Breasts In Other Cultures

[allenlondon]

In (so-called) primitive cultures, where women don't cover their breasts, do the men see that part of the anatomy as a sexual object, or just another bit of their partner's body?

Allen.

[Mamyalynne]

I haven't read up a great deal on this but it seems studies have indicated a certain desensitisation of the female breast in say Hunter Gatherers , due to a lack of covering up etc and therefore they were far less sexualised.

Things of course changed often through the ages.

[allenlondon]

Yes, it's puzzling - I just wondered whether young men said (the equivalent of) 'cor, look at that pair of knockers', or whether the breasts were no more significant than, say, elbows, or kneecaps!

Whether in fact the covering up of parts of the body has, over the years, added to their allure.

A

[Mamyalynne]

You'd have to look at different periods through history really to see where the change started.

[Mamyalynne]

It appears that though breasts may not have been seen as sexual way back, they were viewed as a visual guide to age and therefore fertility.

[bookbinder]

In the Marshall Islands, women were traditionally topless before contact with western missionaries, and still do not sexually objectify female breasts, as is common in much of western society.
Source: Wikipedia.

[david small]

I think breasts are lovely.

[allenlondon]

Bookbinder: interesting - the stultifying hand of religion, as ever.

Mamya: that makes sense, i.e. seeing the body (female or male) as being 'ripe' or fertile. Might well tie in with Bookbinder's missionaries...

A

[douglas9401]

I know that among Weegies breasts are prized for their ability to distract attention from missing teeth and impetigo.

[Mozz71]

If young ladies wish to flaunt their wares, I say thank you, and thanks for the mammaries.

[bookbinder]

It sometimes happens, that that which one cannot see, is more attractive than that which one can see.

[Mozz71]

It's fair to say that men would be involved in more traffic accidents if boobs where readily on view.

[bhg481]

I'm not sure you're right Mozz. They're only interesting because you're not supposed to see them; if you wander along the beaches in France you get tired of looking at them.

[ummmm]

Woman - what colour are my eyes?

Man - 34C

[SparklyKid]

I remember a few years ago a thread about breast nicknames. The funniest was "boobs like a roofers nail bag"

[barry1010]

Those cultures sexualise other parts of the body and so women try to elongate their neck with rings, or expand their bottom lip with plates and have other practices that most westerners don't find particularly sexy.

[Sqad]

AB is lucky as it has as one of it's posters, an internationally respect expert on women's breast ,from an anatomical point of view, social aspects, form and function and more importantly their sexual importance.
The subject being so all enthralling that I will precisely the subject.
Firstly, the virgin breasts , those in a woman who has never given birth. This group will always be looked upon in a sexual nature and by that I mean, playing an important part in the heterosexual function of foreplay and sexual intercourse and this is common to all cultures.
The shape, the consistency and the relation of the nipple to digital stimulation all play a major part in assessing the allure of the virgin breasts.
Now, the breasts of the women who have borne children and here a problem arises immediately and the scene changes when one is considering the sexual aspect of the breasts by males. They have lost their magnetism for male sexual exploits, both in fantasy and reality, but nil deperandum.all is not lost for our female sex.
Underwear, clothes and attention to demeanour can restore the past state of play and that is so for all cultures.
The female breasts as glands for neonatal feeding play no part in the male appreciation of the mammary glands.
It is not in the remit of the OP to discuss the breasts as a excitatory experience in the aspect of foreplay.
The comments above have been confined to heterosexual cultures and ay ot represent the feelings of the hpmosexual community (gays and lesbians)

[bookbinder]

Thank you, Sqad. You have taken all the fun out of it.

[Sqad]

bookbinder, I am certainly old fashioned,but have never seen the "fun" in women's breasts.
Or have I missed your point?

[bookbinder]

Well, Sqad, it seems to me that you have expressed the purpose and attraction of female breasts in an anthropological manner. I may never look at an attractive woman again in the same way that I used to, when I was much younger than I now am. Even though the ability has gone, the interest is still there.

[Sqad]

LOL.....bookbinder...well said, clearing Ihad issued your point...LOL