Why are our boobs so scary?

eva amaral became one of the most talked about topics of the weekend after showing her breasts in protest at her concert in Sonorama Ribera. She is not the first woman to do this, hence her statement, as they have all been criticized or given a veto for this. However, when we see Anthony Kiedis give a shirtless concert Sebastian Yatra unbuttoning his shirt in the middle of a performance, we applaud him for what he is: an artist who does whatever he wants. Why this double standard? Basically, to sexualization of the female breast, we all know. But is this really an excuse?

Eva Amaral’s protest comes at a time when we saw more than just singers forced exit from the stage to show breasts. Nudism and topless behavior have also been banned on some Spanish beaches, and even in some sectors, mothers who breastfeed their children on the street are still criticized. The sexualization of the female breast has existed since time immemorial, but in recent times it even seems to have failed. It is clear that there is a large political and religious influencebut we will leave that aside and focus on the scientific part of the question.

For decades, many scientists have tried to explain this phenomenon. There are several hypotheses for this, ranging from problem with hormones to the way people walk today. But what is clear is that apart from being a scientific question, what prevails in the sexualization of the breast is a cultural issue.

The origin of the sexualization of the female breast

It is not entirely clear when and where the sexualization of the female breast began. There is already evidence of women covering their breasts in 3000 BC, but it could be something specific. It is clear that both then and now it had a component clearly culturalbecause there are still many cultures, especially indigenous peoples, in which women shamelessly show up.

Therefore, research on the sexualization of the female breast has preferably been conducted in West. One of the first scientists to talk about this was a zoologist and ethologist. Desmond Morrisin his book naked monkey. A paper published in 1967 compares human behavior with that of other primates in order to establish the main characteristics that distinguish us as a species. For decades, this book has been an excellent reference on the subject. And it still exists, although it concerns some issues that have lost their relevance over the years.

One of the issues he deals with is precisely the sexualization of the female breast. And in his case, although its origin is not exactly known, he believes that it must have started when humans started walk straight. In the past, the buttocks were much more exposed, so this must be the most sexualized part of the body for women. Later the chest will be more exposed, so the perception will change.

What if it’s hormones?

Today, there is a much more current hypothesis that does not establish an origin in time, but provides an explanation for the sexualization of the female breast. It has to do with a very specific hormone: oxytocin.

Many people know it as the hormone of love because it plays a very important role in the biochemical cocktail of falling in love. However, it has many more features. It can be said that this is more than romantic love, it is a hormone associated with the attachment.

Its release promotes attachment between members of a couple, as well as between friends and, above all, between mothers and sons. During childbirth, a large amount of oxytocin is released, which contributes to contractionsbut also to the attachment between a mother and her newborn child. This is the beginning of an idyllic love relationship that continues lactationgiven that, when the baby stimulates the nipplemore oxytocin is released. In fact, the nipples were stimulated to induce contractions during childbirth.

And this, according to some researchers, could be the true source of female breast stimulation. If the nipples are stimulated not by the child, but by another person, this promotes attachment, as well as sexual pleasurewhich also involves oxytocin.

For this reason, due to the simple phenomenon of action and reaction, over the years sexy tinge to the breasts of cis women.

Demystify eroticism

What are the erogenous zones of the body? From what we have seen so far, it is clear that the female breast is one of them. And maybe yes. However, the whole body has nerve endings and every person is a world. It is true that the nipples, due to the release of oxytocin, have great power as an erogenous zone. But there are those who can be equally turned on by stimulation of the earlobes, the back of the knees, or the neck. And that’s not why we cover these parts of the body.

In fact, this is somewhat contradictory. This can be very well understood with another hypothesis about the sexualization of the female breast. David Frederick and Gordon Gallup two scientists who devoted part of their research to the science underlying sex appeal. Of course, they also analyzed the role of the breast and, in their opinion, can be an indicator reproductive age of a woman. It’s far from something completely correlated; but in the past they may have been an indicator of a woman’s reproductive aging. That is, they indicated whether she had yet ovulated.

But this is contradictory; for in that case it would be much more useful if they were discovered. If they are now taboo, it is because we have made the reproductive into the sexual and the sexual into something that should be hidden.

protest by Eva Amaral

Sexualization of the breast has reached the same uncomfortable limits as the production tiny bikini, for girls whose breasts do not yet show the slightest difference from the breasts of boys. Women are taught from childhood to cover up. That her breasts must have a reproductive function and perhaps also a sexual function, but intended only for one or a few people. The less the better, of course.

The same sexualization leads to criticism of women breastfeeding their children in public. That even some of them are ashamed of it. The breast here loses even its reproductive role and is reduced only to its erotic role.

This and much more is what Eva Amaral tried to say, especially after the singer Rocio Sais endure the interruption of the concert by the police after discovering her breasts.

We can’t hide behind reproductive goals breasts to make them always covered. Because it doesn’t really make sense. The sexualization of female breasts is a cultural thing. And, although science is often something unshakable, against cultural obligations, as Eva Amaral has well shown, we can fight.