Breasts In Perspective

Breasts in North America are considered to be sexual organs and therefore a taboo. Going topless on beaches is not generally accepted. Breastfeeding in public is often frowned on or seen as 'indecent exposure'. Women going top free are considered shameful and behaving immodestly.

On the other hand, the entertainment industry and the media constantly show women wearing very scant clothing that barely covers the nipples and draws attention to the breasts.

Fashion swimwear covers less and less of the female body each year. Media and advertisements signal to people that breasts are sexual, and are only beautiful when big and protruding. But we know big breasts are a fallacy since women in ads and movies use push-up bras and breast enlargement to artificially 'enhance' the way their breasts look like.

Just think what young girls learn about breasts if they continually see this 'propaganda' without a balanced view of the real purpose of breasts! Breasts are not to be hidden, they are not sexual and they should not be forbidden.

Parents teach their children the same way, and many times children don't see a single pair of naturally nude breasts apart from their own (if they are girls) while growing up. It's totally possible that children grow up in North America without ever seeing a baby breastfeeding!

How many pairs of real breasts have you ever seen?

Image; Ladies day out

For many young women, most of their knowledge about breasts comes from movies and magazines, so it is no wonder that even teenagers talk about getting breast implants, and that most American women seem to be unhappy with their breasts.

If women are obsessed about their breast size and shape to the extent of surgery, men aren't doing any better. For many men female breasts are a source of sexual inspiration, fascination and fantasy.

They get inspired from looking at pictures and some cleavage where breasts are enticingly almost visible, yet hidden. The pornographic industry capitalises on the taboo-ism of female breasts by letting men see these taboo items for good money.

But it's not so in Europe or in many other parts of the world. European women commonly go topless on beaches, and many European countries also have nudist beaches where people sunbath naked, yet the atmosphere is decent, non-sexual and people are at ease.

Historically:

It is only religious cultures that have an aversion to the human body because they have come to believe without any proof that the human body is somehow vile and sinful. But really, if this were so then the creator would surely have given us some other form.

The sense ability of those who cannot deal with the reality of being human is severely damaged because after all, everything we see and indeed experience as an internal process. So really, anyone who is offended by the sight of a natural human body is in fact wrestling with an internal problem of their own that they are blaming on someone else. It is only the modern religions that have made people prudish.

In Other Countries

In some European countries, people are used to seeing nakedness, and they don't view breasts as any special thing or taboo. Primitive tribes in hot climates wear very little clothing and it's no big deal to them. It seems that North American culture is almost alone erotizicing the breasts to such an extreme.

Carolyn Latteier, the author of Breasts, The Women's Perspective on an American Obsession, said in a TV program "All about breasts, "In many cultures, breasts aren't sexual at all. I interviewed a young anthropologist working with women in Mali, a country in Africa where women go around with bare breasts.

They're always feeding their babies. And when she told them that in our culture men are fascinated with breasts there was an instant of shock. The women burst out laughing. They laughed so hard, they fell on the floor. They said, "You mean, men act like babies?"

She also said in the same program that of the women she interviewed, the ones that were happiest with their breasts were breastfeeding women. They weren't thinking about, "Is it too small? Is it too big?" They were doing something wonderful - that which is the REAL purpose of breasts.

About the Author

Adrien Brody is a business writer specializing in health and beauty products and has written authoritative articles on the industry.