Breasts: Why are we so fascinated, if not obsessed?

Breasts, tits, jugs, fun bags, the female mammary glands just don't fascinate and titillate the male animal but seem to be a fundamental cornerstone of our society for men, women, and children as both a maternal and sexual symbol of femininity. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge. But being curious, I wondered what science had to say about our collective obsession. Does a fish know it's living in a fishbowl? Can we step outside of ourselves and look at our culture in a more objective slash scientific fashion without necessarily being influenced by said culture? In researching this article, I've consulted a number of sources, links in the references section below. It would seem science is of the opinion our connection to breasts starts as babies, the source of our nourishment. Along with that, both baby and mother share the release of ocytocin, the "bonding" hormone.

As oxytocin is associated with trust, sexual arousal and relationship building, it's sometimes referred to as the “love hormone” or “cuddle chemical.” Oxytocin levels also increase when you're hugging someone and when you're experiencing an orgasm. Oxytocin is an essential hormone for childbirth and lactation.
-Oxytocin: What It Is, Function & Effects - Cleveland Clinic

Other researchers echo that idea.

Larry Young and Brian Alexander are two men who have recently released a book entitled The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex and the Science of Attraction. In this book the two men have intricately dissected all the emotional, biological and cultural elements behind the real reason men are so attracted to our boobs.

The authors firmly believe that straight men are obsessed by women’s boobs simply because of a hormone released during nursing, which helps to make that powerful bond between mother and child. They believe that men who were breastfed as children then grow up with an evolutionary drive for a strong nurturing bond with their female partners.
-Her Magazine: Why Are Men so Obsessed With Boobs? The Answer is Pretty Surprising… - Jun 21/2023

Wait! You're telling me I'm not a pervert? There's a legitimate scientific reason why I stare and drool?

I have to chuckle. In our culture, our gender roles, whether we agree with them or not, seem to be that the male is assertivem and the female is receptive: he steps forward and says hello; he's the one who calls the girl; he asks her to dance. Her option is to say yes or no to his advances. Yes, in modern times, the woman can be assertive but I'm talking about in general. And SL is merely a reflection of RL, albeit Second Life can be an exaggeration of real life. (Second Life Magnifies Real Life)

It's not a leer if the woman is interested.

The above amusing adage points out a conundrum we all must face dealing with the sometimes-conflicting circumstances of our desires and our mores. Science seems to indicate that as a man, I'm "hardwired" to be attracted to breasts and yet, our society dictates I must rein in my attraction to a respectable degree. In a 1993 episode of the TV comedy series Seinfeld (link below), the character George Constanza gets into trouble for staring at a woman's cleavage. Jerry explains, "Looking at cleavage is like looking at the sun, you don't stare at it. It's too risky. You get a sense of it and then you look away."

But if the woman is interested
MM is a female friend in SL I've know for over 14 years. We've tried about everything together. We have a running gag together, a role play. She plays the part of the sexy siren, and I'm the enamored male, smitten by her beauty. I stare; I drool; I put one hand to my chest and say, "Be still my beating heart." She sends me photos of her flashing me, and I message back how I was looking at this on my phone (in RL) and walked into a lamppost. All in good fun. I think she enjoys being a woman, and she enjoys my attentions as I am trying in a lecherous but humorous manner to make her feel special as a woman. As I like to say: We all want to be "desired".

In MM's profile, she amusingly states, "I have the pussy; I make the rules." Let me add that she also has the tits. Ha, ha!

Ecdysiast, er, Stripper
Do larger breasts lead to more money? One would say yes, however my research has come up with conflicting reports. Some say it helps them attract male patrons, but others say its their ability to engage the customer which leads to high returns. I'm reminded of a joke I like to tell, describing women as a gift: The packaging may catch my eye, but it's the contents which keep me coming back for more.

An Observation about Second Life
I play SL as an extension of my RL. I'm not a vampire or a Neko or some fantasy character; I'm really playing myself. Obviously, without the usual RL constraints, but just a polite and respectful guy normally dressed in a suit and tie. Many, maybe the majority, do the same thing, but I recognize that some play an exaggerated version of their RL self, even a cartoon version of their own fantasy character. As such, some avatars are unrealistically disproportionate. I mean like big breasts. Hugh breasts. Breasts so large, they look like somebody has attached beach balls to their chest. Is this attractive? Is it a turn-on? Is it satisfying some sort of fetish? Of course, I can't help feeling this is more of a male fantasy, and the avatar in question has a high probability of being a GIRL (Guy In Real Life). (my blog: Why do guys role play girls? (2,500 words, 12-minute read) - Jul 15/2022)

An Observation about Real Life
As a man, for my entire life, I have been caught between a rock and a hard place. Look, but don't stare. But on more than one occasion, I've asked myself what the woman is trying to do. I worked in an office environment for a number of years where the dress code was business, sometimes business casual. Once in a while, one woman I knew would come in with a blouse or sweater with a lower cut, showing off her V, that is, her cleavage. I confess, one time I glanced for just a second too long and realized, she was pulling a sweater over her shoulders to cover herself. My bad. But why was she wearing something which could be construed as "sexually appealing"? Was she doing this for her husband? Did it make her feel good about herself? I still questioned in an official business setting if this was appropriate. People in an office are supposed to work together, not flirt with one another. Now, I can hear people complaining about me being a perv in this scenario but is there a line between dressing in a reasonable manner, even attractive, but then crossing the line into sexy?

I go to a gym on a regular basis. The majority of people dress for working out; they are not making a fashion statement. Many wear tops like t-shirts; I always wear a polo shirt. However, some women wear a top with a bare midriff; some are skimpier like a bikini top. I'm sure somebody's going to feel I'm being sexist or demonstrating The Double Standard, but I'm asking what the objective is in wearing something less about the practicality of exercising and more about being fashionable. But I have a male example.

Several years ago, there was a guy who was obviously gay, effeminate in his mannerisms. He would wear a top with a bare midriff with shorts which were more short shorts. He displayed a lot of skin. At times, he seemed to "prancing and preening": exaggerated movements, rolling up the edge of his shorts to make them even shorter. I had the distinct impression he was showing off as if he was trying to make himself attractive to others. I found this behavior oddly out of place. We were all there to work out, not flirt with one another.

Random question: Is the female breast, like the male breast, nothing more than a breast?
There are women movements seeking equality between the sexes.

Free the Nipple is a topfreedom campaign created in 2012 during pre-production of a 2014 film of the same name. The campaign highlights the general convention of allowing men to appear topless in public while considering it sexual or indecent for women to do the same and asserts that this difference is discriminatory, contravening women's rights. The campaign argues that it should be legally and culturally acceptable for women to bare their nipples in public.
-Wikipedia: Free the nipple

Topfreedom is a cultural and political movement seeking changes in laws to allow women to be topless in public places where men are permitted to be barechested, as a form of gender equality. Specifically, the movement seeks the repeal or overturning of laws which restrict a woman's right not to have her chest covered at all times in public. In addition, topfreedom advocates seek allowing nursing mothers to openly breastfeed in public.
-Wikipedia: Topfreedom

Sexual Identity
I'm sure every woman is well acquainted with guys and their, ahem, dicks.

Body Image: Many women regard their breasts as important to their sexual attractiveness, as a sign of femininity that is important to their sense of self. A woman with smaller breasts may regard her breasts as less attractive.
-Wikipedia: Breast

As a man, I can speak about male confidence: Am I large enough? Can I get erect? Can I sustain an erection? Heck, can I even get aroused and cum? Of course, later on in life, there's a strong probability some of us are going to face the inevitable: erectile dysfunction and/or sexual dysfunction. Am I still a man if I can't get it up?

I've wondered: Are female breasts the counterpart to the male organ as a fundamental part of our sexual identity? I suspect the answer may be yes to varying degrees. My research shows that more than 100,000 U.S. women undergo some form of mastectomy each year, typically to treat breast cancer, but also to prevent the risk of breast cancer, and that more than 73% of breast cancer survivors are at risk of experiencing sexual problems known as sexual dysfunction.

I started this article to look at the amusing tendency of men to be attracted to / fascinated by / obsessed with breasts. But for the woman, there can be a serious side to the story.

Interesting / Amusing facts about breasts

• Motorboating: It means the activity of putting one's face between a woman's breasts, and rocking turning one's head rapidly from side to side while making a noise like a motorboat. -Urban Dictionary
  FYI: I first time I heard this term, I laughed out loud. Who the dickens makes this stuff up?
• Male or female, we all start with the same building blocks.
  All human individuals—whether they have an XX, an XY, or an atypical sex chromosome combination—begin development from the same starting point. During early development the gonads of the fetus remain undifferentiated; that is, all fetal genitalia are the same and are phenotypically female. After approximately 6 to 7 weeks of gestation, however, the expression of a gene on the Y chromosome induces changes that result in the development of the testes. -Sex Begins in the Womb: National Center for Biotechnology Information
• It is estimated that 1% of adult women (one to two million) in the U.S. have had breast augmentation. -National Center for Biotechnology Information, 2010 Winter
• World's Largest Natural Breasts: 102 ZZZ
  Annie Hawkins-Turner, better known by the stage name Norma Stitz, is an American fetish model. Her pseudonym is a wordplay on "enormous tits", a result of gigantomastia. She holds the Guinness World Record for largest natural breasts. -Wikipedia - CNN reports her breasts weigh 89 pounds.

Final Word
There is a biological basis for our interest in mammary glands. However, that can't be an excuse; we must still follow the norms of respectable society. You can peek at the sun, but you shouldn't stare at it.

I end with an amusing t-shirt. Ignore the sexual and look only at the maternal, and there is something comforting about boobs. They can make all of us, man, woman, or child, feel a little calmer, and a little more centered.

References

Wikipedia: Breast
Humans are the only mammals whose breasts become permanently enlarged after sexual maturity (known in humans as puberty). The reason for this evolutionary change is unknown. Several hypotheses have been put forward.

Live Science: New Theory on Why Men Love Breasts - Mar 17/2016
Why do straight men devote so much headspace to those big, bulbous bags of fat drooping from women's chests? Scientists have never satisfactorily explained men's curious breast fixation, but theorists are gonna theorize. So let's take a tour of the sexy speculation surrounding the human bosom — with a few stops to explain why it's so hard to figure out just why breasts hold such allure.

Her Magazine: Why Are Men so Obsessed With Boobs? The Answer is Pretty Surprising… - Jun 21/2023
A new book written by two men seeks to answer and explain the age old question: why are men so obsessed with boobs?

The Huffington Post: Breasts: The Real Reason Men Love Them - Sep 25/2012
By Larry Young, Ph.D., Contributor and Brian Alexander, Contributor Jokes about breasts, and men looking at breasts, are such a comedy staple they've become a kind of go-to cliché. How many times have we seen a man talking to a curvaceous woman only to have her point to her own eyes and say "Hey, buddy, up here!"?

It's funny -- or, at least, it was funny the first dozen times we saw it -- because it's true. The male eye does have a way of drifting south. But why? Why are heterosexual men so fascinated by women's breasts that we sometimes act as if the breasts are the seat of the soul?

World Wide Words: Ecdysiast
A writer for the Washington Post in August 2011 had it spot on: “ecdysiast is a fancy word for stripper”. It was coined in 1940 and has had only sporadic success, perhaps being thought too odd-looking a word or too high-falutin for so earthy a pursuit... [It was] created by H L Mencken, the American critic and author of The American Language from Ecdysis, taken from the Greek ekdusis, shedding or moulting.

Published May 21/2013 by TEDx Talks
YouTube: The Chemistry Between Us: Larry Young at TEDxEmory (18:06)

Wikipedia: The Chemistry Between Us (book)
The Chemistry Between Us: Love, Sex, and the Science of Attraction is a 2012 book by the American neuroscientist Larry J. Young and the journalist Brian Alexander, in which the authors examine the neurobiological roots of love.

Published Jan 2/2017 by UberDurable
YouTube: Seinfeld - Cleavage Etiquette (with Denise Richards) (1:43)

Wikipedia: The Shoes (Seinfeld)
"The Shoes" is the 56th episode of the NBC television sitcom Seinfeld. It is the 16th episode for the fourth season, and first aired on February 4, 1993. In the episode, Elaine is upset at Jerry and George dropping her character from their proposed Jerry series, which then becomes endangered when George is caught staring at the cleavage of NBC executive Russell Dalrymple's teenage daughter.

2024-08-31

Couples: Hiding versus Being Open: Your RL versus your SL

I first heard about Second Life in the fall of 2009 in an article in TIME magazine. This was the height of SL awareness in real life media with countless outlets extolling the virtues of this virtual world and enumerating its pitfalls with stories of addiction and divorce.

My experiences at the time seemed to support the notion that people in-world were hiding their activities from their better half in RL. God forbid my spouse finds out I'm role-playing sex in this virtual fantasyland!

Over the years, this has made for some funny stories where I've wondered what happened on the other side of the computer screen. People suddenly log out or go silent. One woman came back an hour later to say her 10-year-old son had walked into the room, and she had to minimize the window. Whoa!

Even today, I've had people explain they can only come online when their spouse is away. Some have said they have children and may have to log out at a moment's notice if something comes up.

Right now, I live alone. I have no constraints in my life, so I can come and go as I please. However, I've seen more and more couples lately, living their lives without constraints because they have chosen to be open and honest with their partner. Some of them even play Second Life together!

I've talked about this before; how much more liberated people seem to be in Second Life. Give them a new identity and anonymity, effectively disconnecting them from their real life, and consequently, giving them total freedom to say or do anything they want without fear of criticism or condemnation, and they become more playful, flirty, even sexual in a manner which I assume is there in their real life, percolating below the surface but held in check by the many constraints we all feel from our upbringing, religious teachings, peer group pressure, and social restrictions. As I jokingly said: You can go nuts without doing jail time!

In light of the above, I repeat my claim that in real life, the constraints we all feel may cause us to suppress all sorts of desires, urges, and kinks which may remain hidden our entire life or could come bursting into the daylight in inappropriate ways. Our partner, our spouse, the one with whom we should have the most trusting relationship, may be ignorant of this side of us because we are afraid of revealing these deep dark secrets out of fear of a negative response even from our spouse. How many marriages have come to a screeching halt at the discovery of a deep dark secret? But more importantly, why did somebody feel it necessary to keep that secret buried in the first place?

A1 and A2, a thirtysomething couple, have been married for over ten years now. They have two young children and look to be your normal suburban couple. (A1 has shared RL pictures.) But they both play Second Life. They are open and honest with one another, not just about SL but themselves, their desires and their fantasies. Apparently, the two of them meet up with other couples in RL, and SL serves as another way of living the dream. I once commented that A1 had a lot of RL pictures, and she explained it was to advertise themselves for possible RL connections.

B1 is around forty. Her husband introduced her to SL. In RL, the two of them have begun experimenting with D/s, and he has told her to use SL to further her D/s experiences by seeking other men, other dominants.

C1 and C2 have now been married for over 28 years in RL. They both play SL and are both fully aware of the other's activities. Recently, C1, who owns land, set up a house and decorated it for C2, her husband, and his SL girlfriend. C1 and I have been friends for over 14 years on SL and shared bits about our real lives. C1 and C2 are swingers in real life (married over 28 years!), and their SL is reflective of their openness and honesty in their own relationship.

D1 and D2 are married in RL with children and play together in SL. They decided to not get partnered in SL so as to give others the impression they were free and not tied down. They, too, play with other couples in RL, and their SL is merely an extension of their RL open marriage.

I commend these people for being open enough to share their SL with their partners, but it would seem, based on their RL stories, this openness extends into their real life. My question: If you're open enough to share your SL, does that mean you may be open enough to try other things in RL? If you are already open in RL, does that explain their openness in SL?

An example of the ultimate openness and acceptance
Back in the early 90's, I'm watching one of the talk shows, not quite as elevated as Oprah but not as low as Jerry Springer. A couple is being interviewed but we're given to understand they have a secret. Commercial break. We return to see two women. I look closer. Woman number two is the husband; he's dressed up in drag. The wife explains that her husband has always had a fetish for women's clothes and once a month he dresses up and the 2 of them go out for a drink together as 2 female friends. She goes on to say that her husband is a wonderful man, a great husband, a good lover and an excellent father; he just seems to have this one special quirk, and it is the only oddity out of an otherwise exemplary human being.

Now just mull that one over for a minute. We have a gentleman who has a fetish for woman's clothes. How in heaven's name did this couple arrive at a point where the man could bring this up with his wife? Who knows, maybe he told her about his fetish before they were married, and she married him anyways. The point is that their relationship was open and honest enough that they could discuss this. But look at the alternative. What if she had reacted to this discovery with, "Eew. Get away from me your goddamn weird-oh pervert!" Well, there's one relationship which would have come to a screeching halt, and there's one guy who would say to himself that he would never, ever again speak frankly with anybody about "his secret".

At some point she must have weighed the pros and cons and felt the balance sheet showed more benefits than liabilities. But picture what would have happened if the man felt so ashamed of his feelings that he never talked about them with his wife; he kept them hidden. Do I see a potential headline? "Respected family and businessman Fred Schwartz, seen here dressed up in drag in a photograph taken in the local bar Tom's Eatery, was arrested this past Saturday."

Final Word
Up to 50% of marriages end in divorce. Why? A number of people in a relationship as per my experience hide their SL activities from their partner. Why? The people above not only share their fantasy life in SL but share it, in some cases, in RL. Do I see a pattern?

If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything.
-Mark Twain, his notebook dated 1984

I have a curious thought. Our partner, our spouse, is supposedly the most important, most intimate person to us in the world; supposedly the person we trust the most. And yet, there may be things about us, personal things, deep dark secrets, we dare not mention out of fear of a negative reaction. Now, our partner may not react negatively, and the problem may be our fear of a negative reaction from anybody, not just from them. But the above couples, at some point in their relationships, made the leap and succeeded.


References

my blog: Why do guys role play girls? (2,500 words, 12-minute read) - Jul 15/2022
It would seem that about 10% of the population is gay. That’s RL, Real Life. In SL, Second Life, the percentage is higher, a lot higher. In fact, I don’t think I can take ten steps without running into a lesbian. What gives?

my blog: Compersion: not thinking of yourself (1000 words, 4-minute read) - Jun 14/2022
polyamory (n) the practice of engaging in multiple romantic (and typically sexual) relationships, with the consent of all the people involved.

my blog: Second Life: We're not going to meet in Real Life. (1,600 words, 7-minute read) - Dec 17/2022
I first came to Second Life in January 2010, and it has never occurred to me to meet anybody in real life. I have other social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, etc. but there, too, I've never had the urge to meet somebody. The purpose of those platforms is to interact with people on those platforms, not in RL.

2024-08-22

What's up with high heels?

(1,300 words, 6-minute read)

For a number of years I have theorized that if I took two pictures of the same woman except in one photo the woman was wearing flats and in the other the woman was wearing high heels, guys would invariably prefer the photo with the high heels. It seems a given. It seems like an a priori truth. Of course, I'm a guy so my opinion may be a tad affected by my hormones.

But at some point, being not only a testosterone fueled guy but an inquisitive one, I wondered why high heels are supposedly more attractive and when I say attractive, I was wondering if this was sexual in nature. Wait! Isn't it all about sex? Ha ha. There's that primordial urge again. Yeah, yeah, yeah, FTD delivers on Saturdays, romance is not dead, but at the heart of it, in our genes (jeans?) is the hardwired compulsion to propagate the race.

Today's word of the day is lordosis. This refers to the ventral arching of the back that is the curve of the back is inwards towards the stomach. According to my research it would seem others before me with a long list of letters after their names have posed the same question about high heels and made the connection to the birds and the bees, namely "lordosis behavior", a physical sexual posture seen in female animals. The back is arched inward (ventral arching) which helps to elevate the hips as an invitation to mate and as an aid in intercourse. Yes, this shows up in the Kama Sutra but is better known on the street as doggy style.

All of this apparently connects back to high heels for two reasons. First of all, the heel changes a woman's posture so that her derriere is raised and her chest is pushed out resulting in a certain curve of the spine. There's the connection to lordosis behavior. Secondly, it would seem we all have some innate sense of the proper length of the human leg for the purposes of mating and high heels apparently extend the female leg to what is considered a more favorable length. That favorable length is considered part of an evolved mate-selection mechanism where length means better long-term health and hence a better partner. It seems both curious and amusing to think we can reduce a man's wide eyes and wolf whistles to a scientific explanation based on animal behavior. On the other hand, when a woman calls a man an animal there may be more to it than just a comment on the man's unflinching singularity of purpose.

High Heels: empowerment or oppression?
The debate rages on. While some so-called experts associate this fashion accoutrement with sexual objectification, others see it associated with power. Flats may be comfortable but seem to say demure. Heels project power and one woman pointed out the natural result of getting to the same eye level as male colleagues.

There is however a limit. Yes, high heels are inextricably linked to sex but going too high can be too sexy. Professional situations demand a professional look and the consensus of opinion that while a three or four inch heel is acceptable, anything higher is just too much of a sexual message. Oh and it would seem that stilettos are always a no-no at work.

NBC News quotes Dr. Helen Fisher, anthropology professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey, who believes sky-high heels are just too sexy for most workplaces:

"High heels thrust out the buttocks and arch the back into a natural mammalian courting — actually, copulatory — pose called 'lordosis,'" Fisher said. "Rats do it, sheep do it ... lions do it, dogs do it. ... It is a naturally sexy posture that men immediately see as sexual readiness. [Heels] are a 'come hither' signal. ... When women wear high heels at work, they send sexual signals that should be avoided if they want to be taken seriously."

The Science
From Redbook quoting Jena Pincott, author of "Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes?":

The stuff you strut is more sensual when you're up on your toes, says Pincott: "Heels force your pelvis to tilt so that both your rear end and chest stick out." One study showed that leg lengths 5 percent longer than average are the most attractive, so for most women, a 1.5- to 3-inch heel would create the ideal leg length. "This attraction might be evolutionary, because long legs are associated with better long-term health, which would appeal to a mate," says Pincott. "Plus, much like a peacock flaunts his feathers, which are really quite heavy and a nuisance, a woman teetering in heels can show off her fitness and coordination."

I believe the study referred to above is a 2008 Polish one called "Adaptive preferences for leg length in a potential partner":

It has been shown that height is one of the morphological traits that influence a person's attractiveness... we study how leg length influences attractiveness in men and women. ... male and female pictures with shorter than average legs were perceived as less attractive by both sexes ... Because leg length conveys biological quality, we hypothesize that such preferences reflect the workings of evolved mate-selection mechanisms.

And from Wikipedia: High heeled footwear:

In modern society, high-heeled shoes are a part of women's fashion, perhaps more as a sexual prop. High-heels force the body to tilt, emphasizing the buttocks and breasts, highlights of a woman's sexuality. They also emphasize the role of feet in sexuality, and the act of putting on stockings or high-heels is often seen as an erotic act. This desire to look sexy and erotic continues to drive women to wear high-heeled shoes, despite causing significant pain in the ball of the foot, or bunions or corns, or Hammer toe. A survey conducted by the American Podiatric Medical Association showed some 42% of women admitted that they would wear a shoe they liked even if it gave them discomfort.

Final Word
Okay, as much as I or anybody else can dress this up as behavioral science, or the ebbs and flows of fashion, there does seem to be some fundamental connection to the biological nature of our most primordial of urges. Sorry folks, it really does always come back to sex. Then again, instead of trying to sweep this under the rug maybe we should admit it right up front and come to accept that men are men and women are women. Vive la différence!

Personally I am amused by my own behavior. I hear the telltale click of heels on the floor and I just have to look. "I'm not going to look. I'm not going to look." I can't not look. "D'oh!" It is as instinctive as breathing. Okay, I do try not to stare but I myself have to chuckle when I realise that it isn't just me, it's men in general. The click of a heel is like a Pavlovian bell which makes our heads turn. Sometimes I watch other men as a woman in heels walks by and it is quite hilarious to see the craned necks. Yes, sometimes you may think to yourself "oink oink" but I, for one, will try to be polite by giving you an admiring look as opposed to an alarming stare. (Old joke: It's only a leer if the woman is not interested.) And don't forget that if you sometimes find those looks worrisome, imagine how worrisome it would be if you didn't get any looks at all.

But trust me, as long as there is breath in this old body, I'll keep looking. This is where I wolf whistle. :-) (YouTube: wolf whistle)


References

Wikipedia: Lordosis
Lordosis is a medical term used to describe an inward curvature of a portion of the lumbar and cervical vertebral column.

Wikipedia: Lordosis behavior
Lordosis behavior, or mammalian lordosis, is a physical sexual posture seen in female mammals, including mice, cats and many others, the primary characteristic of which is a ventral arching of the spine. During lordosis, the spine curves so that the apex points in the ventral direction. That is, the spine arches inward toward the abdomen.

Redbook
Surprising Sex-planations: The Science Behind Sex
You know that sex makes you feel closer to your guy, that stilettos are totally hot, and that hitting the sheets together feels completely different from satisfying yourself solo — but have you ever wondered why?

NBC News - Sep 23/2009
Do high heels empower or oppress women? By Laura T. Coffey
OK, ladies, think fast: Do high heels empower women in the workplace, or do they oppress us and ultimately harm us?

Ethology (site in Russian, this paper in English) - 2008
Adaptive preferences for leg length in a potential partner
by Piotr Sorokowskia, Boguslaw Pawlowskib
Here, we study how leg length influences attractiveness in men and women. Stimuli consisted of seven different pictures of a man and seven pictures of a woman in which the ratio between leg length and height was varied from the average phenotype by elongating and shortening the legs. One hundred men and 118 women were asked to assess the attractiveness of the silhouettes using a seven-point scale. We found that male and female pictures with shorter than average legs were perceived as less attractive by both sexes.

Wikipedia: High-heeled footwear
High-heeled footwear (often abbreviated as high heels or simply heels) is footwear that raises the heel of the wearer's foot significantly higher than the toes. When both the heel and the toes are raised equal amounts, as in a platform shoe, it is technically not considered to be a high heel; however, there are also high-heeled platform shoes. High heels tend to give the aesthetic illusion of longer, more slender legs. High heels come in a wide variety of styles, and the heels are found in many different shapes, including stiletto, pump (court shoe), block, tapered, blade, and wedge.

2024-07-19