The Breast

Reviews / Votes

"A rich history of the range of messages women's breasts carry about gender, age, race and the line between natural and artificial. Bodies matter, and breasts tell women who they are and what they can do. This intriguing book reveals how feminist visual artists reimagine and disrupt traditional ways of showing these, the least private of all our body parts."
Helen King, Professor Emerita, Classical Studies, The Open University

"Relying on close visual analysis and an assured grasp of key voices in visual culture criticism, Zimmermann undertakes a compelling case study of how cultural and political stakes have shaped our understanding of 'the breast'. What is most impressive about her analysis is her focus on how wildly divergent have been the objectives and philosophies that drive the contest over the meaning of 'the breast'. Together with the ease with which she leaps from ancient to contemporary examples, this makes for an illuminating and entertaining ride."
Jacqueline Millner, La Trobe University

"Finally, a book about the unsettling and even revolutionary potential of the female breast."
Mithu M. Sanyal, author of Rape: From Lucretia to #MeToo

"No other part of the body is the subject of so much controversy. Art historian Anja Zimmermann explains the changing symbolism of the breast and what a 'progressive politics of the breast' would be."
Die Zeit

"Not too big, not too small, covered up, but not invisible either - female breasts have always been subject to paradoxical demands. Art historian Anja Zimmermann explains why breasts are still not liberated today."
Der Spiegel

"Anja Zimmermann uses numerous examples from art, history and ethnology, as well as current advertising campaigns such as the launch of a sports bra that showed different breast shapes, to demonstrate how the perception and evaluation of this part of the body has changed over the centuries and that the 'judgements' are almost always made by men: it would be unthinkable to advertise briefs for men with different penises. The female breast is an 'overdetermined body part,' writes Zimmermann, refreshingly advocating for freeing the breast from its many tasks and simply letting it hang."
Missy Magazine

"An object of lust, a target of medical scrutiny and intervention, the breast has had political symbolism: the naked breast seen as an allegory of freedom and breast baring as a form of feminist protest. No other body part, Zimmerman argues persuasively, has been so divisive... A perceptive social history."
Kirkus Reviews

"Anja Zimmerman [...] takes us on a deep and detailed dive into her history of the female breast - 'sinful, attractive, sacred, liberating, repulsive, heroic.'"
Irish Independent