All About Breasts Part 1 - Breast Size: Visual - A.

Hello everyone! After much delay, research, and a lack of coffee, here is the first part of our small series on secondary sexual characteristics. (Click the link for definition or a refresher course on what these are). Today we will be discussing breast sizes, and how men perceive them.

I am a male, giving a male perspective. I've done some research into why men like breasts (boobs, knockers, sweater puppies, tits, jugs, ect.) and what they like about them. I'm writing this with two tabs open, full of the info that I've gathered, and will be adding in my own insight to the current information about the average American/European male. I've also found a strong correlation between females and attraction to breasts, so I'm using their information as well.

First, let's address breast size from a visual standpoint. Breasts are a very obvious sexual characteristic, and are the more playful sexual body part for most. This produces a lot of pressure on women, as this is a sexual characteristic mostly out of their control (we will discuss breast enhancements, augmentations, and reconstructions later). The attraction to breasts seems to stem from many things. I'll list them out below to make it easy:

• They are one of the first sources of comfort, bonding, and sustenance we encounter after we are born. Many people find this unnerving to think about, but it's not in a sexual way at all. You were a baby, and all you knew was sleeping and feeding yourself, and breasts were one of the first body parts you were taught to recognize as "good". Seems to be true across most genders. 
• They are a "Forbidden Fruit", a body part not suitable for public display according to society. Just making them something off limits makes it enticing, seductive. Nowadays it's less about the breasts, and more about the nipples, which makes it even more enticing. Now we can see this previously private body part, the cleavage, the skin, imagine how it feels, AND there's a hyper-erotic, hyper-sexualized, and VERY off limits part of that breast that we want to see even more badly! It's the off-limits body part on the off-limits body part. 
• Women are taught to look forward to their breasts developing during puberty, much like a boy is taught to look forward to muscles and a larger penis. This makes it a common part of every female's development, and often something exciting and new, and these feelings can carry over to adulthood. There's also a study showing that if one female see's a peer develop breasts before her, she instinctual gets a bit of jealousy and desire for those breasts to be hers, most likely brought on by genetic drives to be a desirable partner for the purposes of procreation. That same study showed that young women with earlier breast development were more likely to sexualize their breasts as something others desired.
• Men first encounter these growing, budding breasts when they are young, hormone-ridden, and still developing in their minds. Breasts are very obvious, and hard to hide, and were probably some of the first impressions of female sexuality young men encountered in daily life (not counting internet, television, books, magazines, ect.)
• They are seen as a pre-cursor to intercourse; i.e. "First Base" is making out, "Second base" is touching the breasts and sometimes the butt, "Third Base" is usually some escalation of the previous actions like oral sex or dry humping, and "Home" or a "Home Run" is full intercourse. Men and women are taught that before sex, the bra comes off, making it a part of one's sexual experience. There seems to be little influence from size or shape on people's desires to make it to "Second Base", showing that it's breasts in general and not a certain set of attributes that make them desirable.
• They are fun! They're a fun, feminine, soft, warm, cute, sexy body part. All those attributes are good things, and make them something that men and women want to feel, even in non-sexual ways. There's not much about breasts to make them unappealing, unless you are genuinely not attracted to them. And most people are up for a grab or feel! I'll discuss that fact later... *wink*

 So now we know why people like the boobies, now let's talk about sizes and shapes from a visual standpoint. Men and women, across all studies, have different results. Let's talk about the two biggest questions people have first.

"Are my breasts too small visually?"
No! While males seemed to prefer a B sized cup and up, there were Google search results in the millions for pictures of females with A cups or smaller (I am talking about search reports on how many people search terms, not how many web-pages of small breasted women available). It's a small drop-off, but with millions of men searching for those small chests, you are certainly not going to be rejected. Women took an equal interest in A-cups on up, to an extent.
We also live in a society were there are many ideas of beautiful female bodies, and one of these is the skinny, angular, and flat-chested girl. This idea has made small breasts an asset to posses and be proud of. It's all about finding the people who like your body type and think you're the hottest thing to walk this earth!

"Are my breasts too big visually?"
No, but with some qualifiers. Men preferred a C sized cup and up more than the B sized cup and below overall, but with qualifications. There was more desire for natural breasts, and far FAR less for surgically enhanced breasts. But as far as the natural girls are concerned, there seems to be no such thing as too big. Males were shown photos and drawings of females with C-cups on up, and didn't even stop saying that they thought those breasts were attractive even when they got disproportionately large. They were even shown Anime drawings of girls who's breasts were larger than their entire body and the males still rated them sexy. With fake breasts there was a dramatic fall-off, but this is likely due to the "unnatural" appearance of extreme breast implants.
Females took an interest in both natural and surgically enhanced breasts, but there was a steady fall-off from sized G breasts and up. HOWEVER, those same women said that in real life, they would find those breasts equally desirable, just not in pictures. So take heart, busty ladies! You're damn sexy to all genders, no matter your size.

Breast shape is also a needless source of anxiety for those blessed to posses them. Most men and women preffered a few shapes. There was equal response for the "teardrop" shape, where (if the person was standing sideways) the top line of the breasts would be straight or even concave, and the bottom line was rounded and full, the "oval" shape, where the top and bottom lines are curved outwards, the "flatter" shape where the breasts hang lower and sit more flat to the body, and any variation of how far apart the breasts are.

Both men and women preffered upward-pointed nipples, but still liked downward facing ones. Nipple size, shape, and color made no difference whatsoever.

HOMEWORK:
Touch a new pair of breasts (If acceptable in your relationship). See how easy or hard it is to get permission, observe the feel and look, and take careful note of your body's reaction. Try to pay attention to the person you're touching. Do they like it, or are they indifferent? This exercise is especially helpful with females to not only bond with their friends, but to feel better about themselves as shown in a 2009 study.

Ta Ta for now!
-A.