how do we reclaim our breasts?

During the last Fashion Weeks, breasts were on all the catwalks, subtly revealed or draped in transparency. « Enough with the boobs ! » (Enough with the breasts!), was outraged by the influential fashion journalist, Vanessa Friedman, in the New York Times denouncing a perpetual “objectification” of women’s bodies. Victim of bodyshaming from Internet users because of her generous chest, actress Sydney Sweeney decided to fully embrace it by wearing an explicit sweater: “Sorry I have great breasts.” Other personalities, such as the rapper Cardi B or the model Ashley Graham, are praised on Instagram after having appeared breastfeeding their baby… In the street, on the red carpets, on social networks and until the National Assembly, breasts continue to fascinate and create debate.

“They are the symbol par excellence of maternity (nurturing breasts), the privileged sign of femininity (flagship breasts) and the antechamber of sexuality (preliminary breasts), a triad which synthesizes the age-old injunction addressed to women: to become and remain sexual and maternal bodies available,” writes feminist philosopher Camille Froidevaux-Metterie in her book Breasts. Looking for liberation (Ed. Anamosa, 2020).

Injunctions that persist

In the name of a certain activism or for a simple question of comfort, some are demanding (as in the 1970s) to no longer wear a bra (movement no bra), when others demand the liberation of the nipples (Free the Nipples). In reality, injunctions still have a tough skin. 50% of French women say they are complexed by the aging of their chest and 47% by that of their bust (1).

“For centuries, society has given us one and the same image of what a desirable breast should be. The pictorial art represented very young white women, with half-apple-shaped breasts, plump, raised on the bust almost weightlessly, with very pink nipples, without hair,” laments Angèle Marrey, director of the documentary Bless our breasts (broadcast this year on the independent streaming platform on.suzane). She carried out her investigation after noting “a return of puritanism” in society, in particular with the expulsion of certain women who breastfeed in public places, or the controversies around teenage crop tops. “We are not, or rarely, exposed to the breasts of women who look like us. The only ones we see are those of models in the media or pornographic images,” regrets midwife Charline Gayault, author of the book The Great Guide to my peaceful pregnancy (Ed. Marabout, 2024).

For centuries, society has given us one and the same image of what a desirable breast should be.

Angèle Marrey, director of the documentary “Bless our breasts”

If they have made it possible to give visibility to the diversity of breasts and to democratize speech about them, social networks alone condense the paradoxical phenomenon of alienation and liberation. “Today, younger generations are questioning these diktats. But at the same time, on TikTok, some promote bodysuits that increase the size of their chests, tape their breasts to make them fit without straps, wear padded T-shirts or nipple pasties, explains Angèle Marrey. In a consumer society that moves as fast as ours, complexes linked to parts of the body that are sexualized have become a business and a thriving market. And to cite the buzz of the famous bra with exposed nipples from Skims, the lingerie brand created by Kim Kardashian, which sparked a heated debate when it was launched.

Permanent dissatisfaction

“Showing off a glorious chest, even if it's done up, is still trendy, but in five years, on the contrary, it may be the norm to have small breasts. Beauty criteria constantly change over time, and even more so since the rise of social networks,” explains Vannina Micheli-Rechtman, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst and doctor of philosophy, who alerts young people to the risk of eternal dissatisfaction. bodily. “These exaggerated demands lead to long-term disasters, accelerated aging of the breast and more difficult and more complex reoperations,” observes Doctor Sébastien Garson, plastic surgeon and scientific co-director of IMCAS (International Master Course on Aging Science, the congress of aesthetic professionals), which nevertheless specifies that “the majority demand in France remains very natural”.

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Led by a flood of international personalities revealing having had their breast prostheses removed (from Victoria Beckham to Tori Spelling, including Pamela Anderson and Laure Manaudou), a phenomenon of downsizing (downsizing) has caused volume to decline, briefly, in recent years. “One day, the trend is for XXL breasts, the next, for small breasts… Society keeps telling us that we should change our bodies every four mornings. We don't have time to be comfortable in our own body when we're already thinking about the next thing that needs to be changed,” adds director Angèle Marrey, who campaigns to regain possession of the body. And to conclude: “There are plenty of ways to reclaim your bust and cherish it. It is also by seeing the plural breasts of women of all ages, with all different nipple shapes and skin colors, that we will learn to take a kind look at ours, which do not necessarily correspond to the erect half-apples. of Venus!”

(1) Ifop study for Humasana 2023.