The Breast

While sometimes described as a secondary sex characteristic, the female breast is of primary interest. It nourishes but also seduces, it is considered sacred or depraved – depending on the era, culture, context and perspective. The way breasts are seen, shown or concealed has been the subject of debate and scandal for centuries. Breasts, in other words, are by no means 'private parts': on the contrary, they're a subject of great public interest. The breast is the organ through which some of the central cultural and political conflicts of Western societies have been conducted, now and in the past. But the power of the breast does not lie in any 'natural' force. It lies in the cultural characteristics that we attribute to it and that make it a symbol of femininity, naturalness, motherliness or sexuality. Zimmermann takes the reader on an extended tour of how the breast and its symbolism are politically constructed. She examines this ambiguous and versatile body part from various perspectives but always with a political question in mind. This is a book about art and pornography, fashion and gender norms, the ideal of motherhood and heteronormativity, body positivity and self-determination, sexism and protest. She shows that the dialectic between revealing and concealing, visibility and invisibility, played out discursively in different fields, is a key to understanding the social, cultural and political significance of the breast. Her book delves into the past, seeking to explain the origins of a conflict that has surfaced again and again in different times and places and is still with us today.

The Politics of the Breast: An Introduction Chapter One: Tops On! Tops Off! The ambiguity of the in/visible breast The breast as a political organ: the role of in/visibility Lust, vice, pain: visual narratives of sinful and virtuous visibility 'Then' and 'now', as seen in clothing The corset as a visibility machine 'Artificial' and 'natural' visibilities: the enlightened breast The 'liberated' breast makes itself useful: breastfeeding New views: the breast as a medical problem Modern breasts and new visibilities The breasts of the 'other' woman: the new visibility of the breast as racism 'White' breasts - 'Black' breasts Chapter Two: From Venus to Pin-Up and Back The breast between art and pornography Venus Ideals of modesty Modest or immodest? How female bodies became Venuses Paleo porn The gender politics of the gaze Another 'other' woman: the 'Hottentot Venus' Nudes, power, pornography Baring the bosom: feminist provocations Beauty ... and back to Venus again Chapter Three: Breasts and Other Illusions of the Natural Fantasies and fictions of lactation Politics makes nature makes science: breastfeeding propaganda and the class of mammals The asexual breast Poison from the breast Animal breasts - human breasts Half breasts Breasts and foreignness Male nipples and male dignity The ethics of the artificial breast Breastfeeding/chest-feeding and a law Breasts, balls and other equipment Scars Chapter Four: I Am God The breast as an organ of protest Are breasts like swords? Amazons as role models 'Anarchic Amazons': the women of 1968 and their breasts Burning bras: feminism as breast liberation? 'Beautiful women': the limits of protest Hysteria, ecstasy and the dance of the maenads: the naked breast as a sign of the 'other' The two bodies of Angela Merkel: breasts and power Conclusion: Weighty Breasts Acknowledgements List of Figures Bibliography Notes