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Cleavage (breasts)
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For other uses, see Cleavage.
An example of breast cleavage.
Example of cleavage from a German lingerie advertisement, early 20th century.Cleavage is the cleft created by the partial exposure of a woman's breasts, especially when exposed by low-cut clothing. It is associated with evening gowns, swimwear, and other fashions that emphasize display of the breasts. Décolletage (or décolleté, its adjectival form, in current French) is cleavage produced by a low-cut neckline that exposes the neck, shoulders and parts of the breasts.
Intermammary sulcus or intermammary cleft are the terms adopted by the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA) for the area of cleavage between the breasts not including the breasts.
Contents [hide]
1 Theories of cleavage
2 Controversy
3 Related slang
4 Lingerie
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links
[edit] Theories of cleavage
Evolutionary psychologists theorize that humans' permanently enlarged breasts, in contrast to other primates' breasts, which only enlarge during ovulation, allowed females to "solicit male attention and investment even when they are not really fertile."[1] British zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris theorizes that cleavage is a sexual signal that imitates the image of the cleft between the buttocks[2], which according to Morris in The Naked Ape is also unique to humans, other primates as a rule having much flatter buttocks.
Décolletage evolved in the late Middle Ages and developed further during the Victorian period. It is a feature of the evening gown, leotard, and bikini, among other fashions.
[edit] Controversy
There are differences of opinion as to how much cleavage exposure is acceptable in public.[3] In the French Enlightenment, there was a debate as to whether a woman's breasts were merely a sensual enticement or rather a natural gift to be offered from mother to child. In Moissy's play The True Mother, the title character rebukes her husband for treating her merely an object for his sexual gratification: "Are your senses so gross as to look mon these breasts - the respectable treasures of nature - as merely an embellishment, destined to ornament the chest of women?"[4]
Nearly a century later, also in France, a man from the provinces who attended a Court ball at the Tuilleries in Paris in 1855 was deeply shocked by the décolleté dresses and is said to have exclaimed in disgust: "I haven't seen anything like that since I was weaned!"[5]
For ordinary wear, high collars were, however, the norm for many years. When it became fashionable, around 1913, for dresses to be worn with a modest round or V-shaped neckline, this nonetheless deeply shocked clergymen all over the world. In the German Empire, all of the Roman Catholic bishops joined in issuing a pastoral letter attacking modern fashions. [6]
Fashions became more restrained in terms of décolletage during World War I and remained so for nearly half a century. From the 1960s onward, however, changing social mores allowed a greater display of cleavage in films, on television, and in everyday life.
In the United States, in two separate incidents in 2007 Southwest Airlines crews asked travelers to modify their clothing, to wear sweaters, or to leave a plane because they did not consider the amount of cleavage displayed to be acceptable.[7]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel created controversy when she wore an extremely low-cut dress to the opening of the Oslo Opera on April 12, 2008.[8][9][10][11]
[edit] Related slang
Exposure of the underside of the breast, such as below an extremely short crop top, is known as neathage, Australian cleavage, reverse cleavage, sleevage or underboob. When the lateral aspects of the breasts are uncovered, it is known as side cleavage or sideboob.
[edit] Lingerie
Lingerie has long been designed to emphasize cleavage. The tight lacing of corsets worn in the 19th and early 20th centuries emphasized both cleavage and the size of the bust and hips. Ball or evening gowns especially were designed to display and emphasize the décolletage.[12][13]
More recently, after corsets became unfashionable, brassieres and padding have served to project, display and emphasize the breasts, as has breast augmentation surgery. (Morris notes that in recent years there has been a trend toward reversing breast augmentations.)[14][15] Several brassiere manufacturers, among them Wonderbra and Victoria's Secret, have become known for marketing products that enhance the décolletage.
On the first Friday of every April in South Africa, Wonderbra sponsors a National Cleavage Day.[16]
[edit] See also
Breast fetishism
Cleavage enhancement
Mammary intercourse
Buttock cleavage
Toe cleavage
[edit] References
Alison Gernsheim, Victorian and Edwardian Fashion. A Photographic Survey. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, Inc., 1981. Reprint of 1963 edition. ISBN 0-486-24205-6
Desmond Morris, Manwatching. A Field Guide to Human Behavior. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1977. ISBN 0-8109-1310-0
Desmond Morris, The Naked Woman. A Study of the Female Body. New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2004. ISBN 0-312-33853-8
[edit] External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Cleavage"Sargent's Portraits", an article including a mention of the scandal caused by the portrayal of cleavage in John Singer Sargent's "Portrait of Madame X".
"Why Yes, I Was Staring at Your Breasts" A retrospective look at why women choose to display breast cleavage.
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