Why women cover their breasts?
Hello reader,
It’s obvious that humans are the only creatures on earth that wear clothes (not counting cats on the internet) and usually we ask ourselves “why do we?”
At first, clothing was serving for protection but it evolved to serve other functions like identification, expressing individuality and even vanity. Micheal Stevens spoke about this in one of his videos. You can also see more about the origin of clothing because today’s question is more complicated than this.
If you look closer, you will find that clothing, nowadays, is a way of gender inequality. Always, women have to cover their breasts. So “Why they must?”
Actually, there are different perspectives because there is no clear reason. Historians think it had to do with the changing roles of women especially in Ancient Athens where women retreated into the home, rarely emerging in public. However, it has also a relation with protection. “As the proud owner of a pair of breasts, I can tell you that they can sometimes be very sensitive and inconvenient appendages. They don’t really like the cold all that much, and sudden impacts, or considerable pressure, hurt. They can get in the way of lifting, carrying, or working in one’s lap, and in the case of particularly large or heavy breasts, they can cause back pain that can be relieved somewhat by strapping them down.” Says Arkadia Getheren Moon on Quora.
Different cultures and religions required females to completely cover their bodies below the neck, and sometimes above as well. In fact, this lead us to one of the most terrible acts: Breast ironing, also known as breast flattening. The ritual involves pounding the breasts as soon as they begin to develop with objects that have been heated over hot coals. Some women use rocks, others hammers and spatulas. It is typically carried out by the girl’s mother who will say she is trying to protect the girl from sexual harassment and rape, to prevent early pregnancy that would tarnish the family name, or to allow the girl to pursue education rather than be forced into early marriage. Breast ironing is practiced throughout Cameroon and has also been reported across West and Central Africa, and even Britain. There are around four million victims in Cameroon, with four in 10 schoolgirls affected.
However, biologically speaking, according to Larry Young, one of the world’s leading experts in the neuroscience of social bonding, this human male breast obsession is pretty weird. Men are the only male mammals fascinated by breasts in a sexual context. Women are the only female mammals whose breasts become enlarged at puberty, independent of pregnancy. We are also the only species in which males caress, massage and even orally stimulate the female breasts during foreplay and sex.
And as always thanks for reading,
