<<We love play, we think play is vital to life, and I wouldn't want to have breasts that never had a chance to play erotically.>> Whether breasts are viewed as almost exclusively sexual (e.g., in the United States) or are viewed as for babies...or somewhere in between...is culturally based. Breasts are stimulated before or during sexual intercourse in only 13 societies out of 190; of these 13 societies, only 3 considered breasts to be sexually attractive. (Ford, C.S. and Beach, F. A. 1951. Patterns of Sexual Behavior. New York: Harper and Row.) For a great discussion on how breasts are viewed in the US, see "Beauty and the Breast: The Cultural Context of Breastfeeding in the United States" by Katherine Dettwyler in "Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives." The view of breasts as exclusively (or nearly exclusively sexual) poses major problems for breastfeeding. However, a blend of sexual and functional or a view of exclusively functional (i.e., for babies) does not. Cynthia Good Mojab, MS Clinical Psychology (Breastfeeding mother, advocate, independent [cross-cultural] researcher and author; LLL Leader and Research Associate in the LLLI Publications Department; and former psychotherapist currently busy nurturing her own little one.) Ammawell Email: [log in to unmask] Web site: http://ammawell.homepage.com *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html