I’ve been living in Italy for the last 20 years or so, and never have I seen a culture that is so fascinated by women’s breasts. Now, I’m not talking about your average fits-in-the-palm-your-hand breast. Nope, I’m talking about large Double-D make-room-I’m-walking in-the-door breasts. Big breasts are everywhere: on Italian variety shows, dramas and comedies on television, in TV commercials, in print ads and on more calendars than there are days in the week. Italy is such a male-dominated society that maybe it IS true; that all these big breasts appeal to the mamma’s boy culture that still pervaded this country.
But that’s Italy. You’re probably wondering what do big breasts in Italy have to do with big breasts in the United States? Well, I don’t know if the big breast culture of Italy has crossed the Atlantic to the US or maybe it’s just a coincidence, but after a recent trip back to the States, I’ve noticed that in America, lots of individuals — not just men – seem to be infatuated with big breasts. Maybe you don’t see the images of big breasts bombarding you on TV and print like you do on Italian television, but it seems like every year, American women spend more and more money (to the tune of millions of dollars) on breast implants, breast enlargement pills and creams and miscellaneous cosmetic procedures to increase the size of their breasts.
Psychologists will tell you that this kind of phenomenon comes and goes in cycles. For the longest time “really thin was in” — fashion models on the catwalk were just shy of being anemic, even the girls of such magazines as Playboy were more athletic looking than busty. But a few years ago “big” started making a comeback. And big breasts became the rage. Bigger models, bigger bodies, bigger lips, bigger everything. I didn’t have a lot of time to watch much television when I returned to the US, but one show I caught while channel-surfing was Dr. 91020 (or some such zip-code). Here is a show that pretty much promotes big breast augmentation on each episode of its program. Which is actually pretty graphic — showing silicone bags being slipped into the breast and whatnot (you would think that the effect would be the opposite — that such imagery would convince women not to have a breast enlargement). Anyway, each program — at least the few I saw — wrap with the patient happily bouncing up and down and admiring her big breasts.
Hey — maybe the United States has more in common with Italy than you’d be led to believe.
So why do men like big breasts? Do big breasts impact relationships? I don’t believe I was attracted to my wife because of the size of her breasts (it was actually because she laughed at my jokes). When we have breakfast I don’t talk to my wife’s breasts. (There are times however, when my wife’s breasts are talking to me — but that’s a story for another time and place). The site www.implantforum.com thinks that men just like “beautiful breasts” regardless of size. Which leads me to my next point.
I’m convinced our culture defines what is beautiful. Big, canoe-sized lips weren’t popular until Angelina Jolie became a cinema icon. Now more women and men are inflating their lips than ever before. I’m at a loss as to which celebrity or model spurred the rage for big breasts. It’s been a couple of decades since Jane Mansfield had her photos gracing the lockers of GI’s or athletes, but whoever they are – these women should be getting a percentage for ever breast augmentation that is performed in L.A.
Speaking of the culture of big breasts, I did a little digging and came up with some fascinating information regarding big breasts. In some countries — Brazil is a good example — breasts take a backseat to a woman’s butt. In this South American culture, a pert and round butt is far more attractive to men than big breasts. You certainly can’t breast-feed with a women’s butt, so there’s no neo-natal connection here.
According to www.mwillett.org, during the 16th century, big breasts were considered low-class. The kinds of teats that men drool over today would only be found on a wet-nurse back then. The standard belle-of-the-ball in the 1700s would be considered overweight today – but back then, carrying a few extra pounds was a sign of wealth (that you got enough to eat). But even then, most of the women considered beautiful had relatively small breasts – a modest B cup at most.
How about Roman and Greek sculpture — most of the women featured in sculptures are not only not attractive, but they also had small breasts.
Some sociologists say that a man’s infatuation with big breasts is an evolutionary thing. That big breasts are a sign of good mothering. My own theory is that big breasts are the brain-child of advertising and media: you can’t see small breasts on a billboard when you’re standing 50 meters away. But you can certainly see melon-size-Ann-Nicole-Smith-teats from your backyard in Bridgeport. Hey it’s just a theory. Like the “man on the grassy hill” that continues to fascinate Kennedy conspiracists.
Whatever the reason, whatever the country, the fascination with big breasts is continually programmed to us from an early age: children are exposed to advertising and TV shows featuring busty female models. This becomes the norm. Kids grow into adults. The adults accept big breasts as normal.
If only this logic were applied to different areas of our lives — maybe we could convince more kids to grow up wanting to be scientists or engineers. At the very least we could maybe incorporate big breasts into campaigns to encourage people to stop smoking or not to drink and drive.
Or even become president. Now there’s a thought: potential presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with big breasts. It’s enough to get me to a ballot box right now.
