Cleavage (breasts)
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Cleavage is the cleft created by the partial exposure of a woman's breasts, especially when exposed by low-cut clothing. The neckline of a garment that exposes cleavage is known as décolletage (or décolleté in current French). Intermammary sulcus or intermammary cleft are the terms adopted by the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists for the area of cleavage between the breasts not including the breasts.
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[edit] Theories of cleavage
Evolutionary psychologists theorize that humans' permanently enlarged breasts, in contrast to other primates' breasts, which only enlarge during ovulation, allowed females to "solicit male attention and investment even when they are not really fertile."[1] Popular British zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris theorizes that cleavage is a sexual signal that imitates the image of the cleft between the buttocks[citation needed], which according to The Naked Ape is also unique to humans, other apes as a rule having much flatter buttocks.
[edit] Controversies
In the United States there is controversy over how much cleavage exposure is acceptable in public. In two separate incidents in 2007 Southwest Airlines crews had asked travelers to modify their outfits, to wear sweaters, or to deplane.[2]
[edit] Related slang
Exposure of the underside of the breast, such as below an extremely short crop top, is known as neathage, Australian cleavage, reverse cleavage or underboob. When the lateral aspects of the breasts are uncovered, it is known as side cleavage or sideboob.
[edit] Annual celebration
On the first Friday of every April in South Africa, brassiere marketer Wonderbra sponsors a "National Cleavage Day". It is a day for women to celebrate not only their cleavage, but their independence.[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Charles B. Crawford & Dennis Krebs (eds.), "How Mate Choice Shaped Human Nature", Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology: Ideas, Issues, and Applications, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (1998).
- ^ "Woman Told She Was Too Hot To Fly" NBC News, http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=102968
- ^ National Cleavage Day - Wonderbra
[edit] External links
- "Sargent's Portraits", an article including a mention of the scandal caused by the portrayal of cleavage in John Singer Sargent's "Portrait of Madame X".
- "Cleavage Is Back by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, The Baltimore Sun", viewed 9 June 2007.
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