Breast fetishism

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Breast fetishism is a pronounced fetishistic sexual interest in the female breasts, their shape, movement, and especially their size. Breast fetishism is the most common sexual fetish among men in American, European and East Asian culture. Like any other sexual fetishes or paraphilias, this preference might become psychologically problematic when it develops into a strong fixation and becomes the only means of sexual arousal.

Breast size

Adult humans show more interest in the developed breast than any other animal species. In fact, human females are unique among mammals in developing breasts independently from pregnancy, suggesting that breast development was of some other evolutionary significance to human development.

In many cultures, breast fetishism often centers on the size of the woman's breasts. In large portions of the world, breasts are often perceived as symbols of sexuality and attractiveness to men and the size of the breasts can be particularly important in relation to the impact on the man, depending on culture.

In popular Western media, the breast size of featured women (whose role in that instance is in part as an object of sexual desire) is rarely below an apparent C-cup (UK sizing). This has fueled the market for breast enlargement surgery for women who feel their breasts are not big enough. Many porn stars have capitalized on the obsession many men seem to pay towards large breasts by having their breasts enlarged to implausible (i.e. biologically very unlikely) sizes.

With large breast fetishism being common in the United States and Japan, this fixation has increased cultural acceptance of female breast implants. Anthropologists and sociologists have often tried to explain the obsession with breast size in terms of natural selection and biology but no widely accepted explanation for many men's attraction to big breasts has developed. Some gay men and straight women also idolize breasts to the extent that they consider themselves breast fetishists.

Some individuals have a fetishistic preference for large "natural" breasts without breast implants. Natural breasts are required to become a Page Three girl in the UK tabloid The Sun. Another magazine featuring the "natural" look is Perfect 10.

Breast Characteristics Other Than Size

Not all breast fetishisms concern size. Some involve a certain shape or feature:

Puffy nipples

Some fetishists prefer puffy nipples. This fetish in particular can be somewhat controversial because this characteristic is most commonly associated with pubescent girls, though a significant number of adult women possess puffy nipples as well.

Large areolas

Some prefer unusually wide or large areolas. For natural breasts, this seems to be the standard physical attribute of less thin women (especially of chubby/BBW body type) and/or women of black ethnicity.

Lactation

Some fetishes involve lactating nipples.

Also see erotic lactation.

Saggy breasts

While the classic approach seems to favor firm breasts, some prefer saggy breasts.

Popular culture

Massively breasted female characters are fairly common in Japanese anime, American comic books and video games. Publishers such as Image Comics often feature prodigiously endowed heroines on their covers. Among video games, Tomb Raider's busty heroine Lara Croft has become a household name and the lead character in a series of movies and comic books published by Top Cow, a division of Image Comics.

Further reading

Robert Anton Wilson, Ishtar Rising: or, Why the Goddess Went to Hell and What to Expect Now That She's Returning, Tempe, Ariz.: Falcon Press, 1989, ISBN 1-56184-109-9 (excerpts)



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