Breasts: The Women's Perspective on an American Obsession [Paperback]

Ellen Cole (Author), Esther D Rothblum (Author), Carolyn Latteier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 1998 | ISBN-10: 1560239271 | ISBN-13: 978-1560239277 | Edition: 1

Breasts: The Women’s Perspective on an American Obsession describes and explores our national breast fetish, which is defined as a culturally constructed obsession that is deeply interwoven with beauty standards, breastfeeding practices, and sexuality. By tracing the complex history of this erotic fascination and discovering how it affects men’s and women’s sexuality and their relationships, this book will help women accept their breasts as they are and provide male readers with insight into how women think and feel about their bodies. This awareness will enable them to better understand and empathize with women’s experiences as objects of a cultural fetish.

Focusing on adult joys and anxieties about breasts, sex, and breastfeeding, this text uses research and expert opinions from several different fields, including psychology, anthropology, sociology, mythology, and sexology. You will find several other issues in Breasts: The Women’s Perspective on an American Obsession that involve men’s and women’s struggles with this obsession, such as:

• breast implants
• human psychology and breasts
• beauty standards and breast sexuality
• how breasts are portrayed in mythology and art
• how ancient religions saw the breast as a sign of motherhood and giver of life
• ”breast men”
• debates on how and why the breast evolved
• adolescent girls and breasts
• breast activists, such as La Leche League, who are proponents of breastfeeding in public
  
  Through personal interviews with men and women, Breasts: The Women’s Perspective on an American Obsession also addresses women’s pride and shame about their breasts and their confusion about the attention their breasts receive. Ultimately, this exploration of breast obsession sheds light on our society’s general fear of and ambivalence toward women’s bodies. Breasts: The Women’s Perspective on an American Obsession shows you that breasts have a venerable history and urges you to see beyond the contemporary standards of visual perfection to give you an overall sense of the female body’s power and worth.

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From Page 73:

Human beings grow up bearing the imprint of the breast they knew in infancy - whatever that breast or surrogate breast was. And the breast they peek at or yearn for in adolescence, the breast they encounter in lovemaking, the breast they see in the movies or on individuals walking by on the streets-all these breasts will become entwined with feelings so deep they are felt as fact. On some level, our feelings about breasts will always mingle with our sense of how we are fed, how we are nourished by life, and whether the world is a place we can trust

From Page 111:

Breasts carry so much cultural weight that they often do not function as well as they might. Our sex lives are sensitive and telling parts of us, a little like our dream lives. In our dreams, wonderful and horrible things happen. It is the time when monsters come out, or we can suddenly fly. For some women, breast carry unconscious memories that stretch back to birth and span the breadth of adulthood, with a history that seems to enrich their erotic lives. But for too many, the monsters are grumbling in the background, and when a lover touches their breasts, the women wince in pain.

From Page 153:

The wise woman's daughter may be forgotten, but people are still telling stories about breasts. A late twentieth century revival of stories about goddesses shows there is some life left in them yet. And twentieth century women have added their voices to the story-telling chorus. Some of the stories they tell, like the ones in the pages of this book, are terribly sad - stories of loss and disease or stories of embarrassment and exploitation. But they also tell stories of desire and fulfillment, stories of self-knowledge -- uplifting and funny stories about breasts. These days breasts seem to be too wrapped in sexual meanings to be widely held up as a sacred symbol. But nearly every week some newspaper story come out telling about the magical quality of breast milk, which prevents a host of diseases and promotes an growing number of good human traits. And women are telling breastfeeding stories that show their wonder at discovering the transformative power of their breasts, a power that they believe nurtures and transforms not only the baby, but also the woman and the world. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (July 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560239271
• ISBN-13: 978-1560239277
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,119 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative, entertaining. Changed the way I view breasts., November 18, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Breasts: The Women's Perspective on an American Obsession (Paperback)

Just finished this book and truly enjoyed it. The opening chapters set up the subject well, then I really got involved in chpt. 4, "A Matter of Life and Death," about breast implants. From then on I just poured through the book, entertained and enlightened all the way. Loved chpt 10, "The great and terrible breast," which told about how breasts figured in mythology, religious art, and folk tales in different ages & cultures. I think it would be great for religious art in churches to show Mary breast-feeding, or with the infant Jesus at her exposed breast, as was evidently common in early Christian art. Too bad we lost that. This is a good book; after reading it you won't think of breasts as a cultural icon, or of your own breasts, for that matter, the same way.

16 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Filled w/info everyone should be aware of., October 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Breasts: The Women's Perspective on an American Obsession (Haworth Innovations in Feminist Studies) (Hardcover)

This book explores many subjects about breasts and the feelings most of America and some other countries have about them. It is thought provoking. One of the most interesting subjects explored is breast feeding and how many babies are not benefiting from this natural and healthy form of nutrition because of America's preoccupation with the breast as a sex object and not a nurturing source of food. The breats natural function is not nasty.