THERE IS NOTHING INTRINSICALLY/BIOLOGICALLY SEXUAL ABOUT BREASTS!!!!  Yes,
I'm shouting.  We *learn* to associate sexual feelings and pleasure with
manual and oral manipulation of our breasts -- it is not biological, it is
cultural.  The possibility of a woman experiencing sexual pleasure from
breastfeeding is about the same as the possibility of a woman experiencing
sexual pleasure from a breast exam for cancerous lumps at the gynecologist,
or the possibility of a woman experiencing sexual pleasure from some
stranger groping her on the subway.  Sexual pleasure is intensely
context-dependent.  If a woman says she is experiencing sexual feelings
while nursing her child, it is because she *does* have an overactive
imagination, or has learned, in a Pavlovian "dog-bell-food-saliva" style to
associate those pleasurable feelings with a sexual context.  Tell her to
consciously think about the context, to look at the baby, and to realize
that not all pleasurable feelings are sexual.

While oxytocin is released at orgasm and during breastfeeding, there is NO
evidence that oxytocin is in any way responsible for the pleasurable sexual
feelings of orgasm.  Women who receive shots of oxytocin to induce labor, or
to clamp down a flabby uterus after childbirth, or during research protocols
do not report feelings of sexual ecstasy.  The levels of oxytocin released
during an orgasm are hundreds of times higher than those released during
breastfeeding anyway, which is why it makes no sense for doctors to tell
women not to nurse while they're pregnant because they might trigger
premature labor, when they don't tell these same women to be sure not to
have any orgasms during pregnancy.  Eating also triggers the release of
oxytocin, and eating a Big Mac when one is very hungry can be very sensual,
but one would hardly describe it as orgasmic........

Try to remember that it is only in a few cultures that we *teach* children
to view breasts as sexual, and that they are not any more sexual in and of
themselves than an elbow or a foot might be.




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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352