Breast

The term breast, also known by the Latin mamma in anatomy, refers to the upper ventral region of an animal's torso, particularly that of mammals, including human beings. Furthermore, the breasts are parts of a female mammal's body which contain the organs that secrete milk used to feed infants.

Function

The function of the mammary glands in female breasts is to nurture the young by producing milk, which emanates from the nipples during lactation. However, zoologists point out that no female mammal other than the human has breasts of comparable size when not lactating, and this suggests that the external form of the breasts is connected to factors other than lactation alone.

Related Topics:
Milk - Nipple - Zoologists - Mammal

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The mammary glands that secrete the milk from the breasts actually make up a relatively small fraction of the overall breast tissue. It is commonly assumed by biologists that the real evolutionary purpose of women having breasts is to attract the male of the species; that, in other words, breasts are secondary sex characteristics. Some biologists (notably Desmond Morris) believe that the shape of female breasts evolved as a frontal counterpart to that of the buttocks, the reason being that whilst other primates mate in the typical piggy-back position, humans are more likely to successfully copulate mating face on. A secondary sexual characteristic on a woman's chest would have encouraged this in more primitive incarnations of the human race, and a face on encounter would have helped foundate a relationship between partners beyond merely a sexual one.

Related Topics:
Mammary glands - Evolutionary - Secondary sex characteristics - Desmond Morris - Buttocks - Copulate

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Others believe that the human breast evolved in order to prevent infants from suffocating while feedinghttp://www.breastfeeding.com/reading_room/breasts_shaped_babies.html. Since human infants do not have a protruding jaw like our ancestors and the other primates, the infant's nose might be blocked by a flat female chest while feeding. According to this theory, as the human jaw became recessed, so the breasts became larger to compensate.

Related Topics:
Jaw - Primates - Nose

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Many women in developed countries undergo breast reconstruction after mastectomy for breast cancer, a result of the high value placed on symmetry of the female human form in some cultures, and because women often identify their femininity and sense of self with their breasts,

Related Topics:
Breast reconstruction - Mastectomy - Breast cancer - Symmetry

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