Breast obsession

So what is it about the breasts that makes North Americans so obsessed with them as sexual objects?  In the course of history many different parts of the female body have been fetishes for men, for example ankles, necks, and tiny feet (in China), so why breast obsession in our age?  It seems to be linked to the fact breasts are not seen as baby feeders.  Americans are about to forget the natural function of the breasts.

In the fall of 1993, one of the undergraduate students in my 'Women and Culture' course was totally flabbergasted to discover that the biological function of women's breasts was for feeding children. With obvious shock and disgust evident in her voice she asked, 'You mean women's breasts are like a cow's udder?' That a young woman could reach college without ever having even heard of women using their breasts to feed their children is a sad commentary on American culture.
Katherine Dettwyler as quoted in The Breastfeeding Action Committee of Edmonton (BACE) report about Breastfeeding at Municipal Pools in Canada

If we can see breasts as the wonderful means God created to feed and comfort babies, then women don't have to worry about the size and shape of their breasts anymore.  Breast of all sizes and shapes produce milk just fine.

" It is inappropriate to take the very Western cultural idea that breasts are sexual organs and turn it into a "Law of Nature," applicable to all people, at all times. It is inappropriate to let the very Western cultural idea that breasts are for men overshadow their primary biological function for feeding children, just as it was inappropriate for people in Chinese society to let the cultural idea that deformed feet were sexually stimulating overshadow their primary biological function for walking. Women and children are harmed by Western beliefs about breasts, both directly and indirectly, both physically and emotionally." 
Katherine Dettwyler in The Cultural Context of Breastfeeding in the United States

But why does American society view breasts primarily as sexual objects and not as baby feeders?  Carolyn Latteier voiced it out this way in TV program "All about breasts": 

"Well, I think it is partly to do with the fact that we don't breastfeed very much. I mean, breastfeeding rates have improved, but most women don't breastfeed very much or very long or in public. So when we see a breast, we don't say, "Oh there are those magical milk-making things."
(see transcript)

Let's see how that might come about.

Bottle feeding story

Baby is fed from the bottle, so it doesn't get to know Mom's breast as a food source and as the best pacifier.  Also if Mom never undresses or uncovers her bosom in front of her child, the child never gets to see breasts.  Parents, society, TV, and media show breasts to be shameful, sexual, forbidden, supposed to be big and upright, and the child can easily end up believing that way too.

But what if the baby is breastfed?, you might say.  After all, most women do breastfeed their babies at least in the hospital.  But they don't do it for very long!  Let's imagine what happens in the weaning process.

Weaning story

Baby is breast fed in the beginning.  Mom maybe has problems with milk supply, she starts a supplement bottle, which reduces her milk supply, and soon the baby is weaned say at three months.  Or maybe Mom goes to work at six weeks and weans the baby.  

But just because Mom quits nursing doesn't mean that the baby wants to.  The attachment and love for Mommy's breast doesn't just go away like that.  Baby loses its best source of food, yes, but also loses its source of comfort and security!  Little baby is probably feeling along the lines, "Hey, don't take those away from me!  Those soft sponges belong to me! You can't do that!  Hey, nobody here cares about my feelings.  Please please Mommy....."  

Of course, the baby can't talk, so Mommy can go on with the weaning process just as she wants it.

This kind of early and forced weaning can cause the baby a emotional/psychological trauma.  Deep inside it retains this feeling of wanting the breast.  The baby still likes Mommy's breasts.  It is still interested in Mommy's bosom and wants to touch it, cuddle the breast, feel close, get yummy milk.

You can see this when weaned toddlers and babies are still interested in breasts and want to touch them.  But many times the mother feels uneasy about it and maybe thinks it is indecent and perverted behavior.  The father may feel the same way and fear that his child (and especially his son) is going to grow up to be some kind of pervert.  but that is not true!  Little children don't think sexual things!

So the mother tries to get her child to stop this nipple twiddling and breast cuddling.  Perhaps the child is taught that touching naked breasts is BAD, it is a "NO-NO".  Now, if the mother never lets her children see bare breasts, it is no wonder that the child develops a curiosity towards breasts.  The child stars thinking,  "Wonder what they look like?  I'd like to see!"

While the child is growing up, everything around her touts that breasts are a forbidden taboo.  And we all know that taboos just encourage curiosity.  Breasts are a no-no, thereby exciting.  What is forbidden and exciting, and presented as sexual in the media, then starts arousing sexual feelings especially with boys since girls at least get to see their own breasts and often times Mom's too.

So what started as innocent curiosity and love towards Mommy's breasts can be turned into sexual obsession in boys, whereas young girls start worrying about breast size, and consider having buying push-up bras and breast implants to make their own breasts look more "attractive".

Vicious cycle

The less women breastfeed, the less people get to see the real purpose of breasts.  At the same time media everywhere touts the view of female breasts as sexual.  That in turn makes it harder for women to breastfeed, since many of the reasons for not breastfeeding are linked to the idea that woman's breasts are sexual organs.

So the less women breastfeed, the harder it becomes for women to breastfeed.  We have a cycle that self-promotes the view that the main purpose of female breasts is for something else than feeding babies!

The cure?

First, let children be breastfed.

Then, let older children and teenagers see breastfeeding moms and their babies.

Let them learn about breasts and breastfeeding. Let them see breasts used for their purpose.

Don't make it a taboo, a forbidden no-no.