Body intimates: Social views

The ancient Greek had a legend about the Amazons, a group of female warriors. These women would cut of one breast to make it easier to use bow and arrow. Another version of the story said they would not cut it of, but that they used to wear a special bra that pushed the breast tight against their body. These stories are what gave the warriors their name because Amazon literally means “without breast”.



In the 15th century homosexuality was wide spread. And forbidden, for sodomy you would get the death penalty. Men who would still like to do this found a solution; they would dress up like female prostitutes.

Once the authorities new about this they created a new law. Prostitutes where obliged to show their bare breasts while working. So it would always be visible what sex somebody was.

The bridge where most prostitutes used to work owes its name to this law “ponte del tette” “bridge of boobies”




Showing your bare breasts was such a taboo in certain states of the U.S. that even strippers weren’t aloud to show their bare breasts. But the strippers and the owners of the strip clubs soon found a solution. They made plastic mould that were enough to give the illusion of bare flesh. The lights in the clubs were dimmed and the spectator didn’t notice a thing. And the police couldn’t do a thing.



In the 60s and 70s women in the western world started to throw there bra’s out the window. They saw the bra as a straitjacket and they wanted to be freed. Naked breast, braless breast, breast that were not forced in any direction, these breast where the poster boy for self respecting, feminist women.


Especially in vacationing spots for young people, “wet T-shirt contest” are being held. No one is really sure when or why somebody wins as well as why they are held. Most probable reason is seduction, girls usually don’t wear a bra or bikini under there T-shirt and when the T-shirt gets wet there nipples and breasts are visible.



An act of rebellion thru the 20th century is “flashing”. Young women lift their shirt and show their bare breast, to shock, to show of or to show their confidence. During the mardi grass festival in new Orleans, U.S. you even get a “prize” for showing your bare breast. Girls collect bead necklaces, which they get every time they show their un-covered breasts.


There have been times in history that people tried to make the chest of a women appear as flat as possible. The puritans girls and women where tormented by the undergarment that were made to keep there chest flat. This in an attempt to suppress their sexuality. But also in the 16th century in Spain, when fashion was androgenic and every hint of the female form was camouflaged And when the belly of a woman was considered the sexiest part of the female body, women tried to flatten their breast to accentuate their belly. And the most recent example of a flat chest started in the beginning of the 90s . The “waif” and the “grunge” came in fashion. Fashion models became thinner and thinner, with less shape and form. Especially in the chest area.