Breasts appear in female animals only when they are needed and for only as long as they are needed; in other words, they come and go, but the breasts of human females are unique in this regard. First, they are a very strong signal of femininity and their permanent presence makes them an “evolutionary novelty” in that they are not typically present in most other species (Swami & Furnham, 2008). Another difference between animals and humans is that the breasts of animals serve one purpose and that is to feed their young. The primary meanings of human female breasts denote womanliness and sexuality while the purpose of feeding babies comes in a distant second in importance. Given this, female breasts are a central part of every woman’s body image (Einon, 2012).
The place of breasts and their size in their rank of bodily features of attraction is rather ambiguous as research has yielded inconsistent findings. Some studies show that men find large breasts more attractive while other studies indicate medium to smaller breasts are preferred. It may be that breast size is mediated by a waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and body-mass index (BMI) as several studies have shown a male preference for slimmer women with larger breasts. In general, it appears that breast size is not a reliable predictor of attractiveness although it does play a significant role (Singh & Young, 1995; Swami & Furnham, 2008). It has also been found that women with low WHRs and large breasts have greater fertility compared to average women based on estradiol and progesterone levels (Jasienska, et al., 2004).
Eye-tracking studies of men looking at women’s bodies reveals that men can scan a woman’s body in milliseconds focusing on midriff and buttocks when looking at a woman’s back and on the breasts and waist when viewing the front. These studies have shown that men’s visual tracking prefers a WHR of 0.70 and larger breasts (Dixson et al., 2009, 2011). A WHR of 0.70 means that the circumference of the waist is 70 percent of the circumference of the hips.
Past studies have shown that women of African descent tend to have larger breasts and buttocks, followed by Caucasians, and finally Southeast Asians (Einon, 2012). One study of African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and European-descent college women that controlled for body size found that the ethnic differences in body dissatisfaction are small, but that Asian college women tend to be the most dissatisfied with their bodies. Most women surveyed reported dissatisfaction with their breasts: 61 percent desired larger breasts while a minority of 14 percent wanted smaller breasts, and 25 percent did not want any change to their breast size (Forbes & Frederick, 2008).
A new, much larger, and more geographically extensive survey of women and their breasts has recently been undertaken. Social scientist researchers surveyed 18,541 women from 40 nations who (a) completed questionnaires about their current vs. ideal breast size, (b) examined any possible antecedents to body dissatisfaction such as personality factors along with Western and local media viewing, and (c) filled out an outcome measure regarding weight and appearance dissatisfaction, breast awareness, and their psychological well-being (Swami et al., 2020). That’s a pretty sophisticated measurement array and quite the subject pool. The survey results showed that breast size ideals were relatively the same across all cultures with a significant cross-national difference in what constitutes the ideal breast size. Almost half of the women (47.5 percent) wanted to larger breasts while 23.2 percent desired small breasts leaving 29.3 percent satisfied with them as they are. This tells us immediately that 70.7 percent of the women surveyed are in a state of body image disturbance.
Women with breast unhappiness tended to be younger, less financially secure, and more neurotic women than average. Western media images had less effect than the local media in non-Western countries. The assumption here is that women identified more with body images more similar to their own and so these carried more psychic gravitas in their dissatisfaction. Dissatisfaction carries some side-effects. Women who are highly dissatisfied are less likely to self-examine for lumps, less aware of any changes in their breasts, more dissatisfied with their weight and appearance, and experience lower self-esteem.
Closing Thoughts
Breasts are a central feature of the female form and are perhaps the most prominent indicator of femininity. Consequently, they are a large part of somatic identity and a site of high body cathexis.1 That is, any body area that commands a large amount of conscious awareness does so because a woman has either a positive or negative experience of it.
Breasts are both a very private and very public organ and fraught with many social and sexual meanings. They can be sources of pride or shame depending on their size and shape and whatever cultural ideal determining their aesthetic pleasant is currently reigning. Besides being a target of scrutiny they have been long commercialized by business interests. Men, women, and society in general are rather crazy about breasts. And this seems to be the norm around the world as this massive survey reveals.
For myself, I take from this survey how much breasts affect a women’s body image, self-concept, and mood. That the majority of women are unhappy with their breasts is not news as it is most likely one aspect of the normative discontent most people have with their bodies. This generalized body unhappiness has been known by social scientists for several decades now and is accepted as normal for the average human being, male and female (Tantleff-Dunn, Barnes, & Larose, 2011).
Paul Shane, Ph.D., LMT
Director, Academic Content
Footnotes
- Body-cathexis is the amount of psychic energy and awareness a person focuses on a particular part of their body. The term derives from Freudian psychiatry and was initially explored by Sidney Jourard (1926-1974), an early humanistic psychologist and educator. See my blog-lecture on Jourard and body-cathexis.
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References
Dixson, B., Dixon, A., Bishop, P., & Parish, A. (2009). Human physique and sexual attractiveness in men and women: A New Zealand -U.S. comparative study. Archives of Sexual Behavior 39, p. 798-806.
Dixson, B., Grimshaw, G., Linklater, W., & Dixson, A. (2011). Eye tracking of men’s preferences for waist-to-hip ratio and breast size of women. Archives of Sexual Behavior 40, p. 43-50.
Einon, D. (2012). Breast size. In T. Cash (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Body Image and Human Appearance, Vol. 1 A-F, Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier, pp. 282-292.
Forbes, B. & Frederick, D. (2008). The UCLA Body Project II: Breast and body dissatisfaction among African, Asian, European, and Hispanic American college women. Sex Roles 58, p. 449-457.
Jasienska, G., Ziomkiewicz, A., Ellison, P., Lipson, S., & Thune, I. (2004). Large breasts and narrow waists indicate high reproductive potential in women. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 271, p. 1213-1217.
Singh, D. & Young, R. (1995). Body weight, waist-to-hip ratio, breasts, and hips: Role in judgements of female attractiveness and desirability for relationships. Ethology & Sociobiology 16(6), p. 483-507.
Swami, V. & Furnham, A. (2008). The Psychology of Physical Attraction. New York, NY: Routledge.
Tantleff-Dunn, S., Barnes, R., & Larose, J. (2011). It’s not just a “woman thing:” The current state of normative discontent. Eating Disorders 19(5), p. 392-402.
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