Chests

I think a person's chest is connected in a special way with intimacy. Not because of a biological purpose for our chests, they are merely cavities for our heart and lungs, but because things seem to work out that way.
     When we hug, we are bringing our chests close. "I'm sorry, but when you turned thirteen, you barely hugged me anymore and then that * high five came along. I had to do whatever I could to feel your chest against mine." (Burt in 'Raising Hope' retrieved from http://www.plentyquotes.com/tvseries/Raising-Hope/Raising-Hope-5.html)


     Where does one hold a baby? Against one's chest.

And, speaking of babies, where is breast feeding done? You guessed it...

So I guess it's necessary at this point to discuss the connection of female breasts with sex. Why are breasts connected with sex? 

Remember that in historic China, women's bound feet were perceived sexually. (http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/g/j/gjs4/textbooks/PM-China/ch11.htm) This is because, in their deformed state, they looked different than men's feet. They were thus connected specifically with "woman" and thus, in the eyes of those men who primarily see women in a sexual context, these feet were sexual.

But, both men and women have feet. And feet have a specific biological purpose: to facilitate walking. Likewise with breasts. The only chest difference between men and women is that women have a larger deposit of fat in their breasts than men. (Female breasts can also produce milk, but that does not affect much in a non-lactating woman.) And since this greater shapeliness has come to be associated specifially with women, it has come to be associated with sex. As was the case for the differently shaped lotus feet in historic China.

   However, I wonder if the "sexual" intimacy connected with a woman's chest does not have a different feel to it than actually genital sexual stuff. (I really hope I'm not embarrassing any readers here.) It would seem to me to be different.  

The longest section of this post turned out to be about sex. I didn't intend it that way. 

Back to the image of the resting baby... (the biological purpose of sex btw) No place like Dad's chest.