rowyn

One of my friends (who shall remain nameless since the post was friends-locked) linked to a rather nifty site about breasts -- in particular, their gallery of nude images of women's chests. (Link NSFW, although the photos are simply referential, not sexual.)

The site's own text tends towards the preachy (and the writing is a bit odd, puts me in mind of ESL students). But the images of ordinary women's breasts -- not airbrushed, not propped up, not surgically lifted or enlarged -- are quite interesting. As are the women's own comments about their breasts, which range from cheerfully candid to heartbreaking. The main point is to give more women an idea of what normal chests look like, so that we don't all end up thinking our breasts are weird and misshapen because they don't look like the ones in Playboy.

Which ... well, I don't know that I've ever thought my breasts were misshapen. But they are very saggy, and I'm kind of self-conscious about that. It wasn't until fairly recently that I realized a key thing about firm, perky breasts: they actually are firm. As in, not soft and squishy. And I rather like the way my chest feels even if I don't like the way it looks. So I'm pretty reconciled to my boobs these days, even if ideally I'd rather the nipples didn't point at my feet.

A year or two back I saw a porn film where most of the actresses had implants, and the implants were really obvious. Not just in the artificially perfect shape, but the way they bounced was ... all wrong. It's sad, really.

The site also reminded me how much it bugs me that some people think babies shouldn't be breastfed in public. :(

Anyway, the gallery is neat in its own right, and also a good reference for artists who'd like to get an eye for the range of normal human female breasts, as opposed to the picture-perfect standard one generally sees even in nudes, even artistic rather than pornographic ones.