Breasts: Why men love them

Those beautiful female breasts have evolved to do much more than feed the children. Women's breast have two well-defined purposes: To nurse offspring and to signal she is a woman.
All primate females, except humans, are flat-chested until the female is lactating for her new-born offspring. However, the human female breasts remain protuberant and change little in overall size because they contain approximately 4% of the body's fat. Although the primary purpose of breasts is for feeding the offspring, human female breasts do not need to be as large as they are, in general. The reason for being unnecessarily large comes from their second purpose: sexual attraction.

Large breasts are generally more sexually appealing to men and also serve as a gender identifier. Women's larger than necessary breasts can most likely be blamed on our male ancestors' preference for these parts of the female anatomy. In fact, it seems that the rounded shapes in numerous places on women's body, such as the buttocks, shoulders, and cheeks, were prized and opted for, through natural selection, by most ancient men. Women's ancestors with these male-preferred characteristics had more offspring.

It is obvious that women today recognize the value of breasts as signals of femininity. A multimillion dollar breast enhancement industry is thriving. Since 1963, silicon gel implants have been used to provide women with perfectly shaped breasts. This fact says much about how many women feel inadequate because of their small breast size or shape.

One of the reasons men may be so attracted to women's breasts is chemical. There are apocrine glands around the breast nipple, as well as under the arms and in the pubic area, that secrete erotic odors. These feminine odors cause men's brains to release an avalanche of male sex hormones that make men feel strong, pain-free, and excited.

If two breasts are good, are more better? About one in every 200 women has a third breast, and even more rarely: four. The most in medical records were 5-pairs on a French woman in 1886. These extras are seldom more than a small nipple or a fat mound, much like a young girl's breasts just developing. Extra breasts are evidence of DNA still hanging around from our animal ancestors who gave birth to litters.

Our bodies design is approximately 30,000 years old and we still have many sexual identifiers that were useful back in those times. Breasts are certainly not the only part of the human body used to convey messages about sex. The basic survival and sex needs show up in uncountable ways, especially unconscious body language, as we do our daily tasks and try to live a "civilized life". However civilized we may appear, we always have those ancient animal instincts in our DNA that keep the fires of passion alive.