Nipples seem to be a hot topic of late, with a constant flow of celebrity "nip slips" culminating in Jessica Alba's nipples actually making an appearance.
So after witnessing the uproar Alba's semi-exposed, never-before-seen nipples caused in the blog world, I started thinking about why nipples are such a big deal.
Even setting aside the fact that the United States is far more obsessed with breasts than just about anywhere else in the world, most people seem especially obsessed with nipples.
I have to admit, I don't really get it. I have been known to play with and/or suck on a boys' nipples, but they certainly aren't the first thing I go to when the clothes come off.
Actually, if I were to make a list of the physical things I find sexy in a boy (which I should probably do one day, just for fun), I'm guessing nipples would be pretty close to the bottom.
The same list for every boy I know would almost surely include nipples near the top. And almost every boy who has been lucky enough to get my top off has focused on my nipples for what I would consider a disproportionate amount of time (not that I'm complaining or anything).
Before I started reading blogs that track the world of celebrity nipples, I never really gave my nipples much thought. I wear tight shirts and low-cut dresses without bras all the time, and I have even been known to walk around the hallways of my dorm in nothing but a towel.
Until now, I thought nothing of it. In fact, I sort of treated my nipples as an accessory, like earrings or a necklace. On a hot day, I often go braless, and I think my nipples poking through my shirt is an attractive look.
I mean, it worked for Jennifer Aniston on Friends for what, a dozen years? And like Aniston, my nipples have a tendency to get hard a lot (when I'm turned on, when the air-conditioning is running, when a slight breeze blows past, etc.)

But now that I know just how obsessed boys seem to be with nipples, I'm starting to rethink my position on them. For instance, yesterday I was wearing a pink tank-top and I was unusually aware of the fact that my nipples were visible.
There is really no reason for me to worry about my nipples being hard. Boys certainly don't worry about theirs, right? Yet because of the country's fascination with nipples, something that is fairly innocent has been turned into something that is potentially kind of creepy.
And here I was thinking that the only thing I had to worry about boys starting at as I walked around campus was my ass!