Above all, love and thanks to my husband, Jamie, who, although he is a leg man, gives me immeasurable support, forbearance, and a steady home port; and to our little hominins, Ben and Annabel, constant reminders of the miracle of life.
NOTES
INTRODUCTION • PLANET BREAST
they are bigger than ever: Susan Nethero, aka “the Bra Whisperer,” founder and owner, Intimacy Management Co. LLC, author interview, July 2011.
Its incidence has almost doubled: Barry A. Miller et al., “Recent Incidence Trends for Breast Cancer in Women and the Relevance of Early Detection,” CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, vol. 43 (1993), pp. 27-41. See also Stephanie E. King et al., “The ‘Epidemic’ of Breast Cancer in the U.S.—Determining the Factors,” Oncology, vol. 10, no. 4 (1996), pp. 453-462.
“I would sit in the bathtub”: Nora Ephron, “A Few Words about Breasts,” Esquire (1972), republished in Crazy Salad: Some Things about Women (New York: Knopf, 1975), p. 4.
a piece published in the New York Times Magazine: Florence Williams, “Toxic Breast Milk?” New York Times Magazine, January 9, 2005.
Linnaeus could have classified us: Carolus Linnaeus, Systema Naturae, 10th ed. (Stockholm: Laurentius Salvius, 1758).
Londa Schiebinger argues: Londa Schiebinger, Nature’s Body: Gender in the Making of Modern Science (Boston: Beacon Press, 1993), p. 67.
“The primary biological function of breasts”: Dave Barry, “Men, Get Braced; Wonderbra Coming,” Aitken Standard (syndicated column), February 27, 1994. The rest of Barry’s joke is worth repeating: “This was proved in a famous 1978 laboratory experiment wherein a team of leading male psychological researchers at Yale deliberately looked at photographs of breasts every day for two years, at the end of which they concluded that they had failed to take any notes.”
Before advanced organisms produced their own estrogen: Kenneth Korach at the National Institutes of Health and Michael Baker at the University of California, San Diego, among others, posited this theory. Baker thinks our estrogen receptors retain ancient wiring once used for picking up plant, fungal, or other environmental estrogens (author interview, March 2011). Korach believes these early estrogens were critical for influencing and controlling reproduction (author interview, March 2011).
In times of trouble and stress, it may be these women: Elizabeth Cashdan, professor of anthropology, University of Utah, author interview, October 2009. Cashdan told me, “I was just sitting in a conference and there’s talk after talk about what men prefer in women’s body types. I got tired of it.” See also Cashdan (n.d.), “Waist-to-Hip Ratio across Cultures: Trade-Offs between Androgen- and Estrogen-Dependent Traits,” Current Anthropology, vol. 49, no. 6 (2008), pp. 1099-1107.
CHAPTER 1 • FOR WHOM THE BELLS TOLL
“A 41-inch bust and a lot of perseverance”: Jayne Mansfield, quoted in Raymond Strait, Here They Are (New York: SPI Books, 1992), p. 11.
“[Breasts] are a body part”: Francine Prose, quoted in Sarah Boxer, “As a Gauge of Social Change, Behold: The Breast,” New York Times, May 22, 1999.
“This treatment made them smooth”: Mae West, Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1959), p. 56.
no other mammal has “breasts” the way we do: Owen Lovejoy, professor of anthropology, Kent State University, author interview, July 2010; see also R. V. Short, “The Origins of Human Sexuality” (1980), in C. R. Austin and R. V. Short (eds.), Reproduction in Mammals and Human Sexuality, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), pp. 1-33.
Barnaby was preparing to publish his study: Barnaby Dixson et al., “Watching the Hourglass: Eye Tracking Reveals Men’s Appreciation of the Female Form,” Human Nature, vol. 21, no. 4 (2010), pp. 355-370.
“Whenever Barny gives seminars on waist-to-hip ratios”: Scientists like studying both breasts and waist-to-hip ratios (WHRs) because they’re easy to measure. To get a WHR, you divide the size of the waist by the size of the hips. The WHR for Jennifer Lopez is supposedly .67, and for both Marilyn Monroe and Venus de Milo, around .70, so their waists are 70 percent of the size of their hips. Although some anthropologists have claimed the .70 ratio is universally preferred, others point out that body mass index (BMI) is a stronger indicator of both attractiveness and fitness. One study found that women with a .70 WHR and with large breasts have higher circulating levels of estradiol, and therefore might be more fertile (see Grazyna Jasienska et al., “Large Breasts and Narrow Waists Indicate High Reproductive Potential in Women,” Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, vol. 271 (2004), pp. 1213-1217). But the study lacks ecological relevance, meaning no one has measured whether these slightly higher hormone levels actually result in more babies being born.
an eighty-pound English bulldog named Huxley: Thomas Huxley, a biologist and contemporary of Darwin, referred to himself as “Darwin’s bulldog” for his fierce defense of On the Origin of Species.
Alan’s latest book: Alan Dixson, Sexual Selection and the Origins of Human Mating Systems (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009).
men have relatively small testicles: Dixson, Sexual Selection and the Origins of Human Mating Systems, p. 38.
“there could be a profound preference among men”: Barnaby is referring to work by Frank Marlowe, “The Nubility Hypothesis,” Human Nature, vol. 9, no. 3 (1998), pp. 263-271.
A few years ago in Brittany, France: Nicolas Gueguen, “Women’s Bust Size and Men’s Courtship Solicitation,” Body Image, vol. 4 (2007), pp. 386-390.
In a similar experiment, Miss Elasto-chest tried hitchhiking: Nicolas Gueguen, “Bust Size and Hitchhiking: A Field Study,” Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 105, no. 4 (2007), pp. 1294-1298.
Another study showed that waitresses with larger breasts: Michael Lynn, “Determinants and Consequences of Female Attractiveness and Sexiness: Realistic Tests with Restaurant Waitresses,” Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 38, no. 5 (2009), pp. 737-745.
In his earlier data from the eye-tracker: Barnaby Dixson, Gina Grimshaw, Wayne Linklater, and Alan Dixson, “Eye-Tracking of Men’s Preferences for Waist-to-Hip Ratio and Breast Size of Women,” Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 40, no. 1 (2009), pp. 43-50.
Other studies have shown: Clellan Ford and Frank Beach, Patterns of Sexual Behavior (New York: Harper & Row, 1951), p. 88.
One study found that Western men prefer curvier women: Terry F. Pettijohn et al., “Playboy Playmate Curves: Changes in Facial and Body Feature Preferences across Social and Economic Conditions,” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, vol. 30, no. 9 (2004), pp. 1186-1197.
Barnaby expected men to prefer: For Barnaby’s papers on male preferences, breast size, and areolar pigment and size, see Barnaby Dixson et al., “Men’s Preferences for Women’s Breast Morphology in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea,” Archives of Sexual Behavior, (2010), e-publication ahead of print edition, available at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20862533; Dixson et al., “Eye Tracking of Men’s Preferences for Female Breast Size and Areola Pigmentation,” Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 40, no. 1 (2011), pp. 51-58; Dixson et al., “Eye-Tracking of Men’s Preferences for Waist-to-Hip Ratio and Breast Size of Women,” Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 40, no. 1 (2011), pp. 43-50; Dixson et al., “Watching the Hourglass,” Human Nature, vol. 21, no. 4 (2010), pp. 355-370.
Desmond Morris published his famous and influential book: See Desmond Morris, The Naked Ape: A Zoologist’s Study of the Human Animal (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1967); quote from p. 67.
Elaine Morgan, a Welsh writer: For a lively read, see Elaine Morgan, The Descent of Woman (New York: Bantam Books, 1972); quote from p. 5.
breasts helped increase a woman’s fat reserves: Typically 43.6 percent of the female physique is composed of fat in comparison to 28.4 percent in men, according to J. P. Clarys et al., “Gross Tissue Weights in the Human Body by Cadaver Dissection,” Human Biology, vol. 56 (1984), pp. 459-473. Boguslow Pawloski also defends the idea of fat, including breast fat, as being adap
tive to the woman. See Pawloski, “Center of Body Mass and the Evolution of Female Body Shape,” American Journal of Human Biology, vol. 15, no. 2 (2003), pp. 144-150.
SWAG: I am indebted to Joseph H. Williams, professor of evolutionary biology, University of Tennessee, and a most outstanding brother-in-law, for this term.
One desert zoologist sees in breasts the camel’s hump: See Ron Arieli, “Breasts, Buttocks, and the Camel Hump,” Israel Journal of Zoology, vol. 50 (2004), pp. 87-91.
“The reasons why the breasts of women”: Henri de Mondeville, quoted in Marilyn Yalom, A History of the Breast (New York: Random House, 1997), p. 211.
In 1840, one physician speculated: Sir Astley Paston Cooper, On the Anatomy of the Breast (London: Longman, Orme, Green, Brown, and Longman’s, 1840), p. 59.
an Israeli researcher posited that fatty breasts: Arieli, “Breasts, Buttocks, and the Camel Hump.”
“ensures that the nipple is no longer anchored”: Elaine Morgan, The Descent of the Child (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), p. 47.
We may be the only mammal: Daniel Lieberman, professor of human evolutionary biology, Harvard University, author interview, August 2011. I will note that Lieberman warned me away from making too much of the basicranial flexion argument. Just as it is difficult to know when pendulous breasts evolved, it is also difficult to know when speech evolved or how closely speech, neck, and breasts may be related. Point taken.
“They’re pretty, they’re flamboyant”: Natalie Angier, Woman: An Intimate Geography (New York: Random House, 1999), p. 124.
CHAPTER 2 • CIRCULAR BEGINNINGS
“… from so simple a beginning”: Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1860), p. 460.
The manatee has nipples under her flippers: The information on mammal features came from various sources, including Olav Oftedal, author interview, March 2010; Alan Dixson, author interview, June 2010; Sandra Steingraber, Having Faith: An Ecologist’s Journey to Motherhood (Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus, 2001), p. 215; and, on the opossum, “With the Wild Things,” at http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/wild/transcripts/possums1.htm (accessed October 2011).
the ability to lactate is among our most valuable genetic assets: Bruce German, professor of food science and technology, University of California, Davis, author interview, October 2010.
one-sixth the protein found: On milk fat compositions of various species, see Caroline Pond, “Physiological and Ecological Importance of Energy Storage,” Symposia of the Zoological Society of London, Physiological Strategies in Lactation, vol. 51 (1984), pp. 1-29.
The earliest lactating species: Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 2009), p. 39; and M. Peaker, “The Mammary Gland in Mammalian Evolution: A Brief Commentary on Some of the Concepts,” Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia, vol. 7, no. 3 (2002), p. 347.
Mammals owned the Cenozoic: For readable discussions of the ascendance of mammals, see T. S. Kemp, The Origin and Evolution of Mammals (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005); and Donald R. Prothero, After the Dinosaurs: The Age of Mammals (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006).
Darwin himself went out on a limb: Discussed in Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species (New York: Penguin, 2009; first published 1859), pp. 322-323.
we would never have breasts if we didn’t have teeth: Neil Shubin, Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (New York: Random House, 2008), p. 78.
even what sex the fetus is in order to fine-tune the composition of the milk: Katherine Hinde, assistant professor, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, author interview, December 2010.
The first fluid was a sort of natural Lysol: There are a number of fascinating journal articles about the origins of the mammary gland and its beginnings as part of the innate immune system. I recommend D. G. Blackburn et al., “The Origins of Lactation and the Evolution of Milk: A Review with New Hypotheses,” Mammal Review, vol. 19 (1989), pp. 1-26; D. G. Blackburn, “Evolutionary Origins of the Mammary Gland,” Mammal Review, vol. 21 (1991), pp. 81-96; and two Oftedal papers: “The Mammary Gland and Its Origin during Synapsid Evolution,” Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia, vol. 7, no. 3 (July 2002), pp. 225-252; and “The Origin of Lactation as a Water Source for Parchment-Shelled Eggs,” Journal of Mammary Gland Biology and Neoplasia, vol. 7, no. 3 (July 2002), pp. 253-266.
Lactation, with its tremendous metabolic efficiencies: Kemp, Origin and Evolution of Mammals, p. 113.
CHAPTER 3 • PLUMBING
“I have heard a good anatomist say”: Astley Paston Cooper, On the Anatomy of the Breast (London: Lea & Blanchard, 1845), p. 6.
Napoleon’s penis: See Tony Perrottet, Napoleon’s Privates: 2,500 years of History Unzipped (New York: HarperCollins, 2008), pp. 20-27; and Charles Hamilton, Auction Madness: An Uncensored Look behind the Velvet Drapes of the Great Auction Houses (New York: Everest House, 1981), pp. 54-55.
woman said to have the largest implants in the world: Fox News reported that the Houston woman, Sheyla Hershey, suffered a serious staph infection after her latest implant surgery. It was her thirtieth operation, according to “Woman with World’s Largest Breasts Fighting for Her Life,” July 14, 2010, available at http://www.foxnews.com/health/2010/07/14/woman-worlds-largest-breasts-fighting-life/#ixzz1DmS8FrTD.
“What goes up must go down”: Patrick McCain, “World’s Largest Breasts, 38KKK Sheyla Hershey Breast Implants Removed,” Rightpundits.com, September 14, 2010 (originally published in 2009), at http://www.rightpundits.com/?p=2822.
Over the course of a menstrual cycle: Z. Hussain et al., “Estimation of Breast Volume and Its Variation during the Menstrual Cycle Using MRI and Stereology,” British Journal of Radiology, vol. 72, no. 855 (1999), pp. 236-245.
“Brassiere design is one engineering activity”: Quote and equation from Edward Nanas, “Brassieres: An Engineering Miracle,” Science and Mechanics, February 1964, available at http://www.firstpr.com.au/show-and-tell/corsetry-1/nanas/engineer.html (accessed October 2011). Nanas backed up his statement with a description from Mrs. Ida Rosenthal, the seventy-seven-year-old head of Maidenform. “She recently returned from a tour of the Soviet garment industry and found that bra designers on the other side of the Iron Curtain have not yet discovered stretch fabrics, foam padding, hooks and eyes, or the strapless bra.”
She showed me the action footage: To see Werb’s film clips, check out http://anatomy.ucsf.edu/Werbwebsite/egebald%20movies%202008/Movie_1.mov.
a digression: On the cadaver trade, see Julie Bess Frank, “Body Snatching: A Grave Medical Problem,” Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, vol. 49 (1976), pp. 399-410; and W. B. Walker, “Medical Education in 19th Century Great Britain,” Journal of Medical Education, vol. 31, no. 11 (1956), pp. 765-777.
“a breadth of experience unparalleled before or since”: James Going, clinical senior lecturer in pathology, University of Glasgow, author interview, May 2010.
“galactograms”: Cooper, On the Anatomy of the Breast; for a digital version, see http://jdc.jefferson.edu/cooper/61/.
on rare occasion have been able to produce milk-like fluid: For more on male lactation, see Jared Diamond, who lays out a plausible male breast-feeding scenario in “Father’s Milk,” Discover, vol. 16, no. 2 (February 1995), pp. 82-87. This essay perhaps inspired a Swedish college student named Ragnar “Milkman” Bengtsson, who, in 2009, tried to stimulate milk production by pumping his nipples every three hours for two months. It didn’t work. See “Swedish ‘Milkman’ Loses Breastfeeding Battle,” The Local, December 1, 2009, at http://www.thelocal.se/23592/20091201/. The anthropologist Barry Hewlett documented suckling among men of the Aka Pygmy tribe in central Africa, but they appeared to be providing “comfort suckling” and not nutrition. See Joanna Moorhead, “Are the Men of the African Aka Tribe the Best Fathers in the World?” The Guardian, July 15, 2005.
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br /> “the breasts are generally two in number:” Cooper, On the Anatomy of the Breast, p. 13.
CHAPTER 4 • FILL HER UP
“… but on the fourth night”: Maria Edgeworth, Tales and Novels: Harrington; Thoughts on Bores; Ormond (London: George Routledge and Sons, 1893), p. 394.
cosmetic surgery: Statistics are from the American Society for Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery, “Statistics,” Press Center, at http://www.surgery.org/media/statistics (accessed October 2011).
performs more augmentations by far than any doctor in Texas: Becca Quisenberry, Patient Coordinator, Ciaravino Plastic Surgery, author interview, September 2011.
Falsies, made out of wire, sheet metal, papier-mâché: See Teresa Riordan, “We Must Increase Our Bust: A History of Breast Enhancement, Told in Patent Drawings,” Slate, April 11, 2005, at http://www.slate.com/id/2116481; and Elizabeth Haiken, Venus Envy: A History of Cosmetic Surgery (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997), pp. 243-246.
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