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?

Just thought I would say I am the opposite a 34 H and that mixed with my stretchmarks meant I thought about surgery to maybe correct one (which I should not see either as being wrong). In school I was only a D cup but was still mortified that whenever we did P.E the boys would gather to watch my breasts wobble,not only did that make me feel self concious but the girls with smaller breasts were jealous of the attention I got so bullied me I walk with my shoulders stooped my arms folded and wear baggy clothes to stop men staring at my chest and thier partners giving me dirty looks.

I was devastated when thier size increased and had been contemplating reduction and stretch mark removal but reading this thread has helped me and I am going to set myself a task to wear a bikini and let my stretchmarks and breast show. I shouldnt be ashamed about something at least 30percent of people will get stretchmarks so why hide them and increase this feeling that women are perfect. Thank you I am going to work on my self confidance and reading this thread has made me feel so much better and today I have put jeans on and a nice fitted shirt it is a start.

Hurray for Crawling!

You go!

Can I just say too that IMO the best place to go and feel totally at ease in your body is Greece. Go to an ordinary Greek beach (not Mykonos type ones!) and you will see women ranging from enormous to tiny, tits, hips and bums, in age from 90 to 9 months, and ALL in bikinis and all walking about totally unconcerned.

Thanks Hully I may try Greece, my family go there alot and seem to love it

yes, true. Len.

How has it evolved and what from?

The best way for women not to be "unseen" is for them to excel in their careers, so their voices can't be ignored. Not to stuff their chests full of poison.

Agree with areyouthere. Unfortunately an hour ago I had to turn down a chance to go on television about a work thing later today (can't get around much at present) but I wrote 30 books etc and that's a tiny bit of what I do. I give about 50 talks a year never mind my normal work. This is real women in real life. Mind you they may all be wanting me because of my cleavage... which I've always thought was naturally rather good...laughing as I type.

I can't believe I had words with DP this morning who says he saw something on telly about it and... well... if someone's really unhappy about their shape... girls want to do it because of their status... if it makes them happy... well why not...

I quickly put him straight by using words like 'mutilation' and 'mattress filler'.

If anyone wants a breast tissue donor I would gladly give them some of mine, it just gets in the way now.

I always have this mental image of Xenia as a stay at home doctor's wife with a very vivd imagination..

I'm working in the house today but I was out yesterday. the TV things tend not to be paid but I always think it's good to show women being quoted for work stuff so I usually say yes. Even with that I've passed them on to someone who might help me professionally so hopefully the rejection was not in vain even if they end up putting a man on the slot. Mind you a lot of men are getting disgustingly fat these days and have breast issues of their own ugh...

The best way for women not to be "unseen" is for them to excel in their careers, so their voices can't be ignored. Not to stuff their chests full of poison.

And then there is Jordan....

It is totally cultural, Frog. In Argentina (and other Latin American countries) it is normal and expected to have plastic surgery on everything. Breasts, bum, botox etc. I know a girl from there and she said when she first came to the UK everyone looked weird and frumpy to her.

But here, having your bum done would be considered pretty extreme. Just as 30 years ago, having a boob job would have been. I'm not saying people who were unhappy with their body were therefore fine with it, but there was nothing you could do so maybe there was greater acceptance?

I've calmed down a bit now and I appreciate the responses to my earlier post.

I 100% agree with what seems to be the consensus here; many boob jobs are performed for little reason other than a simple desire for bigger breasts. My dsis says that if she could have just been born with A cups she would have been happy, but the likes of Katie Price et al have created an epidemic of demand for a procedure which really should only be kept for the most desperate of cases.

Even her surgeon said that of all the cases he'd seen, hers was one of the most desperate. BTW, her breasts look completely in proportion (small c cup I think), feel totally normal and because she could have them inserted behind the muscle she has managed to bf two children until 8 months each.

I backward macho socities where girls cannot easily earn their own money and men earn a lot more they have to trade on their bodies like latin America. Plenty of the arab nations have high plastic surgery rates too under all those silly robes.

I'm not saying I would ban it but we are allowed to point out how many people including men think it's silly for women to have it done.

What I don't agree with though, is the prescriptive approach that all those that have breast augmentation are desperate fuck ups in need of male attention. But I think I made that clear in my last post!

sorry X that wasn't aimed at you -

Hmmm. I guess extreme surgery might be the norm in latin America for a certain class of people yellowraincoat.
I dunno. I was with a South American man for a long time, and, although all his parents' cds had literally a picture of an arse in a thing on them, and Latin men are quite bottom obsessed, all the South Americans I met during that time seemed pretty accepting of all different shapes and sizes, and certainly none of them had had anything done.
They were mostly working class and a mix of indigenous, black, and European though, not the ruling class.
They wouldnt have had the money for surgery, so I guess they didn't think about it.

"in a thing"!
I mean in a thong!

I've been thinking about this all afternoon. It's a fascinating subject.

Maybe some would think I'm not qualified to comment because I have standard size/shape boobs. I would never feel uncomfortable taking my top off and I doubt anyone would think they were anything other than normal. So maybe some people think it's a bit hypocritical for me to say that you should accept your body.

This is just a thought, and not a well-thought out opinion, but maybe people need to learn to play to their strengths more. OK, maybe you're not the prettiest person in the room, with the best body, but how much does that matter? Some people are pretty, some are not, some have great breasts, some do not: how important does that have to be to us as a society? Why can't a person accept that they don't have great breasts? Or whatever other area of our bodies we don't like? Why do we have to all be perfect/beautiful/thin/attractive?

Agree Bolter your DSIS sounds like it was the best thing for her to have surgery and am sure the NHS would have happily done it in the same way they pin back ears and perform nose jobs for people that are so unhappy.
However we just need to get right away from the attitude that it is acceptable carve yourself up in the name of vanity especially young girls who already have lovely figures . Absolute madness and goes against all my instincts.
I can't see how we can make much of a stand against these powerful money making private companies who are brainwashing young girls.

I dunno yellow, all I can say is that in my dsis's case it was the fact that she felt so unfeminine with no breasts. You can have chunky legs or a big nose or (even just small breasts) yet still feel like a woman, yet breasts are so intrinsically linked with femininity. Dsis has other physical features that she doesn't like but certainly wouldn't consider changing them. So do I - e.g. I don't like my nose but I wouldn't go through life threatening surgery to get it 'done' as it doesn't exactly give me psychological problems.

Thank you kerstina, she was on the NHS waiting list but it was so long she ended up going private anyway.

Long thread and can't read all of it (much as I'd like to) but, to quote the indomitable Caitlin Moran, the question we should be asking, always, is, "Are men doing it?".

I assure you, they are not. And they never will be. This fad for cosmetic surgery is dangerous bullshit aimed at vulnerable women. It's totally fucked up and the only way that we can fight it is by saying so. I'm sick of having to think "good for you" every time a woman does this. It's not good for you, and it's not good for me either. As someone said earlier, slicing open a healthy young breast is madness.

For total disclosure, I'm a 34A, these adverts are aimed at people like me. Luckily I grew up in the 80's, where the music you listened to, the books you read and the films you watched were deemed to be more important than how big your tits were. I miss those days.

When I have time I am going to research the history of Page 3.

Unless anyone knows it now?