Marilyn Yalom, a senior scholar at the Institute for Women and Gender Studies at Stanford University, dispels once and for all the idea of women’s breasts as “sexual ornaments—the crown jewels of femininity” as a universal truth. Examining historical images of breasts that range from paleolithic goddesses and Minoan bare-breasted snake priestesses up to those of the women’s liberation movement of the twentieth century, she illustrates how the portrayal of the breast changes from “good” to “bad” over time, depending on religious, political, market, media, and medical...

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