What is it with breasts?

[Dave Stewart]

Made you look.

In Martin Amis's novel, London Fields, he refers to them as Secondary Sexual Characteristics. Is there a biological reason for men's attraction to them, or is it just a reaction to the multi-cultural taboo of exposing them in public?

[Reeder]

Sure there is...from them flows mothers milk.

[DebiJ]

In Swahili, the word "zaliwa" means breast AND it means milk (slang). It's just in how you use it. I think it would be embarassing to as for a glass of breast, if you didn't know what you were saying.

[AHunter3]

Anything that emphasizes sexual differentiation has a pretty good chance of being experienced as sexy. Breasts are emphatically female characteristics.

[Tedster]

They are absolutely the coolest milk containers around... soft, yet firm. Yumm!

[Firstfoot]

So, do other animals care? Say baboons or chimps.

[Hemlock]

From a biological point of view, surely, breasts are sexually atractive because they suggest child-bearing ability. Same with hips.

The taboo against breasts being shown is not common. In North Africa I've sen women breast feeding openly, while keeping their faces covered.


Firstfoot: Baboons have those big red buttocks to get them going.

[easy e]

Desmond Morris says they echo the curves of the buttocks (and females lips are suppposed to echo, ummm, her other lips). He theorizes that humans/hominids evolved these secondary sexual characteristics as a consequence of walking upright (it hides the buttocks, firstfoot and Hemlock). They serve as a sort of billboard announcing sexuality. He also says that anything that makes sex more pleasurable is a good thing, as it encourages propogation of the species. He goes into much greater detail in The Naked Ape. It's actually not all about sex--the title goes with his point that the feature that distinguishes us most from other primates is our relative hairlessness.

[Dijon Warlock]

Originally posted by Hemlock
Firstfoot: Baboons have those big red buttocks to get them going.

They also have mimic structures on their chests, since they do a lot of sitting (thus hiding those big red buttocks). More from Desmond on this.

[jaimest]

I understand that in many cultures, Chinese and Korean for instance, the female breast is not as "fetishized" as among the westerners (especially North Americans).

Not that women in those cultures run around topless and flash them for everyone, modesty is still important.

Incidentally I live close to the Mexican border, and in Mexico I have seen Mexican Indian women (Tarahumara), who are normally very reserved, breastfeed babies in public.

And in Northern/Western Europe, topless women are not anywhere near as contreversial as they are in the USA, especially on the beach or poolside. But I think that is a reflection on attitudes (funny word in this context) on nudity in general. I'm sure our adolescent male German and Swedish friends are no less ardent in the admiration of womanly breasts than American guys are.

Among other peoples, the western obession with breasts is seen as a bit infantile...

[DSeid]

Do any other animals usually copulate face to face? I don't know, but I wonder if this and prominant female breast tissue as a sexual organ co-evolved.

Meanwhile, (and as Hemlock says) it makes sense that the physical signs that correlate with a female's emerging abilty to reproduce would be arousing to a male. Through evolutionary history a young childless but reproductively able female is the best bet to get your genes out there to survive to the next round. Pert round breasts are a good sign of that. FWIW most men are NOT turned on by lactating breasts, and it makes evolutionary sense that they wouldn't be. Saggy breasts are a sign of multiple past pregnancies and age, not the best place to invest resources for your future gene pool in times of limited resources.

[Dave Stewart]

Originally posted by jaimest
I understand that in many cultures, Chinese and Korean for instance, the female breast is not as "fetishized" as among the westerners (especially North Americans).

In Japan, its the back of the neck that is the big turn-on. If you look at photos of geisha, they paint their face and neck, except for the nape, which is I understand has the same sort of effect on a Japanese guy that a Western guy might experience looking at cleavage.

[Dr. Lao]

Humans are the only primate with have breasts their whole adult lives. Other primates grow breasts only when nursing, and they shrink when they stop nursing. Primates are also infertile when nursing due to lactational amenorrhea (humans who live at subsistence nutrition levels do this too, it is caused by body fat percentages mainly). So swollen breasts should be a sign of infertility to males. Some speculate that this was the reason permenant breasts evolved, to make a female look less attractive to other males why her pair bonded mate is off searching for food. I don't buy this. I really doubt that a trait that makes an individual less attractive to the opposite sex would be selected for, except under very unusual conditions.

I also do buy Morris's hypothesis. Bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) commons copulate face to face and humans are more than capable of the having sex the way much of the rest of the animal kingdom does.

The best explanation I have heard is that the human breast allows a suckling baby to breath. The flat breasts composed of only glandular tissue would smother a human baby because our faces are so flat and our noses are so close to our mouths. This is in contrast with the chimp which has a protruding mouth and highly set nose. The extra adipose that gives the human breast its rounded shape gives the baby some breathing room.

[Dr. Lao]

I think I should avoid posting after midnight.

Try to ignore all the goofy grammar in my last post.

[Bad News Baboon]

Originally posted by Hemlock

Firstfoot: Baboons have those big red buttocks to get them going.

HEY now!

but seriously, Gorillas copulate face to face.
This I know to be true. I went to the zoo once and...

[Snooooopy]

Originally posted by DebiJ
In Swahili, the word "zaliwa" means breast AND it means milk (slang). It's just in how you use it. I think it would be embarassing to as for a glass of breast, if you didn't know what you were saying.

I would like a glass of breast and a side order of ass.

[Niobium Knight]

Originally posted by Snooooopy

I would like a glass of breast and a side order of ass.

milk and shit? certainly sir...

[MalFrog]

They're just like toy trains.

They are designed for kids but dads get the most pleasure from them.

[handy]

I didn't get breast fed as a child so Im not sure about the attraction of them for milk containers...who knows why they are attractive to some guys & not others. Some guys are attracted to butts & those aren't milk containers.

[Tranquilis]

Originally posted by easy e
...the title goes with his point that the feature that distinguishes us most from other primates is our relative hairlessness.

Actually, humans are extremely hairy. It's just that most of our hair follicles are inactive, or only partially active. IIRC, humans have the greatest per-square-inch density of hair follicles in the primate world. Here's an example of what a human looks like when all the follicles are fully activated (Congenital generalized hypertrichosis).

[Rysdad]

Originally posted by Dr. Lao
I also do buy Morris's hypothesis. Bonobos (pygmy chimpanzees) commons copulate face to face...

And side-to-side, and up and down, and left-to-right, and any other way they can get it.

There was a documentary not too long ago featuring these extremely friendly creatures. They rip one off just to say hi. They eat and screw, groom and screw, probably work crossword puzzles and screw...then screw some more.

"Dear Reincarnation Gods,

If you wouldn't mind..."

[holdenmagroin]

My guess would be that men like boobs because they don't have any.

[kniz]

Originally posted by handy
Some guys are attracted to butts & those aren't milk containers.

Actually we are not attracted to butts, so much as the other female equipment in the near vicinity. For some reason it sounds better to say it is the butt we're attracted to. In refined company we even go so far as to say we are leg men. It's really all part of a lovely package.

[TheLoadedDog]

Originally posted by holdenmagroin
My guess would be that men like boobs because they don't have any.

He-ey! Speak for yourself!

It's taken me years of drinking beer to look this way.

[nth]

Not sure if all below is correct.

I do know that men likes breasts and that even tho some cultures do have women topless, breasts still play a sexual role and do turn men on.
Just because women are topless does not mean the men in that society/culture is not turn on.

In different times and different cultures, men like different breasts. In today's world, it seems like the bigger the better. I know two century ago. Most cultures had men liking small to mid-size but not flat. Reason being big breasts were for breast-feeding children and rich women don't breast feed their children.

There was a tv program that documented scientists figuring out what men likes in women. It turns out that the hip to waist ratio needs to be .7 for most men to find the women sexy.

Okay, about other animals.... I think animals use pheromones a lot more than humans. Breasts seem to be a human thing since I cannot recall other animals having this behavior.

One explanation is that men like the touch of breast tissues, so thus some guys like butt, since similar texture.

The other thing is that there are many nerve endings on the nipple, so is often used for stimulation.

I cannot think of another explanation that seems plausible.