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| Breast fetishism |
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| Breast fetishism is a pronounced fetishistic sexual interest in the female breasts, their shape, movement, and especially their size. Breast fetishism is the most common sexual fetish [1] among men in American and Japanese culture. Like any other sexual fetishes or paraphilias, this preference might become psychologically problematic when it develops into a strong fixation and becomes the only means of sexual arousal. |
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| Breast size |
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| In many cultures, breast fetishism often centers on the size of the woman's breasts. In large portions of the western world breasts are often perceived as symbols of sexuality and attractiveness to men and the size of the breasts can be particularly important in relation to the impact on the man. In popular media the breast size of featured women (whose role in that instance is in part as an object of sexual desire) is rarely below an apparent C-cup (UK sizing) [citation needed]. This has fuelled the market for breast enlargement surgery for women who feel their breasts are not big enough. Many porn stars have capitalized on the obsession many men seem to pay towards large breasts by having their breasts enlarged to implausible (i.e. biologically very unlikely) sizes. With large breast fetishism being common in the United States and Japan, this fixation has increased cultural acceptance of female breast implants. Anthropologists and sociologists have often tried to explain the obsession with breast size in terms of natural selection and biology but no widely accepted explanation for many men's attraction to big breasts has developed. Some gay men and straight women also idolize breasts to the extent that they consider themselves breast fetishists. Some individuals have a fetishistic preference for large "natural" breasts without breast implants. Natural breasts are required to become a Page Three girl in the UK tabloid The Sun. Another magazine featuring the "natural" look is Perfect 10. Not all straight men prefer large breasts as there are also some small breast fetishists |
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| Breast characteristics other than size |
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| Not all breast fetishism concerns size. Some fetishists prefer puffy areolæ or unusually long or thick nipples. The "puffy" fetish, in particular, can be somewhat controversial because this characteristic is most commonly associated with pubescent girls, though a significant number of adult women also have puffy areolæ. There are also fetishes concerned with lactation in general, and with nursing ("milk fetishism"). While most men seem to prefer firm breasts, there exist those who prefer saggy breasts. Some people feel that breasts can be too big to be attractive. |
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| Popular culture |
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Massively breasted female characters are fairly common in Japanese anime, American comic books and video games. Publishers such as Image Comics often feature prodigiously endowed heroines on their covers. Among video games, Tomb Raider's busty heroine Lara Croft has become a household name and the lead character in a series of movies and comic books published by none other than Top Cow a division of Image Comics.
More recent breast fetishism can be in part linked with the Canadian actress and glamour model, Pamela Anderson, who helped amplify and normalize the trend by openly acknowledging her cosmetic surgery to increase her breast size and shape, and whose enlargement seemed to increase her stardom, rendering implants more publicly acceptable for the average woman. |
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