Thursday, July 07, 2005

Cleavage and perception

I watched a two hour documentary-type show about "Cleavage" last night. A & E was running it. I was channel surfing, and there was literally NOTHING on. I switched back and forth with it and VH1. *I really DO need help* On another note, I had to be careful about the words I used because I really DON'T want to be googled and found under "Big T*ts." Mebbe that's just me. *laughing*

The "Cleavage" show was fascinating. I mean, they're boobs. What else needs to be said?
PLENTY.
There was a woman in 3 A.D. who had her breasts seared off because she wouldn't date a wealthy, landowner's son. She became St. Agatha.
A woman did an experiment to enhance her 34A to a 34DD. Some special bra was put on her, and she recorded the results. She said she has NEVER gotten so much attention.
Another woman saw that experiment and did one of her own. With cameras rolling, you could WATCH the people (yes, mainly guys) rubbernecking. She's regularly an A cup, but she transformed into a C or a D.
The biggest breast enhancement was from a French porn star who added 73 inches to her bustline. *mouth open in amazement*
A bodybuilder talked about getting her implants and how she could build up the muscles underneath them and have a whole different shape. Btw, implants are BIG in the female bodybuilding world.

But there's the flipside. Sure, you get the attention. But what kind of attention are you getting?
Unfortunately, some women are judged on their breast size. A study was done that showed that blue collar men prefer bigger busted women, while their white collar counterparts preferred smaller breasted women.
The ideology was that a bigger breasted woman had less intelligence. (I will refrain from profanity here, but you can insert any one you wish.) That's like saying a man with bigger balls is less intelligent than a man with smaller balls. WTF?
Helen Gurley Brown, of Cosmopolitan magazine fame, said it best. I'll paraphrase. "We'd like to think it would be easy to say that a woman with big breasts was stupid, and a woman with smaller breasts was smart. But I've known big-chested women with brains and flat-chested women who are as dumb as a board."

Now, for audience participation.
Does breast size matter in your romance novels? Do you see a curvy woman and automatically think bombshell ala Marilyn Monroe? Do you see a less curvy woman and think athletic? Are we perpetuating the myth of breast size in books? If you have a tart floating around in the pages, is she big-chested and small-brained?
To be honest, I tend to give my women an ample bosom. Once I hit twelve, it's all I've had to work with.
Grins*

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I usually give the heroes a handful, but I never really thought about it. I guess it depends on the character. That would be fun to do, though.

Unknown said...

I saw the preview for this show. I was flipping channels and a "whoa" moment. Had to flip back to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

Honestly, I don't think I've ever really noticed that when reading or writing too much. Maybe I should. . . .

Crystal* said...

Michelle: And I'm sure they appreciate it. LOL
Teresa: I know! I had to do a double take myself. And then they ran it back to back, I think.
Grins*

swamp4me said...

Cleavage? What is this mysterious thing called cleavage? I shall never know :(

Lucky for me, I'm married to a fanny man -- now that, I got! ;)

Don't read many romance novels these days, but when I did, I always resented those endowed women just a bit -- made me feel a tad un-luscious, if you know what I mean...

Crystal* said...

Swampy: There was a little sidenote on the program. Apparently, the Brazilians are MAJOR "bum" fans.
On a bizarre tangent, have you ever done a tae-bo video? I swear there's a woman on one of mine that looks similar to you. You know, from that picture of you twenty years ago. LOL
As far as literal cleavage, I only make a mental note as far as getting the visual of the heroine in my story...but I DO associate the big-busted=bombshell and the smaller-chested=athletic.
And in closing...I'm sure Mr. Swampy finds you VERY luscious. ;)
Grins*

Rene said...

My heroines usually have a nice rack. Not obnoxiously huge, but enough to look good in a tight sweater.

Crystal* said...

Rene: Well put! *grinning*
Crystal*