female counterpart to....

February 12, 2003 10:11 AM

Thailand launches national "Bust-Boosting" campaign - "In an almost surreal scene, rows of women in shorts and T-shirts massaged and squeezed their breasts in front of the crowd of officials, media and onlookers on a busy Bangkok street....The health ministry said the idea was to show Thai women that there was another, more natural way, of boosting their breast size than plastic surgery. ...Cosmetic surgery is an extremely popular and lucrative business in Thailand....Bangkok is renowned for its inexpensive, but not always reliable, plastic surgeons." (via BBC) Here's a history of the slogan "We must, we must, we must increase our bust"
posted by troutfishing (13 comments total)

What a buncha boobs.
posted by jonmc at 10:25 AM on February 12, 2003

Looking at the photos, it's nice they included the guys in making it a push to get out in the street and exercise for your health.

Has a study been done comparing the attitude before & after of those who exercised to those that didn't and had plastic cosmetic surgery?
posted by thomcatspike at 10:31 AM on February 12, 2003

Thailand should abandon this campaign of breast exersize in favor of modern, Western breast enhancement like the Brava vacuum device, WonderBreast pills, and my personal favorite Breast Hypnosis.
posted by 4easypayments at 10:37 AM on February 12, 2003

Does anybody have any links to these kinds of stories where there are actual female titties being massaged and squeezed out in public? I'll be back in 45 minutes or so to check. Thanks.
posted by vito90 at 10:37 AM on February 12, 2003

stories where there are actual female titties being massaged and squeezed out in public?

Is this something that someone would have to see by way of a computer? Because I do not own a computer.
posted by soyjoy at 10:50 AM on February 12, 2003

A lady I know once sent in $5 for "secret breast enhancement" information. A few weeks later she received an envelope which contained: a picture of a man's hand.
posted by Mack Twain at 11:20 AM on February 12, 2003

A small hand?
posted by gottabefunky at 12:07 PM on February 12, 2003

Damn you soyjoy - I was saving that joke for just the right occasion, and you found it first. Curses!
posted by yhbc at 12:16 PM on February 12, 2003

Yummm ... massaging breasts, family fun that both parents can enjoy!
posted by nofundy at 12:41 PM on February 12, 2003

Women will have their excellent bodies without any need for chemical injections or plastic surgery," Pennapa Sabcharoen, the department's deputy director-general, said.

The concept, demonstrated by dozens of young women who jumped, stretched, kneaded and squeezed outside the department, is just in time for Valentine's Day on Friday when the first government-organised public exercise is expected.

And we fire Jocelyn Elders!

The whole impetus for this odd spectacle was that Thai women were expriencing breast deformity, ostensibly, from foreign made bras. The health ministry conducted a study to see if "massage techniques" could take the place of these foreign made danger bras. They concluded that these massage techniques and "dance" could take the place of bras and keep breasts firm, make big breasts smaller, and make tiny breasts bigger. Wow, all that from a study of 40 women! I could just be speaking from outside my experience when I challenge this claim, but I get a little a skeptical when I read testimonials like this one:

[from massage techniques]"My A-Cup turned into a C-cup."

What I would like to know is precisely why "Foreign-designed bras are not appropriate for nurturing the Thai bosom", and what exactly the nature of the deformities is. My assumption is that these are American/European bras, and since I'm assuming European and Asian breasts are not fundamentally so different in their overall structure, that they are not normal bras, but some sort of "push-up" or "breast-enhancing" bra. I sense the sub-text of that in the seeming entanglement of this "deformity" issue and breast-enhancement:

"The exercise will not only increase breast size but make them firmer and bring the two breasts closer together so the cleavage could be clearly observed"

My guess would be that young Thai girls who are obsessed about the excessive smallness of their breasts are stunting their own growth and shape by using these foreign made bras in ways they aren't meant to be used in a desperate attempt to give themselves cleavage.
posted by dgaicun at 1:53 PM on February 12, 2003

I don't suppost there's any chance of pushing the notion that small breasts are just fine? I speak as a guy who really honestly truly no-shit prefers small-breasted women (the ones who won't have to tuck their tits into their waistband when they get past 30.)
posted by jfuller at 4:46 PM on February 12, 2003

The mind boggles.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 4:55 PM on February 12, 2003

dgaicun - my guess is that the Thai bra industry paid a huge bribe to the Thai Health Ministry, to discourage those "dangerous" foreign bras....."My guess would be that young Thai girls who are obsessed about the excessive smallness of their breasts are stunting their own growth and shape by using these foreign made bras in ways they aren't meant to be used in a desperate attempt to give themselves cleavage...." Sounds ominous - you may be right, I'm just trying to (in proper, non-prurient fashion, of course) to imagine this.
posted by troutfishing at 8:33 PM on February 12, 2003