Boobs

A tongue in cheek social history of our obsession with breasts

Lisa Portolan, Amanda Goff

• Publisher: Echo
• Year: 2025
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781760689926
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

For most of her life, unconcernedly flat-chested author and academic Dr Lisa Portolan had never really thought about her breasts, or boobs in general. But then she met Amanda Goff - aka former escort Samantha X - fellow author, journalist and owner of a huge pair of breasts. A friendship formed, then a working relationship ... and as the two women embarked on business dealings together, the monolithic power of mammary glands became glaringly apparent. All too often, men would ogle Amanda's chest in meetings, text her romantic/perverse messages, and try to get into her pants. The same men would focus their attention on Lisa's face, send her professional emails, and otherwise ignore her. Lisa was left pondering whether she should have her breasts augmented in order to become more visible, while Amanda wondered whether she should have hers reduced. But they both found themselves asking the same question: why all the fuss about boobs?

Lisa and Amanda don't pretend to have all the answers - they're not even sure how they feel about them most of the time. But that's precisely the point. Boobs is a smart, irreverent, wide-ranging and often hilarious conversation about the human and social-historical journey of breasts, richly illustrated with personal anecdotes and perspectives from coauthors at opposite ends of the bust spectrum. With its eclectic mix of chest-related topics - from our fixation with symmetry to the judgy debates about breastfeeding - Boobs celebrates our messy, often ridiculous and always complex relationship with these culturally charged appendages.

Table of contents

• Boobs
• Praise for Boobs
• Contents
• 1. A reader’s note on droopage
• 2. Let’s be serious about breasts …
• 3. Grow some fucking tits!
• 4. Memory of breasts
• 5. Lunch with James
• 6. Why do humans have boobs?
• 7. The quest for Bridgerton Boobs
• 8. So I grew some tits!
• 9. A perforated eardrum and Catriona Rowntree’s breasts
• 10. ‘Imagine! Men wandering around with trousers featuring a little chipolata …’
• 11. Madonna, Jean Paul Gaultier and conical bras
• 12. Breast politics
• 13. ‘Why are you so scared of breasts?’
• 14. Men, boobs and art
• 15. As if I was going to stop at one …
• 16. Small-breasted women are sophisticated
• 17. Only escorts have their boobs done
• 18. Pamela Anderson: Only invited to the Met Gala after she stopped wearing makeup
• 19. Big boobs, small boobs and the Madonna– Whore Complex
• 20. Saint Agatha of Sicily … and her severed breasts
• 21. The question of gender
• 22. Empowerment? Or the pornification of women’s bodies?
• 23. Huge mistake. Huge.
• 24. Dr Moradi
• 25. Seventy-two pairs of breasts
• 26. You remind me of my favourite porn star
• 27. The Wonderbra
• 28. As long as you’re not getting them done to meet someone else
• 29. A history of breast augmentations
• 30. Susan’s story
• 31. Our contemporary fixation with symmetry
• 32. Actually, no one cares
• 33. ‘She’s going to regret that!’
• 34. Droopy, real boobs
• 35. Breastfeeding, judging and sagging
• 36. Women (and men) judge you if you don’t breastfeed
• 37. The World Health Organization and breastfeeding
• 38. You know you’re breastfeeding when …
• 39. So long, Samantha X
• 40. Antigone
• 41. ‘That’s so uncomfortable, right?’
• 42. Explaining to people that you’re writing a book on boobs
• 43. The internet and breast anxiety
• 44. The leg woman
• 45. Body dysmorphic disorder
• 46. Free the nipple! Or, at least, the obsession with it
• 47. Breast decisions
• 48. A letter to our daughters
• Acknowledgements
• About the authors
• Imprint