Yes, for my school newspaper I’m writing a Straight Dope-like article on why men are attracted to breasts. I’ve written the majority of it, but I don’t really have any statistics or scientific findings. If any of you can think of any good books or reputable web sites I should look at, let me know. And no, I can’t quote any of you 
And by the way, I put this in “Great Debates” in case any of you want to chime in on your own theories… even though I am looking for statistics.
Well, there’s always Desmond Morris’s “boob cleavage looks like butt cleavage” hypothesis:
Not all men are attracted to breasts. And not even all breasts at that, I doubt most straight males are attracted to male boobies.
But in the case of men who are attracted to female boobies, it is because females have them.
Welcome to the board Pet W. You should always do a search, before posting. We did the breast things this summer. If you check this thread, this thread, this thread and this thread you have something to start with. Also, you might want to do a search yourself.
Ava wrote:
That’s probably the best answer I’ve ever seen on that topic.
Yeah, same here… I can’t imagine being very attracted to a pair of disembodied boobs. Yeesh.
I looked at those links, and one of them was pretty helpful. However, I skimmed through it and still didn’t see any helpful links or books that I can cite. I saw some Frued quoted - which book/essay etc of his would be helpful? Anyone know?
I think, in answering questions like this, we have to be careful to distinguish between ultimate and proximate reasons, as evolutionary psychologists put it.
For example, the ultimate reason that I want to engage in sex is that humans have evolved to want sex, so as to procreate. However, the proximate reason I want to engage in sex is because it feels so good, and I may in fact go out of my way to prevent procreation, such as by wearing a condom.
Similarly, there may be ultimate reasons why men like breasts that have been discussed in the various threads – things like “they remind us of buttocks”, “they make us think the woman is healthy”, etc.
But the proximate reason, for me at least, is that nothing else rings the bell “female” in my mind so clearly, and from such a distance, as the sight of a pair of boobs.
Ed
Are you writing about lesbians and bisexual women too, or just straight and bi men?
I think a very relevant distinction should be made as to whether you are talking about
(a) “western” men - ie men who have been exposed to the intense media sexualisation of breasts, and largely men who were breastfed until a younger age, and were probably less likely to see siblings being breastfed
(b) men in developing countries or undeveloped countries where women’s breasts are naturally more often exposed in a maternalistic way, breastfeeding is much more common to a later age and families are bigger with more siblings being breastfed
It would be interesting to find out out if breasts as a sexual symbol are less important in (b) situation than (a). (I imagine there are, but I genuinely don’t know).
Also: the breasts that we see in western society are very artificial breast in a natural sense. I don’t just mean silicon - I mean wearing a bra your whole life keeps breasts far higher and rounder than they otherwise would be after adolescence. Women who don’t wear bras have much longer, flatter breasts.
Well, I still think you should start by thinking about the following. The human female is the only animal which have breasts prior to getting pregnant.
Well, this is a generalization, but stimulation of the breasts can also add to the woman’s sexual arousal, which is in turn arousing to her fella.
Yeah, the point is that if you’re attracted generally to someone, you will rationalize attractiveness into their every aspect.
Pet, for a reference look at Steven Pinker’s How the Mind Works. He takes Gaspode’s point: Firm round breasts are historically a sign of just emerged human female sexual maturation, and evolutionarily it makes sense for males to be attracted to fertile females who will be around to see the progeny of the dalliance into adult reproductive age surivival. Saggy breasts are a sign of older age and postpartum status (mom’s resources will be divided) and flat breasts are a sign of either masculinization or sexual immaturity (both associated with decreased fertility).
I think it’s obvious, without a bit of evicence to back it up, that breasts serve a dual purpose. One is breast feeding, the other is sexual attraction. If you start with the proposition in your paper that breasts do have a purely sexual function, you can then try to start proving that assertion. Desmond Morris makes a good argument in The naked ape although I think the specific about cleavage and buttocks is carrying the analogies too far.
ELAINE: “I never knew you were so into breasts. I thought you were a leg man.”
JERRY: “A leg man? Why would I be a leg man? I don’t need legs. I have legs.”
The reason I don’t agree with Desmond Morris’s argument is that when you look at the breasts of non-bra-wearing women (ie “natural” women) they aren’t bum-cleavage like at all. It’s only bras that squash tits together into that unnatural bottom-cleavage shape.
I was going to post something about wonder bras, istara, but I still think he makes a valid argument about why breasts came about, even though the cleavage conclusion is moot.
Just a personal observation from a white gal who grew up in a city where the majority of the population was black- it seems like most white guys are generally attracted to breasts, while most black guys seem to be attracted to bull hips and buttocks. I think its a cultural thing. Of course, there is a specrum- I know a lot of white guys who are “ass men” and my mom, who is very large breasted and flat-assed dated a black guy for a while who was a “boob man”, so there is a spectrum (being possessed of both large breasts and bull hips and butt, I do observe which end of me a guy is looking at when he looks at me, and black guys generally look at my ass, white guys generally look at my boobs).
But I also think a higher percentage of the black population is breast fed than of the white population, at least here in the good ol’ US of A, so I really do think its a cultural thing. I think the West has sexualized women’s breasts more than the East (and most African nations), so men who are descended from Eastern/African cultural heritages, including black Americans, would tend not to be quite as attracted to breasts, favoring “childbearing hips” instead.