27 Perk Up! Interesting Facts about Breasts

By Karin Lehnardt, Senior Writer

Published June 30, 2017Updated June 1, 2025

In early Judaism, the name of God connected with fertility blessings is "El Shaddai," meaning "God with breasts" or "God who suckles."_[11]
Around 1500 in Venice, legislation required prostitutes to stand on a certain bridge and to uncover their breasts. The law was created to prevent the prostitutes from dressing like men to appeal to gay prospective clientele._[11]
In witch-hunts in England and Scotland, it was thought that a woman could be proved a witch if she had a "witch's teat." A witch's teat was any unnatural mark on her body that a "familiar," or devil, supposedly used as a way to suck the woman's blood as nourishment._[11]

According to folk etymology, "amazon" is derived from the roots a- (ἀ-) and mazos (μαζός), "without breast"

According to legend, the Amazon warrior women cut off their right breasts in order to more easily draw their bows._[11]
Polythelia is the term for a person having three or more nipples. It occurs in 1 out of every 18 men and 1 out of every 50 women. The extra nipples are commonly mistaken as moles._[11]
Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henri II, supposedly washed her breasts in gold, rainwater, and sow's milk in order to enhance the beauty of her bosom._[11]
During the Renaissance, people widely believed that a mother's milk was actually vaginal blood that transformed into milk as it moved from the womb to the breasts._[11]
A woman can achieve an orgasm through nipple and breast stimulation._[4]

Scientists now believe that the primary biological function of breasts is to make males stupid.

- Dave Barry

An Egyptian papyri from around 1400 B.C.E. gives an account of one of the first recorded medical writing about breasts in discussing how to stimulate milk flow during lactation. It recommended that the mother rub warm fish bones on her back or sit cross-legged and rub poppy plant on her breasts while she ate sour bread._[11]
The first time a bra was advertised on television in the United States was in 1955._[11]
Women first began not wearing tops on the beaches of Saint-Tropez in France in the 1960s._[11]
Two women who loved running created the first sports bra in 1977 by stitching two male jockstraps together._[11]

The jockstrap was an early inspiration

In the United States, breast augmentation is the second most popular cosmetic surgery after liposuction._[11]
Mammary glands in both humans and animals possess receptors that collect hormones in the mother's body in order to detect the gender of the fetus and change the composition of the mother's milk accordingly._[10]
An average woman's breast weighs a little over a pound._[10]
"Senology" is the study of the breast, coming from seno, which is "bosom" in Italian and Spanish._[10]
For most women (about 65%), the left breast is bigger than the right one. Researchers are unsure why, but they point to hormonal influences during development._[9][10]
The Warner Brothers Corset Company designed the system of cup sizes from A to D for bras in 1935._[11]

The average U.S. woman wears a size 40 D bra

The legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, were raised and suckled by a female wolf, gaining predatory and warlike characteristics from the wolf's milk. Today, Rome is still represented in the image of Romulus and Remus suckling at the wolf's teats._[11]
An estimated 85% of women wear the wrong bra size._[2]

During the Renaissance, the ideal breasts were high on the chest, small, and perfectly round

During the Renaissance, the ideal breasts were high on the chest, small, and perfectly round._[11]
Glands in a nursing mother's areolas give off a scent of amniotic fluid that babies are attracted to and that only babies can smell._[6]
Gigantomastia is a term for when breast and fat tissue steadily grows throughout a person's life and can affect both men and women._[3]
All primates except for humans develop rounded, full breasts only when they are needed to nurse. Only humans' breasts grow when puberty begins and remain permanently._[8]
Nipples can be placed into four types: "normal," when the nipple always protrudes a few millimeters from the areola and then protrudes further when cold or aroused, "flat," when the nipple is always flat except for when the temperature changes, "puffy," when the areola is raised, and "inverted," when the nipple is turned inward._[7]
With certain medications or under certain hormonal conditions, some women can produce milk without being pregnant._[5]
Breasts do not contain muscle tissue. They contain glandular tissue, milk ducts, and fatty tissue. Consequently, exercises targeting chest muscles do not significantly affect breast firmness or size._[1]