# Why do men have nipples?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-have-nipples/238924>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 8, 2004, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-have-nipples/238924 "2004-04-08T09:43:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-have-nipples/238924/21 "2004-04-11T13:48:01Z")

</div>

> [@Headcoat](#):
>
> And does the scrotum correspond with the labia?

Of course it does.

You’ve never heard of playing Post Office??

😛

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![LuckySevens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@LuckySevens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LuckySevens)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-have-nipples/238924/22 "2004-04-11T14:01:05Z")

</div>

nipples can help gauge temperatures as well…

Also they’re probably favourable to the female species. Breasts may feed the baby, but lets face it, natural selection means females with bigger breasts are more likely to breed because males prefer it.

Perhaps the same with females, although im not sure.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-have-nipples/238924/23 "2004-04-11T16:32:06Z")

</div>

It’s only very recently (in the past hundred years or so) that large breasts have become fashionable and that’s in America. What’s favorable to one culture might be disgusting to another so natural selection hardly favors large breasts.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-have-nipples/238924/24 "2004-04-20T17:02:40Z")

</div>

I’m curious–which male mammals don’t have nipples? My brother and I used to raise mice, and we tried to use the presence of nipples (“faucets”) as a sexing tool, but I’m not sure if it worked.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fox\_Paws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/85e7bf/32.png) [@Fox\_Paws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fox_Paws)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-have-nipples/238924/25 "2004-04-20T20:02:54Z")

</div>

I was born without nipples, and I’ve never missed 'em. My wife can’t stand looking at other shirtless men now; they all look feminine to her, because of their nipples.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-men-have-nipples/238924.md?page=1)