Tits Up: What Our Beliefs About Breasts Reveal About Life, Love, Sex and Society

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Boobs. Knockers. Jugs. Cans. Baps. Melons. Puppies. Fun bags. Bosoms. Hooters. In the English language there are over 700 expressions for female mammary glands - the majority of which are mostly used by men. In Tits Up, bestselling author, sociologist and journalist Sarah Thornton asks how is it that we look at breasts so much, but reflect on them so little. It was after Sarah underwent a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery that she found herself consdiering how we think about breasts, and what that tells us about ourselves. Across five chapters, she encounters strippers, plastic surgeons, bra designers, modern witches, lactation experts and donors to breast milk banks to create the ultimate biography of humanity's most culturally important body part. Surprising, sharp, tender and true, Tits Up explores how women's chests shape our ideas of beauty, health, respect, self-esteem and equality. Blending real-life accounts with sociology, history, art and culture, and written with refreshing optimism and wit, Thornton has one overriding ambition to: liberate breasts from centuries of patriarchal prejudice.

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A consciousness-raising romp around feminism via the rack. * Philippa Perry *

Author Bio

Sarah Thornton is a sociologist who writes about art, design and people. Formerly the chief art market correspondent for The Economist, she is the author of three previous books. Her second, Seven Days in the Art World was an international bestseller, published in eighteen languages, and named one of the best art books of the year by the New York Times. Sarah has written for The Guardian, W, Art Basel, Cultured, among others. A skilled interviewer and engaging public speaker, Sarah has given hundreds of talks around the world and contributed to NPR, Netflix, ZDF and BBC radio and TV. A Canadian who went to the UK on a prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship, Thornton was hailed as "Britain's hippest academic." Now based in San Francisco, Thornton is better known as "the Jane Goodall of the art world."