Credentials: Breast Slang and the Discourse of Femininity

Diane Naugler teaches in the Sociology breasts: the girls, the twins, or, if you're my Department at Kwantlen Polytechnic University grandmother...the kittens. in Surrey, British Columbia. ***** hooters, jugs, tits, tatas, bazoomas, bosom, dirty pillows, Abstract breastessess, boobies, boobs, knockers, titties, melons, This article situates a thematic discourse kasabas, hoojies, knobs, honkers, bonkers, caldoons, analysis of accumulated breast slang within the mammies. yup. don't ask me why i know all those representational production of ideal female terms...haha breasts in the service of normative femininity. ***** These ideals also participate in a number of hahahahahah kittens. interrelated discourses including race and ***** gender relations. or better yet... sweater puppies!! just to add to you [sic] Résumé little lexicon you have going here…1 Cet article situe une analyse thématique de discours d’argot accumulé pour décrire les Breast slang, the various colloquial seins contenu dans une production namings of female breasts, is a common and représentationnelle des seins de femmes idéals popular representational practice. As the dans le service de la féminité normative. Ces Internet chat room conversation excerpted idéals participent aussi à un nombre de above exhibits, many people enjoy naming discours corrélatifs qui incluent la race et les breasts, and even those who don't are familiar relations entre les sexes. with a vast lexicon of synonyms for breasts, even though this practice most often goes unquestioned; as one online participant writes, "don't ask me why i know all those terms...." However, this is an important question. In researching my doctoral dissertation on breast reduction surgery, I began to notice a surprisingly large array of slang terms for breasts. Out of curiosity, I began recording these terms, and eventually compiled a list of over 700.2 I have concluded that breast slang is symptomatic of the characteristics of the gendered social order, as it reciprocally constructs properly feminine and masculine subjects. Why breasts? There is, of course, as American playwright Eve Ensler asserts, another female bodily feature available for cultural commodification (1998). However, it is not the vagina but the breasts that have come to operate as the central symbol of femaleness (Naugler 2004; Spadola 1998). As several feminist scholars have reported, in the contemporary W estern cultural imaginary, breasts are central markers of femaleness

100 Atlantis 34.1, 2009 PR www.msvu.ca/atlantis (Ayalah and Weinstock 1979; Latteier 1998; sexuality and appearance than on the maternal Spadola 1998; Spiegal and Sebesta 2002; body" (Sawicki 1999). The vagina is not easily Young 1990). Given this culturally inscribed seen, and therefore it is the more visible centrality of breasts to femaleness, breast talk, breasts which have become the sign of and breast slang in particular, can tell us quite recognizable femaleness. a bit about ourselves and our society. A This cultural focus on breasts as the compelling example of the commonsensical defining physical feature of womanhood is positioning of "breasts" as the essence of shaped by social norms of masculinity and femaleness comes from the popular American femininity as well as other social norms such as sit-com Friends (now in syndication).3 In an class, sexuality and heteronormativity, the episode entitled, "The One with the Boobies," public/private dichotomy, and the racialization of Chandler accidentally sees Rachel's "boobies" beauty (Hesse-Biber 2007). As expectations when he walks in on her taking a shower. Since that guide our social belonging, social norms the incident continues to feel awkward it is are partly communicated and enforced through decided that to even things up, Rachel must how embodiment is languaged (Cameron see Chandler's "pee-pee." 1992). Normative standards of gendered Ross: Alright, alright. We're all adults here, there's only embodiments are important determinants of one way to resolve this. Since you saw her boobies, I self-image. While our bodies are read think, uh, you're gonna have to show her your pee-pee. differently in different contexts and their Chandler: Y'know, I don't see that happening? meanings are not entirely constructed by Rachel: C'mon, he's right. Tit for tat. normative standards, the inter-relations of self Chandler: Well, I'm not showing you my tat. and society are neither arbitrary nor random. It (Partridge 1997) is hard not to measure one's appearance in terms of its approximation to an ideal feminine The humour here only works if it is or masculine body, even if one does not understood by the audience that, in the consciously accept such standards (Rubin et al. arithmetic of gender, breast is to female as 2004; W aggoner and Hallstein 2001; W olf penis is to male. We must accept, as Ross 1990). In particular, women's sense of self as says, that there is "only one way" to understand woman is partly conceived of in relation to/with the gendered bodily correlations represented her breasts (Young 1990) and an inevitable here. In so far as these body/gender equations evaluation of her breasts' proximity to normative are accepted as true and habitually performed, breasted representations. This self-evaluation they come to stand for essential femaleness of one's breasts is exemplified in the following and manhood. quote from Pamela Brandt, who reconsiders The centrality of breasts to the her pubescent body in comparison to the form contemporary discourse of femininity can be of a ubiquitous childhood toy: explained by considering how central physical appearance is to the social construction of I cupped my hands over my breasts and felt tears prick at normative gendered meanings. As Susan my eyes. I hated my breasts. Unlike Barbie's, the left one Bordo significantly notes, "the rules for was larger than the right. Not only was I asymmetrical, but femininity have come to be culturally my nipples were different colors, the left one dark rose transmitted more and more through the while the right one was a lighter shade, almost cotton deployment of standardized visual images" candy pink. (Brandt 1999) (Bordo 1989, 17). In contemporary cultural imagery breasts are depicted everywhere and Accounts of these kinds of everyday are largely an aesthetic sign. That is, female negotiations are readily available. From toys to breasts are not celebrated or scrutinized for Hollywood movies and television programs and what they do, but for how they are supposed to our various interactions with family and friends, look. As Jana Sawicki observes, "normative attitudes about our bodies are developed in femininity... has come to center more on relation to the breasted feminine, and the

www.msvu.ca/atlantis PR Atlantis 34.1, 2009 101 broader bodily discourses in and through which show or movie.4 As such, this breast slang list we live (Fredrickson et al. 1998; Gapinski is a snapshot of some of the "naturally 2003). The persuasive influence of these occurring" (Cameron 2001, 145) discussions of discursive relations is clearly exemplified and female breasts and breastedness in circulation reinforced by breast slang. in popular culture during the period of It is partly through these normative collection. My methodology is informed by representations of female breasts that Deborah Cameron's approach to "penis slang" prescriptive ideals of femininity and femaleness (1992). In her article, "Naming of Parts: Gender, are constituted. In this way, linguistic and visual Culture, and Terms for the Penis Among representations combine to constitute an American College Students," Cameron ongoing and unrelenting surveillance of the explored college students' understandings of "breastedness" (Young 1990) of femininity. gender through a thematic evaluation of their Breasts are discursively figured as central to interest and pleasure in the production of "penis femininity. They function, as one example of slang." breast slang indicates, as "credentials" In order to develop a sense of the (Appendix 1). However, simply having dynamics of the prescriptive content of breast perceivable breasts is not enough to satisfy the slang I have organized the collected breast standards of normative femininity. slang terms into themes, or semantic Contemporary breast slang reveals the categories (Cameron 1992). This organization important considerations of size, symmetry, was accomplished both deductively, by proportionality, shape and colouration that also attending to the original context of each slang attend the socially constructed features of term (its purpose in speech or writing), and feminine breastedness. inductively as commonalities emerged across An examination of contemporary breast the collection (Dreidger et al., 2004). In some slang offers the opportunity to account for and cases the same term connoted two themes evaluate the persuasive force of breasted (e.g., mosquito bites, connotes both animal and feminine ideals. The first section of this essay size). In these instances the term was recorded outlines my methodological approach to this within both themes. The analytic utility of this analysis. In the second section I employ a approach is that, as an undifferentiated thematic analysis of accumulated breast slang collection, the list is overwhelming and difficult to discuss the representational production of to read across in much the same way that it is the ideal female breasts and the demands difficult to read the terrain of the everyday for these breasts necessarily impose on women's prescriptions of breasted femininity. bodies. I then discuss how these ideals Through categorizing these slang terms participate in the interrelated discourse of race by theme, dominant emphases and analogies as it pertains to the aesthetic norms of within the list overall become more readily femininity. I conclude with a discussion of the apparent. Twenty-one categories of over nine antagonistic relations between women and men terms each emerged through this process. that are prescribed and authorized through this These categories, in order of volume, are: size discursive landscape. (110), food (100), things/objects (71), engineered/constructed (44), lactative (35), Methodology animal/istic (33), weaponry (32), other body As previously noted, as part of the parts (31), his (28), twins (25), common process of thinking through the discursive variations (24), actions/actors (21), production of normative femininity, over a four musical/dances (22), hers (21), places (14), year period from 2002 to 2006 I compiled a list nature/natural (14), explicitly racialized (13), of over 700 slang terms and phrases for female buoyant (11), movement (10), and sport/balls breasts (Appendix 1). Each item on this list was (10). Of the 732 terms, 74 did not fit within any used or heard in everyday conversation by of these theories and were therefore not myself and various informants, published in grouped. Through an analysis of the general list print, or on the web, or uttered in a television and its emergent themes, this paper explores

102 Atlantis 34.1, 2009 PR www.msvu.ca/atlantis the discursive construction of ideal breasts, the love is not the breast per se but the fantasy mutually reinforcing normativities of race and breast, the aesthetic breast of no practical femininity, and the implications of breast slang value" (Angier 1999, 128). for relations between women and men.5 I use the term "pair" here quite deliberately. The insistence on paired breasts The Construction of Ideal Breasts is, perhaps, the most taken for granted aspect Self-conscious, you ask? It's true. In a society that reveres of the complex breasted standards of normative the bouncy boob as the all-powerful insignia of femininity, femininity. There is, as evidenced in the there are women trying to cover it up. representational practices of breast slang, an (Saunders 2006, 13) overwhelming insistence on the duality of feminine breastedness. This prescription is In Westernized cultures no other evident in two complementary gestures across aspect of female embodiment is as scrutinized the representational landscape of breast slang. and as emblematic of femininity as breasts First, breasts as "twins" is a clear theme within (Spadola 1998) and very specific norms of the list. Twenty-five terms explicitly cultivate and breastedness function as an inescapable reinforce the necessity of a woman's body element of what it means to be female. Not only presenting two breasts (chee chees, Mary Kate does "society...revere the bouncy boob," but for & Ashleys, twins, yin & yang, etc.) (Appendix 1). these breasts to match their owner, said owner Second, when considered in the context of the must approximate powerful companion physical list overall, the foundational construction of and behavioural signifiers of ideal femininity. paired breastedness is evident. There are 662 That is, the ideal breasts simply cannot stand, terms evidencing breasts as plural, double or or sit, on just any body. They can only exist on twinned. This emphasis clearly indicates that in a body rigorously disciplined and managed in order to be perceived as properly feminine one concert with the standards of normative must possess (and display) two breasts. This femininity (Bordo 1995). insistence is foundational to the companion In perusing these expressions of breast prescriptions of size, symmetry, and overall slang it is illuminating to consider their proportionality with which norms of feminine prescriptive imperative. Exemplary of the embodiment are more conspicuously operation of power central to normalizing concerned (Hesse-Biber 2007). discourses, the list is overwhelmingly negative. The material significance of this Terms such as beavertails, cantilever bust, prescription is perhaps most apparent in the hemispheres, mammoth mammary, two raisins experiences of, and social supports for, women on a bread board and others (Appendix 1) who have undergone a mastectomy. concern themselves with the abnormal, the Testimonial literature by breast cancer survivors excessive, the lacking, the unattractive and and medical practitioners offers evidence of the unruly (Foucault 1991). By contrast, only emotional prominence of the feminine norm of twenty-one terms, or just under 3%, are directly breasted duality in their experiences (Hewitt associable with a positive valuation (happies, 2004). Western medical practitioners widely love muffins, way to bliss, etc.). In drawing our recognize the significance of psycho-social attention to the supposedly negative or distress at the prospect of bodily disruption in undesirable qualities of female breasts, the post mastectomy health outcomes (Wong discourse of breasted femininity instructs us on 1995). In Canada, breast reconstruction and/or the narrow parameters of normal or appropriate augmentation for female mastectomy patients feminine display. Terms such as love, is a covered medical benefit in all provincial and happiness and bliss may connote positive territorial jurisdictions (Thunder Bay Breast attributes of breastedness but, upon closer Health Coalition 2006). In the United States inspection across breast slang terminology, "federal legislation requires insurance carriers denote a very specific pair of female breasts. who cover the cost of a mastectomy to also As cultural commentator Natalie Angier writes provide coverage for post-mastectomy breast of North America's breast obsession, "What we reconstruction surgery" (Einstein Medical 2006).

www.msvu.ca/atlantis PR Atlantis 34.1, 2009 103 These institutionalized considerations indicate context of a society that routinely views that women's sense of themselves as women is differently abled women as asexual (Doucette common-sensically understood as "breasted." 1990). And, particularly for white women, the Therefore, prostheses and surgeries that stereotype of "the bimbo"' specifically equates restore women's embodied proximity to this big breasts with limited intelligence. two-breasted norm are understood as "medically necessary." Intertwining Discourses: It is no surprise that the most populated Race and Femininity theme amongst the collected slang terms is The problem of the narrow standard of "size," given that proportionality is also a central breasted femininity is a problem of the politics concern of feminine embodiment. One hundred of representation, a problem of whose breasts and ten terms relate to the size of women's get normalized and why. It is important to breasts (abbondanzas, bazoom(s), question the ideals of social reality that are hemispheres, plumpies, Winnebagos, etc.) supported by the language of breastedness. (Appendix 1). This concern with size quite The coherence of characteristics attributed to clearly indicates the discursive dynamics of and valued through the ideal or fantasy breast normalization as proposed by Foucault (1991). is a blatant contrast to the diversity of women's That is, we understand the normal through breasted embodiments. As noted by Angier, attention to the abnormal. Specifically, these slang terms evaluate women's breasts as either On real women, I've seen breasts as varied as faces: "too big" or "too small." A woman whose breasts shaped like tubes, breasts shaped like tears, breasts are labeled "hemispheres," or a woman breasts that flop down, breasts that point up, breasts that whose breasts are termed "niblets" are both are dominated by thick, dark nipples and areolae, breasts being compared to a breasted standard that with nipples so small and pale they look airbrushed. they do not meet. (Angier 1999, 128) The breasted standard embodied by this specifically sized and symmetrical pair are, The problem with the breasted ideal is in keeping with the broader aesthetics of not simply its physiological (and gravitational) femininity (Bordo 1999 and 1989), an rarity but its insistence on the discursive impossible ideal. The contradictory situation of woman as other and the hierarchal prescriptions for ideal feminine breast are as valuation of these others across differences of follows: voluptuous but perky, soft but firm, race, class, age and abilities. That is, through 6 round, and symmetrical. Simultaneously, this the discourse of breasted femininity women and ideal is necessarily the product of discourses of their bodies are produced as both spectacle race, class and age as they coalesce around ("Show us your tits!")7 and object of an and through female breasts (Bartky 1990). evaluative gaze that categorizes with Normative breasts are only ideal when they institutional authority, as indicated by the rising exist on ideal female bodies and, as a corollary, popularity of cosmetic surgical interventions on women who don't have ideal breasts can never female breasts. have ideally feminine bodies (Hesse-Biber Gender is not the only discourse which 2007). Women who display ideal breasts but shapes the normative representation of breasts fail to exhibit other status markers and and other meanings of female and male behaviours of normative femininity are routinely embodiments. Race is also a foundational labeled deviant and worthy of ridicule. That is, component of breasted norms. Specifically, the she can have "a nice rack" (set, pair, etc.) and whiteness of Western cultural standards of still be deemed insufficiently feminine. On breasted femininity functions in concert with elderly women such breasts are systematically broader cultural discourses of race. Though it lampooned. On women of colour they are often often remains unsaid, there is no doubt that the read as evidence of sexual availability. On ideal breasts are white breasts. Only fourteen women with physical disabilities they may be, terms on my list (alabaster mounds, big brown quite offensively, read as "a waste" in the eyes, casabas, Cheta & Carmelina,

104 Atlantis 34.1, 2009 PR www.msvu.ca/atlantis chichibangas, chimichangas, chiquitas, them as closer to nature than to culture (Ortner Hottentots, Irish evidence, maracas, 1974). Montezumas, Tahitis, Tetons, and tooraloorals) explicitly reference breast colouration or Women, Men and Breasts: ethnicity. Whiteness, or the socially constructed The Battle of the Sexes privilege in Westernized societies of living a In various presentations of this non-racialized life (Frankenberg 1993), does research, audiences commented upon the indeed function as an unremarked structuring militaristic overtones of many of the entries. expectation throughout breast slang. In much While many people are aware of the penchant the same way that perfectly sized breasts are of World War Two fighter crews for decorating constructed through discursive attention to their planes and munitions with the likenesses "over-" and "under-sized" breasts, normalized of popular pin up girls (Speiegel and Sebesta racial privileges underlie specific attentions to 2002) this practice seems an insufficient colouration. However, a cursory scan of the explanation for the militaristic theme in breast landscape of popular culture will confirm this slang. Indeed, thirty-one entries (Antiaircraft relatively unspoken insistence. Even the guns, double barrel, torpedoes, 44s, etc.) mainstreaming of hip hop culture does not (Appendix 1) equate women's breasts to reliably provide diverse representations of ideal weapons. One may wonder where such femininity as is evidenced by the skin associations come from. It is not as if breasts "lightening" controversy over the image of are about to leap or, more precisely, launch American recording artist Beyonce which themselves off women's torsos anytime soon. appeared on the cover of the October 2005 In partial answer to this question, issue Vanity Fair magazine.8 Michael Kimmel argues that, in a The continuance of racial/racist ideals hyper-masculine sexual imaginary, men and norms of feminine embodiment are also perceive women's beauty as "an act of evidenced by the preponderance of animal aggression." He writes that women's beauty imagery evident in the breast slang list. "invades men's thoughts, elicits unwelcome Thirty-three terms go so far as to explicitly feelings of desire and longing, makes men feel analogize breasts as animals/of animals (bee helpless, powerless, vulnerable" (Kimmel 2004, stings, kittens, puppies, whales, etc.) (Appendix 281). Drawing on the work of Beneke (1982) 1). These terms reproduce women as pets, Kimmel argues that these feelings of masculine kittens and puppies, in need of domestication. vulnerability in the face of female breastedness Such images serve to position women's breasts are apparent in the language used to describe and, by extension, women as uncivilized. As women's sexuality. "A woman is a 'bombshell,' such, animalistic breast slang trades on tired a 'knock out'… [or] 'dressed to kill'" (Kimmel W estern discursive legacies which historically 2004). When such metaphors are directed positioned women and non-Caucasians as less toward breasts specifically, said breasts are human than, and in need of supervision by, "guns," "cannons" or "field artillery." In this way, white men. These associations within breast women's breasts are targets of the male gaze slang are examples of how, as Iris Marion but this gaze is uncertain and, seemingly, Young notes, "...racism, sexism, homophobia, intimidated. In a mainstream culture which ageism and ableism, have not disappeared. remembers second wave feminism as engaged Instead, they 'have gone underground, dwelling in the battle of the sexes, it comes as no in everyday habits and cultural meanings of surprise that women's breasts are conceived as which people are for the most part unaware'" weaponry. The sad implication of this theme for (Longhurst 2001, 121). In these ways, the male-female social relations is the adversarial hegemonic form of feminine breastedness can mistrust this language simultaneously be seen as an example of the broader instantiates and reinforces. discourses of race and femininity which have historically "othered" women by representing

www.msvu.ca/atlantis PR Atlantis 34.1, 2009 105 Conclusions beautiful pair of brown eyes, beauts, The ubiquity of slang for female breasts beaver-tails, bebops, bee bite(s), bee stings, reinforces Foucault's understanding of beer glass(es), begonias, bells, belugas, Berks, normalization as an "effective exercise of Berkeleys, berries, Berthas, Betty Boops, big power" in that, as suggested by sociologist boppers, big brown eyes, bibble chunks, big Mary Louise Adams, "[a]s a form of social McDuffs, big ones, bikini stuffers, billibongs, regulation, normalization defines and limits the binoculars, biscuits, blamps, blinkers, blouse choices that are available to us...The point is bunnies, blubber/blubbers, blubber bags, not that we simply try to meet social norms, it's bobbers, bodacious tatas, bolt-ons, bombers, that we want to" (emphasis in original, Adams bombs, bombshells, bon bons, bongos, 1997, 13). The norm of female breastedness bonkers, boob, boobage/boobages, boohahs, presents women with an impossible standard, boobers, boobies, boobs, boobus, but it is a standard that is routinely experienced boondogglers, booper, boops, bops, Bordens, as desirable. bosom/bosoms, bouncy castles, boulders, Undoubtedly, female breasts are a bouncers, bowling balls, (the) boys, boy toys, powerful symbol. But it is important to bra buddies, bra stuffers, brace and bits, understand that, discursively, this power is a Bradford cities, Brad Pitts/bradleys, breastices, power of limitation. Feminine power is breasticles, breastworks, briskets, Bristol bits, constructed only as the power to attract, rather Bristol City, Bristols/bristols, B.S.H.'s (British than the power to act. The persuasive action of Standard Handfuls), bronskis, bubbas, bubbies, the heteronormative imperative is in the bubbles (feminine celluloid bubbles), bubby, surveillance, as exemplified in breast slang, bubs, buckets, buds, buffers, bulbs, bulges, through which femininity is constituted (W olf bullets, bumpers, bumps, buns, buoys, bushel 1990; Young 1990). bubby, bust, busters, busties, butterbags, To return to the questions of why and butterballs, button/buttons, cabman's rests, how it is that we all know a startling number of caboodles, cachongas, cahongas, cakes, these terms, it is because they are examples of caldoons, cams, cannonball(s), cannons, cans, the surveillance created by and operated cantaloupes/cantaloupes, cantilever bust, through the discourse of breasted femininity. cartons, carumbas, casbas/casabas, cat and Breast slang instructs all members of society in kitties, catheads, cazongas, cazoombies, cha the narrow norms of femininity. Achieving the chas, chabbies/chabs, chabobs, challoopahs, constructed pleasures of normative femininity chalubbies, champagne glass(es), chapel hat never silences and, in fact, only adds to the pegs, charlies, Charlie Wheelers, charms, adage that the measure of a woman is in the chebs, chee-chees, cherry/cherries, cherry measurements of her figure. Ideal breasts do blossoms, chest, chest flesh, chestnuts, Cheta not reproduce ideal women, but rather & Carmelina, chichibangas, chihuahuas, construct ideals of breastedness for all women. chickadee eggs, chimichangas, chiquitas, choozies, chubbas, chubbies, chugs, clackers, Appendix 1 cleavage, cleave, cliff, coconuts, columns, abbondanzas, abundance, accoutrements, cones, congas, co-ops, corkers, cow-tits, airbags, airports, alabaster mounds, angel creamers, cream jugs, cream pies, credentials, cakes, ant bites, antiaircraft guns, Cupid's kettledrums, cupcakes, cups, curves, apple-dumpling shop, apples, areola borealis, cushions, dairy arrangements, dairy/dairies, artillery, assets, avocados, B-52s, babaloos, Dairy Queen, dangleberries, décolletage, babies, babs, baby bumpers, baby's public diddies/diddys, dinner at Mom's, dingers, house, balboas, bags, balangas, balcony, balls, dinghies, dingleberries, dinner/dinners, dinner balloons, bambas, bananas, bangers, bangles, buckets, dirigibles, dirty pillows, ditties, dollies, baps, basketballs, bassoons, baubles, Dolly Partons, domes, doodads, doorknobs, bazongas, bazonkas, bazookas, bazookers, doozers, doozies, double barrel, Double Lotus bazoom/bazooms, bazoomas, bazoombas, Peak, double whammies, doughnuts, droopers, bazoongies, beacons, beamers, beanbags, droppers, dubbies, duds, dueling banjos, dugs,

106 Atlantis 34.1, 2009 PR www.msvu.ca/atlantis dumplings, dunes, dynamic duo, earmuffs, mammory glands, mammoth mammary, mams, éclairs, eggplants, elders, enchiladas, Manchester Cities/manchesters, equipment, Eve's peaks, eye-pokers, eyes, mangoes/mangos, maracas, marangos, fainting fits, falsies, fast food outlets, fawns, maraschinos, marbles, marimbas, feeding bottles, field artillery, filthy pillows marshmallows, marshmallow mountains, Mary flapjacks, flappers, flesh bulbs, flesh melons, Ellens, Mary Kate & Ashleys, Mary Poppins, fleshy bagpipes, flight deck, flip-flops, flatsie(s), mausers, meatballs, meat loaves, meat market, floaters, floats, floppers, floppies, fondles, melon/melons, mezzainines, Mildreds, food-catchers, fog lifts, forebuttocks, fried eggs, Miss/Mrs. Van-Neck, milk bar, milk bottles, milk front, front porch, fruppencies, fuck udders, cans, milk factories, milk fountains, milk jugs, (happy) fun bags, fun cushions, funnies, fun milk shakes, milk shop, milk walk, milk wagons, sacks, ga gas, gangsters, garbonzas, garbos, milkers, Milky W ay, Minneapolis/Saint Paul, gazingas, gazombas, gazongas, gazonkas, missiles, mods & rockers, molehills, mommas, ganzungas, gel-packs (implants), giganzos, mondos, Montezumas, monuments, moo moos, (the) girls, gland canyons, glands, globes, mosquito bites, mother lode, mothers, mounds, globes of joy, globlets, globs, gobdobblers, mountain peaks, mountains, muchachas, goblets, Gobstoppers, golden bozos, golden muchachos, muffins, mulligans, mushmellons, orbs, golf balls, golf balls, golf balls in socks, nancies, nards, nature's founts, nay nays, gondolas, gongas, goodies, goombas, nectarines, (les) nenes, niblets, nibs, nice ones, Grammies, grandstand, grapefruit/ grapefruits, nice pair of eyes, nice pecs, ninja turtles, grapes, grillwork, guavas, gumdrops, guns, ha ninnies, ninny jugs, nippers, nippies, nipple has, (a) handful, handles, hands, handsets, holders, nippleoons, nippleos, nipples, nippons, hand-warmers, hangers, happies, happy bags, nips, nippular area, nodes, nodules, noogies, happy mints, Harry and Junes, headers, norgs, norgies, norks, norkers, nose cones, headlamps, headlights, headphones, nose warmers, nubbies, nubbins, nubs, headrests, headsets, hefties, heifers, nuggies, nugs, num-nums, nungas, nungers, hemispheres, hills, Hindenburgs, hogans, nurples, oboes, oompahs, orbs, ottomans, honeydews, honkers, Hoo-has, hotcakes, overripe mangos, pair, pancakes, panters, Hottentots, howitzers, hubcaps, huffies, huge paperwights, paps, pasties, peaches, peaks, tracts of land, humdingers, hummers, hush pears, pecs, pfds (personal floatation devices), puppies, ICBMs (inter-continental ballistic pillows, pimples, ping pong balls, playground, missiles), ice cream scoops, infected mosquito pleasure pillows, plumpies, pomegranates, bites, Irish evidence, ironing board, jalopies, poonts, porcelain teacups, porch, prize faggots, Jane Russells, jars, jawbreakers, Jell-O molds, promontories, prunes, PT boats, pumpkins, Jerseys, Jersey Cities, jibs, jigglers, jiggly bits, pumps, puppies, puppies with pink noses/pink jobbers, johnsons, Johnny Yellows, joy boys, nosed puppies, pylons, rack, rack(s), racks of joy toys, jubblies, jugs, jukes, jumbos, jujubes, meat, rack & pinion, raisins, rascals, kahoonas/kahunas, kajoobies, kalamazoos, raspberries, rib balloons, rib cushions, rib rack, kanakas, kasongas, kazoos, kettledrums, (the) rivets, (les) Roberts, rockets, (les) roploplos, kittens, kittens' noses, knickknacks, knobs, rosebuds, roundies, rude parts, ruskin potatoes, knobbers, knobbies, knockers, kongas, sacks, sandbags, satellites, saucers, kumquats, lactallickas, lactoids, (the) ladies, schooners, scones, scoops, second pair of (the) larder shelf, lemons, Lewis & Witties, life eyes, set, shakers, shebas, shelf, shermans, preservers, light and bitter, lils, lollies, lip shimmies, shirt puppies, shit-bags, shock fodder, llamas, loaves, loblollies, lollipops, absorbers, ski slopes, slugs, smiddys, lollos, lotties, love bubbles, love fruit, love smoothies, snack trays, snuggles pups, soccer melons, love muffins, love pillows, lulus, lumps, balls, softballs, spaniels's ears, spark plugs, lunch counter, lunch pail, lunch wagon, lungs, specials, spheres, sponge cakes, spuds, squirt lung shot, lung warts, Madeline & Vera, guns, stack(ed), stacks, structural engineering, mamajamas, maracas, macaroons, mamae, stuffing, sugarplums, sweater kittens, sweater maboos, mammies, mammaries/mammories, meat, sweater mittens, sweater puffs, sweater

www.msvu.ca/atlantis PR Atlantis 34.1, 2009 107 puppies, sweet rolls, swingers, tat as, tabs, 4. My list is not exhaustive and there are longer Tahitis, tale of two cities, tamales, tater tots, published lists of breast slang. See "Joe Bob's tats, tattlers, teacups, teardrop(s), teat(s), Canonical 'Hooter' List" at testicles, tetons, thangs, thingamajigs, www.joebobbriggs.com/list/hooter.txt. thirty-eights, thousand pities, threateners, thr' 5. It is not the goal of this paper to offer a penny bits/three penny bits, thrups, tibbits, systematic analysis of these categories, rather tidbits, tit bits, tit/tits, titskis, titters, tittie/titties, they are presented as an illustration of the tool tomatahs, tomatoes, tom-toms, Tommy set through which the contentions of the paper knockers, torraloorals, tooters, top have been built. In future work in this area I ballocks/bollocks, top buttocks, top set, top hope to explore further the themes that ‘uns, topside, torpedoes, tortillas, Totos, town emerged across this list and their role in and cities, tremblers, trey-bits, trumpets, constructions of normative femininity. twangers, tweakers, tweedle-dee and 6. This conception was developed in tweedle-dum, tweeters, twin beds, twin discussions with approximately 800 students in mounds, twin peaks, (the) twins, t.b. (two various undergraduate Women's Studies and beauts), T.N.T. (two nifty tits), two puppies in a Sociology classes at York University, the sack, two puppies fighting in a bag, two raisins University of Alberta, the University of on a bread board, twofers, tympanis, U-boats, Lethbridge, and Acadia University from 2001 to udder(s), umlauts, upper deck, upper frontal 2006. superstructure, veiled twins, voos, 7. The cultural legibility of this exhortation wacky-wackys, wah wahs, Waldos, remains a potent repudiation of women's wangdoodles, wallopies, walnuts, waps, wap decision-making and intelligence. It is a waps, water balloons, watermelons, water statement of patriarchal authority which wings, way to bliss, well endowed, welts, acknowledges women's bodies but not our whales, whamdanglers, whoppers, minds. wind-jammers, wine glass(es), witless 8. This absent/present structuring of whiteness daughter, willets, Winnebagos, wollopies, into feminine normativity is fundamental. For woofers, yabos/yabbos, yams, ya yas, yin & example, an Internet search under "breasts" will yang, you know whats, Zeppelin race, Zepplins, reveal a wide array of subjects from the medical 44s… to the pornographic. But, if one wants to see/read about non-white breasts one must Acknowledgement qualify such a search with identifiers such as I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers 'black' or 'Asian'. In which case, not of Atlantis whose comments greatly improved coincidentally, the ratio of pornographic to other and helped focus this piece. Thanks also to materials increases dramatically! Kate Campbell for her encouragement and keen editorial eye. References Adams, M. The Trouble with Normal: Postwar Endnotes Youth and the Making of Heterosexuality. 1. Excerpts from a chat thread at Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997. http://saycellardoor.livejournal.com/74349.html. 2. For a fully referenced version of this list, see: Angier, N. Woman: An Intimate Geography. Naugler, "To Take a Load Off: A Contextual Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999. Analysis of Gendered Meaning(s) in Experiences of Breast Reduction Surgery," Ayalah, D. and I. Weinstock. Breasts: Women York University, 2004. Speak About Their Breasts and Their Lives. 3. Throughout the mid to late 1990s this show New York: Summit Books, 1979. was among the highest rated prime-time television programs. It continues to garner large Bartky, S. "Foucault, Femininity, and the audiences in syndicated distribution. Modernization of Patriarchal Power," Femininity and Domination: Studies in the Phenomenology

108 Atlantis 34.1, 2009 PR www.msvu.ca/atlantis of Oppression. New York: Routledge, 1990, pp. Einstein Medical. "Breast Removal and 63-82. Reconstruction After Mastectomy." www.docshop.com/education/cosmetic/breast Beneke, T. Men on Rape: What They Have to /reconstruction. Accessed December 17, 2006. Say About Sexual Violence. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982. Ensler, E. The Vagina Monologues. New York: Villard Books, 1998. Bordo, S. "The Body and the Reproduction of Femininity: A Feminist Appropriation of Foucault, M. "Introduction," The Normal and the Foucault," Gender/Body/Knowledge: Feminist Pathological Zone. New York: Zone Books, Reconstructions of Being and Knowing, A. M. 1991, pp. 7-24. Jaggar and S. R. Bordo, eds. New York: Routledge, 1989. Frankenberg, R. The Social Construction of Whiteness: White Women, Race Matters. _____. Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, Culture, and the Body. Berkeley, CA: University 1993. of California Press, 1995. Fredrickson, B., T. Roberts, S. M. Noll, D. M. _____. Twilight Zones: The Hidden Life of Quinn, J. M. Twenge, "That Swimsuit Becomes Cultural Images from Plato to O.J. Berkeley, You: Sex Differences in Self-Objectification, CA: University of California Press, 1999. Restrained Eating, and Math Performance," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Brandt, P. "Barbie Buys a Bra," The Barbie 75.1 (1998): 269-84. Chronicles: A Living Doll Turns Forty, Y. Z. McDonough, ed. New York: Simon and Gapinski, K. "Body Objectification and 'Fat Schuster, 1999. Talk': Effects on Emotion, Motivation, and Cognitive Performance," Sex Roles: A Journal Briggs, J. "Joe Bob's Canonical 'Hooter' List." of Research (May 2003): 377-88. www.joebobbriggs.com/list/hooter.txt. November, 11, 2006. Hesse-Biber, S. The Cult of Thinness, 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2007. Cameron, D. "Naming of Parts: Gender, Culture, and Terms for the Penis Among Hewitt, M. Meeting Psychosocial Needs of American College Students," American Speech Women with Breast Cancer. Washington, DC: 67 (1992): 367-82. National Academies Press, 2004.

_____. Working with Spoken Discourse. Kimmel, M. The Gender of Violence, The London: Sage Publications Ltd., 2001. Gendered Society, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Doucette, J. "Redefining Difference: Disabled Lesbians Resist," Lesbians in Canada, S. Latteier, C. Breasts: The Women's Stone, ed. Toronto: Between the Lines Press, Perspectives on An American Obsession. New 1990. York: The Haworth Press, 1998.

Driedger, S., V. Crooks and D. Bennett. Longhurst, R. "Managing Managerial Bodies," "Engaging in the Disablement Process over bodies: exploring fluid boundaries. New York: Space and Time: Narratives of Persons with Routledge, 2001. Multiple Sclerosis in Ottawa, Canada," Canadian Geographer 48:2 (2004): 119-36. Naugler, D. "To Take a Load Off: A Contextual Analysis of Gendered Meaning(s) in

www.msvu.ca/atlantis PR Atlantis 34.1, 2009 109 Experiences of Breast Reduction Surgery." W olf, N. The Beauty Myth. Toronto: Random Ph.D. dissertation. York University, 2004. House, 1990.

NBC. "Did Vanity Fair Lighten Beyonce's Skin?" Wong, A. "The Inhumanity of Fairness: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9745324. October 6, Rationing Resources for Reconstructive Breast 2006. Surgery," Canadian Medical Association Journal 152 (1995): 577-79. Ortner, S. "Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?," Women, Culture, and Society, M. Young, I. "Breasted Experience: The Look and Rosaldo and L. Lamphere, eds. Stanford: the Feeling," Throwing Like a Girl and Other Stanford University Press, 1974. Essays in Feminist Philosophy and Social Theory. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Partridge, D. "Synopsis: The One With the Press, 1990. Boobies." www.friends.tv.org/zz113.html. 1997. accessed December 11, 2006.

Rubin, L. R., C. J. Nemeroff and N. F. Russo. "Exploring Feminist Women's Body Consciousness," Psychology of Women Quarterly 28 (2004): 27-37.

Saunders, S. "Off Her Chest: One Student Explains Why She Chose Breast Reduction Surgery," The Anthenaeum (23 November 2006).

Sawicki, J. "Disciplining Mothers: Feminism and the New Reproductive Technologies," Feminist Theory and the Body: A Reader, J. Price and M. Shildrick. New York: Routledge, 1999.

"saycellardoor: breasts:" http://saycellardoor.livejournal.com/74349.html. November 8, 2006.

Spadola, M. Breasts: Our Most Public Private Parts. Berkeley: Wildcat Canyon Press, 1998.

Spiegel, M. and L. Sebesta. The Breast Book: An Intimate and Curious History. New York: Workman Publishing, 2002.

Thunder Bay Breast Health Coalition. "Cost of Reconstructive Surgery." www.breasthealthnw.ca. as accessed December 7, 2006.

Waggoner, C. E. and D. L. Hallstein. "Feminist Ideologies Meet Fashionable Managing the Agency/Constraint Conundrum," Text and Performance Quarterly 21 (2001): 26-46.

110 Atlantis 34.1, 2009 PR www.msvu.ca/atlantis