In the course of dinner, I asked Mr. Thomas(Dylan) why he had come to Hollywood. He looked deep into
my blue eyes and whispered sexily, “To touch the titties of a beautiful blonde starlet and to meet Charlie Chaplin” I gazed at the two literary figures besides us. They said nothing. “Okay,” I said, “ I can grant both your wishes.” When we had finished the dessert and brandy, I announced, “You may touch each of my breasts with one finger…”…Mr. Thomas sterilized his index finger in the champaigne and delicately brushed each breast with the finger, leaving a streak in my pancake body makeup…he uttered “I do not believe it’s necessary for me to meet Charlie Chaplin now.” –Shelly Winters in Shelly II, The middle of My Century.
“He moved his hands up and lightly cupped them over my breasts. I didn’t move… He took his hands away. Not suddenly, but carefully, as though my breasts were two peaches whose form and colour had attracted him; he had picked them up, satisfied himself that they were ripe but then realized that it wasn’t yet time for lunch.” –Francoise Gilot about Picasso in Life of Picasso.
The above lines speak volumes of the pre-occupation of the female breast in the minds of the leaders of western imagination. It is therefore quite interesting to go through “A HISTORY OF THE BREAST” written by the eminent feminist scholar Marilyn Yalom on various aspects of the female breast from the point of view of a woman. It is a brilliant exposition of the idea of the female breast in western imagination encompassing a span of 25000 years . The female breast has always occupied an important position in Literature, Art, Sculpture, Feminism, Social Sciences, Religion, Philosophy, Mythology and had connotated different meanings in different societies in different times. Whether it was the deliberate amputation of her breast by the mythological Amazonian Warriors or the Modern Feminist Bra-burners led by the American poet Robin Morgan, the female breast has always engaged the attention of people of all societies. Breasts are sexual ornaments and connotative of eroticism in western society where the women usually keep their breasts covered, where as it has a completely different meaning in different cultures like Africa , South Africa, South Asia etc. where women had no inhibition to live with bare breasts since time immemorial. According to the ancient Greek Legend, the Milky Way was created out of a jet of milk from the breasts of Goddess Hera, which has been painted by the great artist Tintoretto in his celebrated work The Origin of the Milky Way. The nipples of Goddess Hera sucked by the baby inspires affection and divinity. Contrary to this, In the painting Filial Charity of Jean Goujon, where the father sucks the nipples of her matured daughter connotes heterosexual incestual desire. Fondling of the nipple of the blonde woman by the dark haired woman in Gabrielle d’Estrees and one of her sisters(School of Fontainebleu) exudes a different kind of eroticism. Baring the breasts in the films was a taboo once upon a time. Now a days no important actor refuses to bare her breasts for making the film more beautiful. The same is the case with reputed Magazines and Journals. Topless bargirls and car washers are no more a rare sight. For prevention of cruelty to animals, dignified women of the society lodge their protest with bare bodies preferring to stay without clothings to wearing animal furs. The book deals with various roles of the breasts in different societies like the sacred breast, the erotic breast,, the domestic breast, the political breast, the psychological breast, the commercialized breast,, the medical breast, the liberarted breast and the breast in crisis etc. It is a very interesting yet important material for the students and scholars of Cultural Studies, Social Science, Feminism, Art, Literature, Aeisthetics, as well as general readers.