In a discussion on women’s only gyms over in IMHO, there was this quote from Amateur Barbarian:
Really? 
I would have figured that was as much of a no-no if a guy had done it. So my question to all the ladies out there – is this a thing? Do women really go about poking and handling other women’s breasts without asking? Hell, even asking to do it seems a bit much.
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I have never seen such behavior.
I’ve seen female friends do it. (Admirably when alcohol was involved, and usually done as a joke or to get a rise out of the men folk.)
But a casual acquaintance in a locker room? No way that’s a thing. I think AB’s friend’s experience was just an odd fluke.
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Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
I took some informal massage classes, and I took a formal massage class.
The informal classes taught techniques for massaging a woman’s breasts. There were some specific strokes we learned that I would consider gentle, respectful, and not particularly sexual or erotic. The overall attitude taught in the classes (I had several with different instructors) was that if you’re going to be doing bodywork, it helps to have a positive, non-judgemental, and non-skittish attitude about people’s bodies. (We all worked in the nude, but there was no “erotic” massage.)
In the formal classes, there was no nudity (clients stay covered with a sheet the whole time, only one body part is uncovered at time, and breasts, buttocks, and genitals are big no-no’s.) I read an article in a massage trade magazine discussing the question: The question was if it was acceptable for a female masseuse to massage a female client’s breasts. (I don’t recall if it was the client or masseuse who had first asked.) The writer of the column not only said NO, but with a tone that was absolutely horrified that anyone would ever even contemplate such a horrible thing!
In the professional massage business, there is a great deal of skittishness about people’s bodies. Anything even remotely hinting of sexuality of highly frowned upon, including nudity even if there is no actual erotic touching. This is apparently all because commercial massage has gotten so conflated with prostitution in many peoples’ minds (and in fact in many “professionals” practices) that there is a powerful attitude to keep a good long distance away from anything even hinting like that.
Huh, I’ve seen buttocks get massaged for people with certain hip problems. About as sexy as a professional pat down, mind you.
I was surprised by Amateur Barbarian’s story, but although I’ve never seen it happen I do know some women who can be rude enough to do something like that. Same type who’ll walk up to a pregnant woman and rub her belly. When they’re young they need to have chemical excuses; as they grow old, some learn manners and some lose their inhibitions without getting anything in exchange but wrinkles.
Never seen it happen or heard of it.
Made it through two pregnancies without getting grabbed either, and I was warned about that too.
I’d say it was an aberration.
Sure, for medical therapy, anything the therapy requires is fair game. For typical commercial feel-good massage at the day spas, not so much.
This was discussed at the professional massage school I went to. It was run by a chiropractor (he taught the “public health” and “anatomy” lectures and the business practices, but not the actual massage). He pointed out that certain therapeutic massage involved digging into the groin area. I think it might have been lymphatic massage or something, which might actually be woo. (This was coming from a chiropractor, remember.)
But the point was, there were certain procedures, and certain draping methods to use in situations like that, to assure that a client’s “modesty” is respected. For one thing, if the therapy was done by a male chiropractor or masseur with a female client, there would certainly be a female assistant in the room. Note that this is probably for the purpose of protecting the practitioner more than the patient.
In my state, like most, the gluteal cleft (buttcrack) must be covered at all times, and the therapist’s hands may not go under the drape. In a practical sense, this means you can get about 2-3 inches away from the crack on either side. Good for the hip attachments, but frustrating when you want to get a good periformis stretch all the way to the sacrum.
And, yeah, no boobage. Which, as a woman with very large boobs and rather sore muscles holding them up, I rather regret. While there isn’t muscle tissue in the breasts, there are muscles under the breast which get just as tight and uncomfortable as any others.
That’s actually a problem. For a male client, the pectoral muscles can get massages. Good for tennis players. Male tennis players. For a female client, the pectoral muscles are basically inaccessible, and not just because of the no-boobage rulz. There’s just no way, at least no comfortable way, for the massage practitioner to dig down under the boobs to get at the pectoral muscles.
It’s also something that, even if were workable, I don’t suppose many female clients would want a male practitioner digging in around there.
There’s also an issue of physical comfort for a female client – they tend to have boobs, y’know? When the client is laying prone (face-down) for the back massage, they can feel like they’re getting a mammogram. They didn’t specifically deal with that in class. I dealt with by giving the female client three rolled-up hand-towels – one to put under each shoulder and one to put under the chest just below the boobs or wherever they want. I got positive feedback about how helpful this was.
There are also massage tables available with breast cups. And also, tables with an even bigger cup in the abdomen area, so pregnant females can get a massage.
I prefer a pillow- a full sized bed pillow- on the middle of the table, so my body is supported from ribcage to pelvis. Towels under and above put an awful kink in my lumbar spine. I need a longer ramp.
Makes my sinuses fill with snot instantly, of course. But the face cradle will cause that in just a few minutes anyway, so it really makes little difference.
Are we talking about only in gyms or massages? IME women look at each other’s breasts in locker rooms without embarrassment but I never saw any touching. IRL we’re pretty blasé; recently a friend showed me her inverted nipple and it seemed no weirder than looking at a belly button ring. One time in a hotel pool a woman got to talking about her recent implants and asked my friend and I to touch and even squeeze them to see how real they felt. (They really did; not rock-hard like I would have thought. And yes, other people were in the pool.) We’re liable to pull up a top in the kitchen and ask Does that look like a lump to you? Changing rooms are a free-for-all in stores, sometimes pointing out That band line from your bra looks too angry, you might want to go up a size, or, when trying on bathing suits (hateful, awful, demoralizing) it’s no biggie to palm the bosoms into a different configuration and say A style that does this would look better on you. Actually, looking at each other’s feet is more “out-there” to me; there are a lot of strange/ugly toes out there even if the nails have just been done.
I personally think of women feeling each others boobs as an anime trope.
I also recently saw a clip of Conan’s show where one female guest accidentally touches the breast of another female guest, and she’s extremely apologetic. And yet they were coworkers and supposedly friends.
I think it varies quite a bit. I am a little more reserved, but I have female friends who are fairly touchy-feely. I’d guess having or not having sisters is probably part of the variance.
I’ve never heard of it. I don’t have a lot of super close female friends, so maybe that’s it…
In the name of Science we must now collect data by hacking into the hidden cameras in the women’s locker rooms.
Never have I seen women casually touch another woman’s breast. My sister has had a double mascetomy and reconstruction and since she had it done (almost ten years ago now), I have never SEEN her scars.
It strikes me odd that this is really a question. But since it seems sincere I’ll respond with no. Nor do we have pillow fights in our underwear and accidentally end up making out.
One thing I have heard of, though never witnessed myself, is women who have had breast enlargement and offer to let other women feel them. I don’t recall if anyone has said they’ve taken advantage of the offer.