Bless our breasts. “We’ve created a whole desirable side on this body piece that sticks out from the body and is easy to grip.”

“When I turned 13, my breasts started to grow. Like two small nuts spilling over a baby tank, its two collisions told the world that I was becoming a woman,” recalls the documentary’s director, Angel Mari. Bless our breasts (to watch on.suzane independent streaming platform). In the film, the journalist questions the weight of patriarchy on our chest. These breasts were once suffocated by corsets and today by bras, dishonored by showing their nipples for breastfeeding, and criticized for being too small or too big. Interview:

Madame Figaro .- Why make a documentary about breasts?
Angel Marie: I have been working for several years on beauty dictates, feminism, the dictates given to the female body and the sexist and sexual violence that comes from them. And this last year I realized that there has been a return to Puritanism, especially regarding the female body. Criticism of the crop top, censoring of nipples on Instagram or even removing mothers from public places because they are breastfeeding are proof of this.

What relationship do women have with their breasts? How is the male perspective affected?
Of all the people I’ve interviewed, most have had a complicated relationship with this part of their body that accumulates imperatives. The first is aesthetic: this breast, which should be ideal, round, bust high, without hair, without pimples, nipple of a certain size and a certain color, always desirable, erect, that is. Standing on its own as if weightless… Like balloons that float. How to translate these instructions? Controlling the aging of women’s bodies. This causes the chest to sag and we really don’t want this image. We want to freeze the youth.

How does puberty happen when breasts begin to grow?
For a long time, having breasts was, in the collective imagination, the moment when we transitioned from child to woman, and therefore sexually mature and capable of intercourse. Even today, the appearance of breasts is very divisive. It is at this time that we see an increase in sexist violence, particularly homophobic jokes, street harassment… This raises questions about our society. How do we look at the bodies of many young girls that we consider desirable in contrast? the aging bodies we stop looking at. When we look at the numbers of sexual violence outside the home, we realize that it affects 40% of young girls between the ages of 10 and 19. From the moment the breast grows, the female body is seen as an accessible body that can be mastered, which can be desirable. This hypersexualization can be traumatic for those who experience it.

What role does social media play in our relationship with breasts today? Are they in favor of displaying a variety of breasts? Does it help eliminate prompts or reinforce instructions?
I have long believed that social networks lead to a form of liberation of the body, but for several years we have seen that the dictates of beauty imposed on us for centuries are preserved on platforms. Despite the movement body positive and accounts that do a lot of good by showing different bodies and deconstructing gender stereotypes, the nets are awash with instruction. They are the mirror of society. A society where we continue to be subjected to a whole bunch of beauty instructions. They used to be passed around in magazines or in high school; Today there are millions of videos where we see noble women. Even if we try not to fall into these beauty dictates, it’s a constant battle because we all want to be loved. The divide that is created in the minds of young girls is that the body in advertisements and networks is the standard, photoshopped, self-flattening, hairless, rollerbladed. Whereas theirs would be atypical. However, the body of magazines and networks remains art, it should not become a reference.

Why are breasts so eroticized?
It’s hard to say where the hypersexualization of the female body comes from. However, there are elements of the answer. First, the chest is seen as a contrasting element to the male body. And for good reason, we live in a heteronormative society where we desire what makes us different: size, breasts, hair. I also think we have hypersexualized breasts because they come up as something to grab, and so we’ve created a whole desirable side to this piece of body that sticks out from the body that’s easy to grab.

That said, if breasts are so sexualized, it turns out they’re the ugly duckling of sexuality…
The proof that breast orgasm exists is ignored by many and there is very little explanation on the subject. In fact, very few people have sex with their breasts, except for intercourse, which is often a source of male desire. Breasts have never taken up so much space in bed. Also, we notice that removing a bra is sometimes a more difficult process than removing panties for younger women. One of those I interviewed for my documentary explained to me that she kept her bra on a lot during her first sexual encounter due to complications, once again related to instructions. Another told me that she always shivered before sex to make her breasts stand out.

How has the underwear market taken control of our breasts? And it is the same today.
It was like that before, and even more so today. This is evidenced by all the products found there: corsets, Wonderbras (bras with a push-up effect), straps… And all this with the aim of keeping the chest high. Because the preserved body brings back the idea of ​​a body that is not old. So there’s this idea of ​​controlling the aging of women’s bodies through underwear. The lingerie industry has also created these accessories that enhance breasts to make them look flattering.

In your documentary, you liken small and big breasts to the fact that we categorize women into two boxes: “mom” or “slut”…
Journalist Melody Thomas is the one who makes this parallel. This dichotomy between mother and whore lies in the fact that women must be classified according to two circles of society. but who no longer attracts; and the whore, the one we want but who will never be chosen, the one we’re ashamed of and mad at at the same time. This contrast refers to the classification of the female body; on one side is a lean, firm body with a small breast that does not fill up, maintains itself and would be the woman’s “mother” body.” . On the other hand, the body of a temptress, a “whore”. the one that overflows, is sumptuous, has forms, does not fit into nails, that we can consume and play with.

You also show that the chest still suffers from the ambivalence of motherhood and eroticism…
The breast is as adored as it is hated. In this case, the nipple played a major role in causing their problem. In our Western society and particularly in France, managing this nipple is very difficult because it is where motherhood and sexuality come together. Breastfeeding raises the issue of incest, as our society has a hard time classifying it between maternal and sexual. Hence the fact that breastfeeding in public is so controversial. For mothers, this part is not problematic. In breastfeeding, the body is not sexual, only a means of feeding your baby. However, to the male gaze, breastfeeding is seen as stripping. Things have changed in recent years as medicine advocates breastfeeding and more natural motherhood without sweeteners. But at the same time, it’s paradoxical because we’re in a society where there’s zero infrastructure, zero support for breastfeeding.