100 years of breast obsession

January 17, 2007 10:36 PM

In loving mammary- celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the invention of the brassiere. (may be risque for work) [more]
posted by madamjujujive (49 comments total)

Bras and Girdles Fashion History
My Lovely Lady Lumps
The history of breast physics in video games
Cousin Mammy's world of breast euphemisms
posted by madamjujujive at 10:36 PM on January 17, 2007

Bitch tits.
Mansierre.
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:44 PM on January 17, 2007

I do love breast. You might even say I'm obsessed with them. So I say three cheers for the brassiere and all that it holds dear to me.

/ I like the tags in the corner
//breasts
///boobs
///bosom
////bras

they're all "b" words!
posted by MaddCutty at 11:12 PM on January 17, 2007

bro! manziere!
posted by clyde at 11:39 PM on January 17, 2007

( .)( .)
posted by loquacious at 11:40 PM on January 17, 2007

Mary Phelps Jacob, Inventor of the Modern Brassiere. Stats.

Brassieres, An Engineering Miracle

Lyrics to Bette Midler's Otto Titsling

Otto Titzling.

Blonde ambition.

I didn't see bawongas or cupcakes on the breast euphemisms list.
posted by nickyskye at 11:41 PM on January 17, 2007

This is udderly titillating, madamjujujive.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 11:45 PM on January 17, 2007

Technology marches ever onward upward: Google Patent Search results.
posted by cenoxo at 12:07 AM on January 18, 2007

This is udderly titillating, madamjujujive.

*groan*

Listen, bra. I'm not quite sure how to express this, but can we nip these pendulous puns in the bud? I really think you're milking it a tit.
posted by loquacious at 12:12 AM on January 18, 2007

A question for the females in the audience...bras that make boobs look like pointy torpedoes...while they *can* make boobs look silly, it seems to me (as a guy) that the massive amount of support this must provide must make them comfortable. No?

FWIW, the only problem I have with the appearance of torpedo-boobs is the lack of natural jiggle.

Yours two-ly,

A breast man
posted by Kickstart70 at 12:37 AM on January 18, 2007

One of mankind's greatest inventions.
posted by Titania at 12:43 AM on January 18, 2007

FWIW, the only problem I have with the appearance of torpedo-boobs is the lack of natural jiggle.

For which I am glad, else they'd resemble pointy jello molds.
posted by loquacious at 1:01 AM on January 18, 2007

How uplifting.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 1:07 AM on January 18, 2007

Hoorah for the Bra.
posted by Violet Hour at 1:23 AM on January 18, 2007

Listen, bra. I'm not quite sure how to express this, but can we nip these pendulous puns in the bud? I really think you're milking it a tit.

Let me be the first to fully support this statement. If we don't take it to heart, this thread will be a bust.
posted by sparkletone at 1:46 AM on January 18, 2007 [1 favorite]

Conical Bras were one of Neatorama's "37 Fads That Swept The Nation".
posted by soundofsuburbia at 1:47 AM on January 18, 2007

( . Y . )
posted by jcterminal at 1:49 AM on January 18, 2007

Isn’t it annoying when such an exposed MeFi item undoes peoples titty, err I mean witty puns. Such well rounded comments can be made without juggling the double meanings undressed here now. Tits all I have to say….
posted by Prunedish at 4:09 AM on January 18, 2007

Dugg!
I'm terribly sorry, really. Truly.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 4:31 AM on January 18, 2007

Breast of the Web!


sorry, someone was gonna...
posted by jpburns at 5:00 AM on January 18, 2007

Yeah, mjjj, thanx for the mammaries.
posted by pax digita at 5:14 AM on January 18, 2007

Beautiful.
posted by mammary16 at 5:20 AM on January 18, 2007

..the U.S. patent for the first all-purpose bra is secured by Mary Phelps Jacob, whose eureka moment comes, according to Yalom, while she is dressing for a dance. In a spasm of rebelliousness for which we can all be grateful, she abandons the punishing corset and has her maid fit her with two handkerchiefs and a ribbon. Jacobs's "backless brassiere" is patented under the name Caresse Crosby. The design is useless for anyone without small, firm breasts, but Jacobs eventually sells her rights to Warner Brothers Corset Company for $1,500, which makes a $15 million profit within two years.

Or in other words, a 0,01% royalty. Milk money.
posted by three blind mice at 5:22 AM on January 18, 2007

Whatta bunch of boobs.

(what nothing on bra-burning? Actually, how the hell did bra-burning get connected with feminism anyway. All the feminists I know are trussed up and harnessed like all the rest. The only habitually braless woman i've ever known wasn't feminist, just weird. She'd always show up at concerts for my friends punk band. She'd dance around and her boobs would swing around like leaky sandbags. My friends band was hockey themed, so she, like all the other fans wore hockey jerseys and hats to every show. She was also very cross-eyed and didn't wear glasses. It was quite a sight).
posted by jonmc at 6:22 AM on January 18, 2007

DD++ WOULD READ BOOB PUNS AGAIN
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:29 AM on January 18, 2007

Eww, Dita Von Teese. Blech.
posted by Scoo at 6:31 AM on January 18, 2007

what are you, some kind of gay communist Morrisey fan?
posted by jonmc at 6:32 AM on January 18, 2007

Interesting and funny article, thanks. But was I the only one looking curiously yet fruitlessly for a picture of the author? (32DDD... what the hell?)
posted by crackingdes at 6:56 AM on January 18, 2007

I'd great enjoy hearing Jonmc's question about bra-burning answered. Or was it just a 'thing', a symbol with no roots in the rational?
posted by Goofyy at 7:04 AM on January 18, 2007

Don't even start with me jon; you want to fool around the former recipient of Marilyn Manson's goblin juice, be my guest. I'm keeping my junk VERY far away from that skank.
posted by Scoo at 7:04 AM on January 18, 2007

Re bra burning:

From the article: 1968: Feminists stage a mass protest at the Miss American pageant in Atlantic City. Led by writer Robin Morgan, the protestors call for women to throw away their bras, girdles, curlers, and other "mindless boob girlie symbols," writes Marilyn Yalom in A History of the Breast. Contrary to myth, bras are not burned on that day but tossed into trash cans. According to Yalom, the reporter responsible for coining the term "bra-burning" meant to associate the act with the burning of draft cards or flags.

I have heard this other places too so I'm pretty sure that there never was any bra burning.
posted by crackingdes at 7:07 AM on January 18, 2007

considering that back in the 70's bras were often made of synthetic 'miracle fibers' it'd probably be more of a bra melting.

Scoo, I'm not defending her taste in men, but she is nice to look at, dude.
posted by jonmc at 7:11 AM on January 18, 2007

*Googles 'robin morgan'*

yeesh, another dingbat.
posted by jonmc at 7:14 AM on January 18, 2007

I just can't get past the goblin juice... lol, rock on, jon.
posted by Scoo at 7:16 AM on January 18, 2007

I just can't get past the goblin juice...

Hey, that pasty motherfucker hit this, too. You're passing up some beauties, man.
posted by jonmc at 7:20 AM on January 18, 2007

I just can't get past the goblin juice...

Neither can I. Eww dude.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 7:26 AM on January 18, 2007

That article is poorly researched, at least evidenced by the 1975 entry which has a caption on the Russ Meyer Supervixens movie photo stating "Chesty Morgan in Supervixens"- yet any Russ Meyer fan knows that picture is of SuperLorna (Christy Hartburg) in the famous gas station telephone scene in the beginning of the movie. Chesty Morgan had an unmistakable look, and was directed by Russ Meyer's female counterpart Doris Wishman- never by Russ Meyer. Harumph!
posted by hincandenza at 8:39 AM on January 18, 2007

A question for the females in the audience...bras that make boobs look like pointy torpedoes...while they *can* make boobs look silly, it seems to me (as a guy) that the massive amount of support this must provide must make them comfortable. No?

It kind of goes the same as any other kind of bra -- it depends on the fit. All that support requires, well, structural support, which can pinch, poke, cut off circulation, etc. However, yes, a properly fitted industrial strength bra can be quite comfortable, even the conical ones.
posted by Karmakaze at 9:41 AM on January 18, 2007

Ride 'em, Valkyrie!!

(Without IMG tags, this thread is pointless.)
posted by cenoxo at 10:10 AM on January 18, 2007

2006 The federal Food and Drug Administration lifts its 14-year ban on silicone breast implants. While the implants are allowed for use in breast reconstruction after cancer or trauma, Victoria's Secret model wannabes have to settle for squishier, less lifelike saline implants.

What the hell? It's like saying, "Morally, we support reconstructive surgery, but you sluts are out of luck!"
posted by Richard Daly at 10:34 AM on January 18, 2007

Bebop da boobsalot
Yes I like boobsalot, boobsalot, boobsalot
Ya gotta like boobsalot

They're big and round, they're all around
They're big and round, they're all around

Do you like boobsalot
Yes I like boobsalot
Boobsalot, boobsalotYa gotta like boobsalot
Do ya like boobsalot
Ya gotta like boobsalot, boobsalot, boobsalot
Ya gotta like boobsalot
Down in the locker room just we boys
Beating down the locker room with all that noise
Singin' do you like boobsalot
Yes I like boobsalot
Boobsalot, boobsalot

Ya gotta like boobsalot

The Fugs

I googled up a couple of MP3 downloads for this song but Google said it might harm my computer.
posted by Huplescat at 11:11 AM on January 18, 2007

This might be the appropriate place to link to an article on pseudomamma* (w/pics! on a foot!).

*supernumerary breast tissue
posted by bobobox at 2:04 PM on January 18, 2007

*Googles 'robin morgan'*

yeesh, another dingbat.

I Googled her too and found her website sane and interesting. Yes, on other sites I found that she is heavy on the patriarchy subject but, she is a feminist writer, so that seems par for the course.

I'm glad you asked about the bra burning thing jonmc. I'd always wondered about that myself. And thanks for the comment on the topic, crackingdes.

Although it has been dismissed, it makes sense that wearing a bra for extended periods of time has a link in the increase of breast cancer over the last century in the West, particularly the bras with underwiring.

Breast ironing in Africa.

Swazi politicians are defending the right of women in traditional dress to expose their breasts.

Australian study claims breast cancer may also be sexually transmitted.

History of Breast Augmentation.
posted by nickyskye at 3:59 PM on January 18, 2007

As Sarah McLachlan would say, weep not for the mammaries.
posted by pmbuko at 7:25 PM on January 18, 2007

bustluscious (adj.) - having or characterized by shapely mammalia, usually
of substantial size; stacked (by e. e. cummings)
posted by hortense at 10:05 PM on January 18, 2007

This is pretty awesome.

Fun fact: Pamela Anderson and I have the same size boobs. Except mine aren't implants.
posted by grapefruitmoon at 10:38 PM on January 18, 2007 [2 favorites]

Hence the username?
posted by koeselitz at 11:06 PM on January 18, 2007

Fun fact: without breasts, the world would implode on itself, because the laws of physics, which were invented by God so that breasts would have something to do besides just sitting there, would cease to function.
posted by koeselitz at 11:10 PM on January 18, 2007

The history of breast physics in video games

About that....
posted by sparkletone at 11:17 PM on January 18, 2007