The perfect pair : women negotiating embodiment

Abstract

This study explores women’s subjective understanding of their breasted embodiment from a sociological and feminist point of view. In a society and culture where breasts are sexualized and their main function often side-lined, little attention has been paid to women’s subjective experiences of their breasts. This study starts from the premise that the body is a “lived body”, meaning that the body, the mind, and society are all intertwined. The way we speak of our bodies cannot be separated from our physical experience of them. Exploring breasted embodiment is one aspect which can add further insight into understanding women’s embodiment in everyday contexts. The study documents the narratives of 26 women from different backgrounds, adopting an interpretative research design and using semi-structured in-depth interviews to collect the data. Data was analysed using a thematic approach and presented in narrative form.

The results show that women’s understanding of breasted embodiment is complex, at times conflicted, and tied to the specific contexts within which they interact. Some women’s dissatisfaction with their breast size is often the result of an objectifying male gaze, as well as the result of not matching beauty ideals often prescribed by the media. Findings also suggest that women tend to value their breasts on the basis of their appearance, rather than on their functionality. The decision to undergo surgery, purely for cosmetic reasons, stems from the desire to fit within normative standards of femininity and to further align one’s sense of self to one’s desired body. Age, breastfeeding, and breast cancer are all factors which affect women’s perception of their own breasts and, their embodiment.