An innovative investigation of the five strange worlds that worship women's chests.
After years of biopsies
best-selling author Sarah Thornton made the difficult decision to have a double mastectomy. But
after her reconstructive surgery
she was perplexed: What had she lost? And gained? An experienced sleuth
she resolved to venture behind the scenes to uncover the social and cultural significance of breasts.
Riotous and galvanizing
Tits Up excavates the diverse truths of mammary glands from the strip club to the operating room
from the nation's oldest human milk bank to the fit rooms of bra designers. Thornton draws insights from plastic surgeons
lactation consultants
body-positive witches
lingerie models
and "free the nipple" activists to explore the status of breasts as emblems of femininity. She examines how women's chests have become a billion-dollar business
as well as a stage for debates about race
class
gender
and desire. Everywhere she turns
Thornton encounters chauvinist myths about this elemental body part that quietly justify deficits in women's bodily autonomy and endorse shortfalls in their political status. Blending sociology
reportage
and personal narrative with refreshing optimism and wit
Thornton has one overriding ambition-to liberate breasts from centuries of patriarchal prejudice.
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