Beauty and the Breast

I'm currently doing some (geeky paper/research/statistical study) work on common societal perceptions to the female breast. In other words, how do people in different culture perceive and value the aesthetics of the female mammary glands? It seems like there is quite a disparity between female breast perceptions across the Atlantic - while going topless is quite commonplace in a lot of European countries there are still a lot of taboos associated with exposing your breast in the American public.

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I've compiled some stuff that I've posted online - it's about the factors that affect breast size and shape. You can read it here. I don't want to go into value judgments on the breast yet, as it's quite complicated with so many factors to consider (culture, religious belief, exposure to mass media, etc.) :-p

Anyway, what's interesting is that apparently wearing a bra can actually weaken breast support by making the supporting ligaments atrophy. These ligaments weaken through disuse until they eventually lose function. Of course, doing strenuous exercise or sports without a bra is equally damaging (and painful - ouch!) to your breast support structure. The solution? Wear decent bra support when exercising or doing sports, or when your breasts are heavy with milk during pregnancy and childbirth - but go au naturel on your chest the rest of the time.

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Wearing tight, ill-fitting bras, on the other hand, can cause serious damage to your circulation as it cuts off lymphatic channels. It can even crush your chest area abnormally, too.

To be honest, rt's actually quite liberating - physically and in a way, culturally - to go around the house not wearing a bra. For someone who grew up in a relatively conservative, Catholic country like me, it will however take some serious guts to go out of the house bra-less. *sigh*