walk, there will be a bake sale. Here is how the ever-careful Crain's described it:

"Some potentially X-rated cupcakes will be out for all to see (and eat) during the D-CUPS BAKE SALE at the Beverly Walk Against Breast Cancer on Mother's Day. The sale, which features cupcakes decorated like women's breasts (both clothed and not), will raise funds for the Little Company of Mary Hospital Breast Health Center."

Just how are cupcakes that resemble "women's breasts" (as opposed to men's breasts) "potentially X-rated"? Is it offensive and X-Rated because the cupcakes look like breasts? Are breasts inherently "X-rated"? What kind of a person would see a cupcake that looked like a breast and say, "My God, this is offensive and X-rated! I am appalled! This is sick!" Men, likely. Uncomfortable men. And scaredy-cat writers. Jeez, Crain's, if you're so afraid of the reaction from your readers that you stick a "potentially X-rated" disclaimer on an item about what seems like a fun way to raise awareness of an important health matter, then why bother at all? 

This wouldn't happen in Italy, though. There, Sicily, specifically, a custard tart known as Seni di Vergine, or Virgin's Breasts, are a well-known and well-loved treat. Here (no, not here, there, on top; I still haven't figured out how to place photos in a post, obviously) is a picture (warning, this is "potentially X-rated"), the only thing missing from this image would be a cherry on top.

Anyway, if you'd like to contribute to this naughty, dirty effort, the cupcake sale will be held at 96th Street and Longwood Drive on May 11, from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.