Boobs

There’s no question that breasts differ in size and shape, by person to person. I have friends who are extremely thin with very large boobs. And I have some friends who are thicker with small boobs. Boobs are made up of different amounts of fatty, mammary, and fibrous tissue. And everyone has different fat, muscle composition, and hormones in their body. So while I may be small and weigh a certain amount, it doesn’t matter if I put on a lot of weight, my boobs pretty much stay around the same size. And others may be completely different and their boobs fluctuate with weight gain/loss. Estrogen, Progesterone, and Prolactin (all hormones) are the reason why a woman’s breasts can change size and become tender within the same month.

The majority of breast size is determined by genetics, but since genetic combinations are so unique, this is the explanation why there can be such variation among daughters and their mother’s, or among sisters. I think it’s important to understand that we really can’t control our breast size. And that no matter what your breast or nipple size is, always remember that they’re natural and yours are perfect the way they are!

I understand the insecurity us women can have, especially with everyone in the media or porn, having these large, round, small nipples “perfect” breasts. But in reality, similar to my post on why doesn’t my vagina look like a pornstar’s? We must ask ourselves, why we compare ourselves in the first place, where this insecurity stems from and what we can do to change it? And no getting a boob job isn’t one of my answers. There is no “perfect” breast size, and we shouldn’t be using the word perfect anyways. We should be using unique! When I was in high school, I was pretty insecure about my breast size. I would wear push up bras all the time to school, making them look a lot larger than they are and by the time I got to college, I thought it was so silly that I was doing that.

I can’t control my breast size, and just because they’re small, doesn’t mean there’s anything “wrong” with them. In fact, my boobs fit my body pretty well in my opinion. I don’t wear a bra most of the time and I love that. Whether you have large boobs, small boobs, round boobs, more cone shaped, very perky, or more sagging, they’re your boobs and you were born with them!

So what makes up boobs?

Post puberty, female breasts are made up of four different parts: connective tissue, fat, mammary glands (milk producing) and lactiferous ducts (milk carrying). Breasts sit on the rib cage over the chest (pectoral muscles) and are are attached to the body by ligaments. There isn’t a muscle in the breast, what determines and differentiates its size is the fat and glands.

An areola is the darker area of the breast that surrounds the nipple. Milk ducts are behind the areola which lead to the nipples from the mammary glands during and after pregnancy. Those are the glands that produce milk which comes through the ducts to feed a baby. Montgomery glands look like little bumps on the areola. Most women’s nipples protrude or stick out when aroused or cold. And some women have inverted nipples which is also a totally normal breast variation. It’s important to understand that there are a million and one different breast shapes and sizes. No one’s breast shape or size is better than another’s. And there are a million different areola sizes as well. Some women have large areolas while other women have small ones. And once again, one is not better than another’s.

ALSO, we must move away from the idea that boobs are sexualized. They serve a very real purpose: women have boobs to feed our babies if we decide to have one. We live in a society that is very afraid of the natural parts of our bodies and is uneducated on their purpose. I got my video deleted yesterday on Instagram because I had a small nip slip which I think is ridiculous. There was nothing sexual about my video at all–I was dancing–but because Instagram has a strict no nipple policy, it got deleted. I do believe there are larger feminist issues than the ban on nipples or body hair on Instagram. But it re-instills this idea, that women’s bodies are made for sexual pleasure. That there’s something “inappropriate” about a woman’s nipples or breasts. When in reality, they are there to nourish babies. And by having such large media outlets such as Facebook and Instagram have strict rules on nudity, we teach the younger generation that all bodies are sexualized and shameful.