To think that the West is seriously fucked up on the bosom front?

[Hullygully]

Bags of poison sewn into our infant feeding parts.

How fucked up is that?

Saggy tits? Buy a good bra. Honestly. That is all you need.

If you're really worried, go to the gym and do some exercises that strengthen the muscle area around the chestage (don't know specific muscles).

I've got implants and it changed my life.

I spent my life being bullied (went to a girls school) because I had no boobs and then was picked on by blokes and had hideous comments made by men on nights out. It was made worse because I was already really self-conscious about them anyway.

I wanted them done at the age of 17 but as it is, I waited until I was 27. I saved up the money and while I was doing that, I did as much research on the risks etc as I could. I decided that for me (and I can only speak for me) the risks were outweighed to the 'expected' benefits that I would have.

I am so glad that I had them done. It wasn't all plain sailing and unfortunately for me, I lost all the sensation in my nipples and was unable to breastfeed. BUT, mentally I became a stronger person and for once I felt 'normal'.

I totally understand that all of this is based around my own insecurities and there are other things that may have helped instead of this. But this is the path I chose and I have never regretted it.

That said, if I did have the implants that they are discussing in the news at the moment (which I don't - I checked with the hospital that I went to), I wouldn't expect anyone else to pay for me to have them changed, just like I didn't even attempt to go down the NHS funding route in the first place. It was my choice.

By the way, just to add, I didn't go to 'model/porn' status in size. I went from a 34AA to a 36C and as I'm a size 14, they are in proportion with my body. No-one ever suspects that I've had them done, unless I tell them.

Gym will not sort out "saggy tits". However, loving husband will tell his dw, mother of his kids that "saggy" or not, she is perfect and he loves her to bits. (At least this is what my dh is like and it works!)

My boobs have had kids demanding milk hanging off them for the last 2 years. That's what they're (currently) there for, not to point to the ceiling standing to attention for a man.

YANBU.

I don't have any sort of ethical problem with women having implants if they want to. I had breast reduction surgery myself and I think there's a few parallels. I know people don't make these decisions in a vacuum and the idealisation of women's bodies is pretty messed up, but, you know. If someone hates their chest so much they'll consider major surgery to change it, that in itself should make one realise how strongly they feel about it.

Kayano?

Were you adopted in the seventies as well? Woefully shameful r.e medical history.

Homemade I sympathize with you wholeheartedly, however I find the end to your story very very sad. It is terrible that you felt that the only way to resolve you torment was to go through the surgery.

Maybe we need a new "joy of sex" style set of documentaries aimed at teenagers so they can actually see normal genitalia for once. Though I can imagine a chorus of "ewwwwww"

Adopted in 80s but not a clue about medical history

You do worry sometimes

freudian slip, meant to type "breasts" not genitalia, but the same applies

I've had to have an initial age-appropriate conversation about implants with DD (11) already due to the remarks she has been making

My own mother wouldn't even discuss sodding tampons.

I wear a good bra, I look fine in clothes. I do plenty of chest exercise at the gym and I'd say now I'm approaching 40 they're not so bad, but they looked similar to how they looked at 18, and my boobs are long with the nipple near the bottom. And I'm fine with it now, but I wasn't when I was younger, I was self conscious, and that was when no one had a boob job, I was just comparing myself to other normal breasts of friends. There's a lot of pressure to look normal, I didn't feel at the time I looked like everyone else and it can only be worse for teenagers now when they aren't even comparing themselves to 'normal'. Just because you and I know boobs come in all shapes and sizes, that's normal and you shouldn't go putting yourself through surgery doesn't mean you can make young women, who have always felt under pressure to conform, feel it's fine to have less than perfect boobs and they won't unless society's perception of normal has a big shift - which I hope it will.

Eighties K? That is bad. Do social workers have no knowledge of genetics?

I heard Jenny Eclair saying yesterday that she hopes we look back on this period of history and think of all this cosmetic surgery as absolute madness, in the same way we look at feet binding now. I wanted to applaud her to quite frank.

I don't want to slag anyone with implants, totally your choice if you have it done. But I felt a woman's fake boobs a few weeks ago - they felt really horrid! I have no idea why you would want your boobs to feel like that.

There were times when buxom ladies were considered, ahem, common, and the chests were taped over... (early 19 century, but also before)

Fashion styles come and go.

YADNBU I have thought the same for ages. I was watching Chantelle that was on big brother who used to have a lovely figure she has now had a boob job and looks like a top heavy duck. It does not suit her lovely slim frame.
Also thought Jordon would look better with a smaller bust as Matthew Wright says now she has comedy breasts.
I am 32 A so flat chested but I don't wish to change them. Kate Moss and Keira Knightley are very beautiful and their figures are part of them and glad they have never gone for enhancements.

Lunatic - I think what has changed is mainstream media/music videos portraying 'a look' such that youngsters have a warped view of 'normal/healthy'

Couple that with the increasing availablility and seeming acceptability of porn, i guess it was inevitable. I am VERY worried for my 2 DD's growing up with these types of influences and hope something reverts somewhere.

Op you are deluded if you think this is a problem of the "west" , having lived in 3rd world countries for almost 10 years i can say that there are lots of places where there is a much higher percentage of women with plastc surgery than the UK!

Agree about the stupidity of it all though .

I always got teased about being flat chested. Others got teased about their ears or smelly feet or their mum wearing a coat that was, somehow wrong.

If your self respect depends on your breast size, you have to work on your sense of self worth, not your chest!

Aside from my feminist POV, the losing of feeling in the nipple would be my major concern (no kids & unlikely to have any).

Homemade I can't say I understand your POV (how could I, my breasts are not your 'before' size) but I can understand the pressure you were under, even though it saddens me.

But the loss of feeling / ability to feed if required would far outweigh the aesthetics.