<< Breast Stimulation >>

The breasts of both the male and the female may be more sensitive than some other parts of the body. Because of the greater size of the female breast its reactions to tactile stimulation are quite generally known. Among the infra-human mammals, the breast rarely plays a part in sexual activity, but among human animals there may be a considerable amount of manual or oral stimulation of the female breast.
The relative infrequency of breast stimulation in the sexual activity of the infrahuman mammal is also noted by Ford and Beach 1951:48. See also p. 255 of the present volume.

In American patterns of sexual behavior, breast stimulation most regularly occurs among the better educated groups where nearly all of the males (99%) manually manipulate the female breast, and about 93 per cent orally stimulate the female breast during heterosexual petting or precoital play. All of this usually stimulates the male erotically, but the significance for the female has probably been overestimated. There are some females who appear to find no erotic satisfaction in having their breasts manipulated; perhaps half of them do derive some distinct satisfaction, but not more than a very small percentage ever respond intensely enough to reach orgasm as a result of such stimulation. Some females hold their own breasts during masturbation, coitus, or homosexual activities, evidently deriving some satisfaction from the pressure so applied; but there were only 11 per cent of the females in our sample who recorded any frequent use of breast stimulation as an aid to masturbation.
Records of females reaching orgasm from breast stimulation alone are rare. In addition to our own data (p. 161), we note: Moraglia 1897:7-8. Rohleder 1921:44. Eberhard 1924:246. Kind and Moreck 1930:156. Dickinson 1949: 66-67. Grafenberg 1950:146.

The stimulation of the whole female body by the male, and to a lesser degree of the male body by the female, constitute the primary activities in petting. Males, and particularly American males, may find considerable psychologic stimulation in touching and manipulating the female breast. Breast manipulation of the sort in which the upper level engages is a source of considerable arousal to the male who provides the manipulation.
For additional comment on the erotic significance of the female breast, see for instance: Anon. 1707:3, 7. Long 1922:110. Robie 1925:99. Hamilton 1929: 173-177. Van de Velde 1930:163-164. Dickinson and Beam 1931:64, 66; 1934:135. Wright 1937:88. Stone and Stone 1937:221; 1952:182. Butterfield 1940:94. Himes 1940:325. Kelly in Fishbein and Burgess 1947:94. English in Fishbein and Burgess 1947:109. Clark 1949:54. Brown and Kempton 1950:220. Fromme 1950:99. Ehrmann 1952 (among 263 college females; 45 per cent incidence).

There is reason to believe that more males in our culture are psychically aroused by contemplation of the female breast than by the sight of female genitalia. Many males are more aroused erotically by observing female breasts, or by touching them, than they are by the sight of or manual contacts with female genitalia. In the light of this fact, it is interesting to observe the lengths to which censors and law enforcement agencies go to prohibit the exhibition of genitalia, although they frequently allow the display of the nude female breast. How much of the American male’s interest in female breasts is cultural, and how much of it is biologically based, would be an interesting matter to investigate, especially in view of the frequent display of breasts among primitive peoples elsewhere in the world.

American males are said to be more interested than most European males in female breasts. 20 There is evidence of a greater interest in female buttocks in most European countries. According to the anthropologic reports, there are pre-literate tribes in various parts of the world who pay little attention to female breasts. Our own observations in tropical America, where the breasts of females of all ages may be regularly exposed, indicate that female breasts there seem to have a minimum if any erotic significance for the males. For many centuries the Chinese seem to have considered any physical development of the female breast offensive and anti-erotic. Apparently psychologic conditioning and the cultural traditions are of considerable importance in these matters.

Among the lower mammals, the stimulation of the female breast by the male is relatively rare, although not completely unknown. We have observed male dogs licking the breasts of female dogs, in some cases for prolonged periods of time. Boars regularly nuzzle the breast of the sow when they are sexually aroused, and there are similar data for still other animals. A mouth-breast contact, however, constitutes the one technique in human petting behavior which is most distinctively human.

In actuality, many females are not particularly stimulated by such breast manipulations, but some of them are aroused. There are many females who find some specific arousal in breast stimulation, but there may be even more who are not particularly aroused by breast contacts. A few may even reach orgasm as a result of such contacts. Only a few females, perhaps not more than a few percent, are ever brought to orgasm by breast stimulation unaccompanied by genital contacts.

Among the females in the sample who had not yet had pre-marital coitus, some 72 per cent had allowed males to manipulate their covered or uncovered breasts (Table 73f). Smaller percentages of the older generation and smaller percentages of the lower educational levels had been involved. Among the females who had had some limited experience in pre-marital coitus, the incidences rose to 95 per cent, while 98 per cent of those who had had more extensive coital experience had accepted such contacts.

Manual and oral manipulations of the female breast are elaborated to a considerable degree among many persons of upper social levels (Table 93). Mouth-breast contact does occur at all social levels, but it is most elaborately developed again in the upper social level (Table 93).There is at least incidental touching of the female breast in nearly all (99%) of the upper level histories, and in a considerable proportion (85%) of the lower level histories. Oral manipulations of the female breast occur in 93 per cent of the upper level histories, but in only 63 per cent of the histories of the married males who belong to the high school level, and in only 36 per cent of the histories of the married males who have never gone beyond grade school.

The upper level male considers it natural that the female breast should interest him, and that he should want to manipulate it, both by hand and by mouth. The biologic origin of this interest is, however, open to question, because many lower level males do not find the female breast similarly interesting and have little inclination to manipulate it, either by hand or by mouth. Many lower level males rate such mouth-breast contacts as perversions, and some of them dismiss the idea with considerable disgust, as something that only a baby does when nursing from the mother’s breast. Considering these opposite reactions to a single type of situation, it must be apparent that a considerable psychic element is involved in the development of individual patterns on this point. The concentration of these patterns in whole social levels indicates that the mores, the long-time customs of the groups, are the fundamental factors in the picture.

The male's manipulation of the unclothed female breast with his tongue or lips had been, in all the generations and in all of the educational levels represented in the sample, much more taboo than his manual manipulation of her breast. Many persons feel that the acceptance of any oral technique involves something that is peculiarly sexual, or that it represents an extreme break with the moral traditions of our culture. Among the females in the sample who had not had pre-marital coitus, only 30 per cent had accepted mouth-breast contacts (Table 73f). On the other hand, among the females who had had even limited amounts of pre-marital coitus, such contacts had occurred in 68 per cent of the histories, and in 87 per cent of the histories of those who had had more extensive coitus. The acceptance was greatest among the females of the younger generation, particularly in the better educated groups. For instance, the females of the graduate level in the youngest generation had accepted mouth-breast contacts in 86 per cent of the cases where they had had limited amounts of coitus, and in 97 per cent of the cases where they had had more extensive coital experience.

Almost invariably it is a matter of the male manipulating the female breast with his mouth. It is interesting and it is important to note that females rarely attempt to manipulate male breasts. This may be due to the greater prominence of the female breast and to the wider knowledge of its eroticism. Conversely it may be due to the lesser prominence of the male breast and to the general lack of knowledge of its erotic capacities. It may also be due to the fact that the female is generally less responsive than the male erotically, and for that reason as well as because of social custom less often takes the initiative in any sex play. At any rate, most males whose experiences are confined to the heterosexual have never had their breast eroticism tested, and it has, therefore, been impossible to obtain data on the percentage in the population as a whole who have particularly sensitive breasts.

Because of their smaller size the sensitivity of the male breasts has not so often been recognized except among some of the males who have had homosexual experience. This is undoubtedly not due to differences between heterosexual and homosexual males, but to the fact that relatively few females ever try to stimulate the breasts of their male partners, whereas such behavior is rather frequent in male homosexual relations.  Among males with extensive homosexual histories, however, breast manipulation is fairly frequent and it is commonly known in such groups that many males have highly sensitive breasts. Our homosexual histories suggest that there may be as many males as there are females whose breasts are distinctly sensitive. The data from such cases indicate that there may be as many males as there are females who are sensitive to breast stimulation. A few males may even reach orgasm as a result of breast stimulation.
The sensitivity of male breasts is also recorded in: Van de Velde 1930:164. Féré 1932:105. Pillay 1950:81.

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