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Women
Me and my breasts: 100
women reveal all
How do you feel about your breasts? One
photographer asked 100 women to bare all
Laura Dodsworth
Sat 6 Sep 2014 03.00 EDT

9 years old

The shocking thing about Laura

Dodsworth’s pictures of 100 women’s
breasts isn’t the flesh on show, or the many
shapes and sizes, but the realisation that
images of unairbrushed, non-uniform
breasts seem to be so rare. “We see images
of breasts everywhere,” says the 41-year-old
photographer, “but they’re unreal. They
create an unflattering comparison but also
an unobtainable ideal. I wanted to
rehumanise women through honest
photography.”

Dodsworth interviewed each woman at

length, starting by asking them how they
felt about their breasts. The interviews soon
became more emotional than she
anticipated. “I found that, while breasts are
interesting in themselves, they are also
catalysts for discussing relationships, body
image and ageing. I realised that this had
become an exploration of what it means to
be a woman.” She is fundraising, via
Kickstarter, to make a book of the project.

More on this topic Her subjects range in

Me and my age from 19 to 101, and
penis: 100 men include a priest, a
reveal all
lapdancer, cancer
survivors and women
who have had surgery. The absolute
anonymity she granted her subjects elicited
honest interviews, ranging from the
beautiful through the mundane to the
painful. Many women cried. Dodsworth
herself experienced catharsis: “One thing
that surprised me was that the way I felt
about my breasts changed. I felt more in
touch with them and they became more
erogenous.”
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Dodsworth also took part, but will not be

anonymous, which she found difficult.
“One male friend said that I couldn’t do it
because my husband’s business partners
would see, and one asked how my sons
would feel when they grow up [they are
seven and nine]. But both arguments were
about the men in my life, and I thought they
weren’t reason enough to stop me as an
artist, a woman and a feminist.”

The impact of all 100 images together is

quite mesmerising. Indeed, when she
showed her husband he was struck dumb.
His first words were, “But they just don’t
look like the magazines.” For Dodsworth,
that underlined the impact of her work: “I
feel that just looking at the pictures alone
will change how people feel about breasts.”
Ruth Lewy

Age: 21. Children: none

‘Conversations with my mum about weight
started at a very early age’

‘I did notice that men looked at me differently after my breasts

grew’

I like my breasts; they’re quite big and not

too saggy. They’re not the best pair I have
ever seen, or the worst. My dad is Turkish
and Muslim, and my mum is Jewish. I’m an
atheist, but I have this weird ethnic mix. If I
am with my Muslim grandparents, I do
think about what I am wearing.
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Some of my biggest arguments with my

mum have been about my weight. She says
she has struggled with her weight and the
way she looks all her life, and she doesn’t
want me to go through that. If she thinks I
have potential, she will push me, and I
respect that. She just thinks if I looked after
my weight more, I would look better.

I think what Page 3 does is very damaging to

young women. It’s like: “This is the
benchmark; this is what men find
attractive. I don’t look like this; therefore I
can’t be attractive to men.” It affects our
perception of beauty, and makes young
women think they are valued for their
sexuality, and not for their thoughts and
actions.

I did notice that men looked at me

differently after my breasts grew. At uni, I
found myself having more casual sex than I
ever thought I would. It was almost as if I
felt grateful that people found me
attractive, which is ridiculous.

In my first year I was part of a very laddish

sports club, and there was a lot of pressure
to conform. I ended up sleeping with half of
them. I haven’t had a boyfriend. I
sometimes think that’s abnormal. I do want
one, but I wouldn’t have achieved the
things I’ve achieved if I’d had a relationship.
At the end of a night recently, I was kissing a
male friend, whom I have slept with a
couple of times, but I told him I just wanted
to go home. I said, “I know it’s happened
before, but I don’t want to.” He basically
forced me to give him head. It was pretty
horrendous. That was a guy I thought I had
a good relationship with. Halfway through,
I managed to stop him. We were both
horrendously drunk, which doesn’t help.
He says he doesn’t remember it. It still
upsets me. I never say I was a rape victim. I
think a lot of young women accept that sort
of behaviour, because our attitudes to
consent are blurred. It makes me feel sick
thinking about it. It’s affected me more
profoundly than I thought it could.

Age: 33. Children: two

‘God gives life and creates, and as a woman
you can connect with that’

‘The church has had a lot to do with women feeling negative

about their bodies’

My breasts are smaller than they were a

couple of months ago. I stopped
breastfeeding my daughter when she
turned one. I’m not sad about it, but the
clothes I wear have changed. Things that
looked nice before are baggy now. In my
role as a priest, I have to wear clerical shirts,
which come right up to the neck. On
maternity leave I quite enjoyed wearing
lower-cut tops in conjunction with bigger
boobs. It was nice to get a suntan on my
chest and feel a bit more feminine.
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The way the clergy dress is partly to

diminish our individuality. The priest is
vulnerable to quite a lot of projections and
transference, because we hold a particular
emotionally loaded position; we deal with
inner worlds and spirituality.

I feel completely comfortable breastfeeding

in church and I encourage other mothers to
do so. In the Eucharist service, there is a
prayer at which the bread and the wine are
offered to God and made holy. The words of
Jesus are said during that prayer, about the
bread: “This is my body, broken for you; do
this in remembrance of me.” And the wine,
“This is my blood, given for you.” As I was
breastfeeding my baby at that time, the
image of Jesus feeding his friends at the last
supper, and then the church for generations
and generations, had a profound resonance
for me.

I have found that quite sustaining when I

have been trying to work out the spirituality
of being both a mum and a priest, and how
those significant things fit together in my
life. Both roles require availability to the
people you care for. I’ve had to work out
how to share myself between the two
things.

The Christian church has had a lot to do

with women feeling negative about their
bodies and ashamed of their sexuality. I
think men are probably quite afraid of
women’s power to bring forth life and feed
their babies. That’s probably part of the
reason women have been oppressed and
made to feel ashamed.

I encourage women to feel comfortable in

church, and I’ve led by example. Baring my
breasts in my own church [to breastfeed]
wasn’t something I imagined I would be
doing. It doesn’t sit uncomfortably with me,
though: it’s natural and important, not
remotely embarrassing.

Age: 19. Children: none

‘Boys seemed angry with me for getting rid of
something they admired’

‘All through school, I was known as “that one with the big
breasts” ‘

Before I had my reduction surgery, I felt a

mixture of distaste and shame towards my
breasts. I had a lot of physical problems,
which were the main reasons I had the
reduction. They ended up taking 2kg of fat
from my breasts.
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I feel much better about them now. I used to

sweat more, and I was embarrassed because
I thought I smelled. I used to get very bad
back problems. There would be times it
would take ages to get out of bed or, if I’d
been sitting for a while, I would get pain in
my lower spine. I still have deep grooves on
my shoulders from my bras.

I’ve gone down about six cup sizes. I’m now

a DD. That was the most I was able to have
taken off without it looking
disproportionate to my shape. I’ve always
had a broader figure than other girls, sadly,
much as I’ve always wanted to be petite. If I
could choose any body shape, I would be 5ft
3in, very petite, and preferably a lot smaller
in the chest. A lot of my friends when I was
growing up were smaller, and everyone
thought they were pretty and cute. I’m not
tall and beautiful, and I’m not small and
cute.
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I used to get very venomous looks from

girls in the changing rooms at school when
we had PE. Some girls thought that I must
have had surgery to enhance them. I was a
34GG. Occasionally I’d get rude and
suggestive comments from boys, but I used
to have more problems with them staring. It
made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I
felt it was how people defined me. All
through high school and college, I was
known as “that one with the big breasts”.
The breasts were all most people saw when
they looked at me.

When I first told people I was having a

reduction, the reactions from girls and boys
were completely different. My very best
friend was more excited than I was. She
knew how much it affected me and how
upset I was about it. She was really
supportive. Boys were the ones I had more
problems with. They said things like, “How
could you do that? That’s like slapping God
in the face”, and, “How could you get rid of
them? They’re amazing!” It was as if boys
were angry with me for getting rid of
something they admired.
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I’m asexual, and don’t have a partner. I

haven’t had intercourse, although there
have been times when I’ve got close to
foreplay. I’ve had sensations in my breasts
when I’ve been with someone, but it hasn’t
been arousal. I would say my breasts were
sensitive and I get some feeling from them,
but it hasn’t encouraged me to go further.
Because I had a bilateral reduction, in
which the nipple is moved to put it in the
right place, I’ve lost nearly all sensitivity.

The surgery lasted for about four hours.

They remove a triangular sandwich of fat,
bring the parts together, then move the
nipple so it’s in proportion to the newly
reduced breast. The scarring is fading very
quickly. It’s not red or irritated, as it it was.
It will probably be almost fully healed in a
couple of years.

I used to have to order bras from specialist

websites. I couldn’t wear strapless bras or
dresses. I look at going clothes-shopping
completely differently now. I can buy pretty
underwear – it’s wonderful. Though lots of
companies make petite ranges, there are
only a few that make anything specifically
for busty women. My best friend took me
shopping for bras after my surgery. She
turned around to me and said, “I want you
to see this, it will make you really happy.”
She had found one of my old size bras and
was wearing one of the cups on her head,
and she said, “Look how small you are now,
compared with this!” I felt so happy seeing
that, knowing just how far I had come. It
was hard work carrying all that around.

Age: 101. Children: one

‘I would never have gone topless, even in my
younger days’

‘I fell over last week – that’s why I have a bruise’

My daughter was born a week before Hitler

marched in, and my milk went. It was the
shock. We were Jewish. I intended to
breastfeed her, but in the end she grew very
well without it.

My husband was taken on Kristallnacht. He

had gone out, against my advice. The
authorities wanted me out of my flat. I went
to the SS headquarters and told them in no
uncertain terms what I thought of them:
“I’m not going to leave my flat and you can
kiss my arse!” Maybe it was foolish, but
attack is the best defence. My husband was
in Dachau and somehow I had to get him
out. My husband’s boss was an ex-Nazi, but
he was a very nice man, and fond of us. I
asked him what to do, and he said, “Go to
the Gestapo.” I thought that was a good
idea. My parents said I couldn’t, but I said,
“I’m not afraid of the Devil! If it helps, I will
do it.” I rang up and made an appointment.
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I saw a middle-aged man and we got

talking. After half an hour, he had to go, but
he said, “I promise I will get your husband
out, in three weeks, but I want something
from you.” I thought I knew what he
wanted, but I said, “Oh, what can I do for
you?” “I want you to visit me twice a week.
I love talking to you.” I was quite prepared
for anything. What’s my little thing, if it
means getting him out? It’s unimportant.
But the man really did only want to talk.
And after three weeks, to the day, my
husband came home.

We came to England as refugees with no

money, so we had to start from the bottom,
with a one-year-old child. I began as a
secretary and worked in the rag trade in a
showroom in the West End.

When I was 52, I had a lump in my breast.

I’d had a hysterectomy four years earlier,
but there was nothing there; it was benign.
This time I thought it would be cancer. In
those days, they did not take a biopsy: if
there was a lump, the whole breast was
removed – that was standard. It was benign
and I didn’t need the radio treatment I’d
been about to start.
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I said to my husband, “Do you mind having

a wife with only one breast?” He said,
“Would you mind if I lost a leg?” I said, “Of
course not!” “So there you go.” We talked
about everything, and that is why we had 52
happy years.

My breasts were erogenous. My husband

and I had a very good sexual relationship, as
well as the friendship. Nothing changed
after the mastectomy – our sex life didn’t
change until my husband had an operation
for his prostate. I consider I was blessed: 52
years, how many people are blessed with
that? Not many.

I fell over last week – that’s why I have a

bruise. It hurts. But it’ll go. The last time I
fell over was more than a year ago. I don’t
use a stick yet.

When my nipple suddenly became inverted

about 10 years ago, I went to the clinic to
have it examined. I know it is a sign of
cancer, but it can also be a sign of old age. It
doesn’t bother me.

I was conscious of the mastectomy and

wouldn’t have exposed my chest. I would
never have gone topless anyway, never,
even in my younger days. Don’t forget, I
was born in 1912.

My breasts were always small, and I didn’t

consider myself very good-looking, but I
was vivacious and always had lots of
friends and boyfriends. My body didn’t
bother me.

I’m very careful with my appearance. I wear

a prosthesis. I forgot it once on holiday. I
had to use loads and loads of plastic bags! If
I go swimming, I have a costume with an
insert. I used to swim every day until three
years ago. When I was 97, I would swim 20
lengths in one go, but my physiotherapist
said it was too much.

Age: 40. Children: one

‘I’ve got a great pair of melons’

‘You can have great sex regardless of what they look like’

I adore my breasts. I think they’re fantastic.

I’ve got a great pair of melons! I like that
they are perky, and that one is bigger than
the other. Last weekend I realised with
horror that they were beginning to sag
slightly. I wonder if it’s because I’ve lost
weight, or could it just be age-related? Now
they’re touching my stomach, and I don’t
like that feeling.

I would have liked to breastfeed, but I didn’t

produce enough milk. I had to mix bottle
and breast. The electric milk extractors in
hospital are literally like cow’s milking
machines. You attach one to each breast,
and it’s painful. One of my most poignant
memories is doing that while fireworks
went off on New Year’s Eve. I felt
devastated.

I’ve been single for three years, and I think,

“Shit! What will a partner think of them?
They didn’t see them when they were perky
and gorgeous.” I had a seven-year
relationship with a man, then a seven-year
relationship with a woman. I think a lesbian
might judge breasts the same way as a man,
but it would depend whether or not she’d
had children.

A woman I dated had been very big and lost

weight so dramatically that her boobs
sagged to her belly button. But it didn’t
matter, because I fancied the pants off her.
Sex is sex, and you can have great sex
regardless of what they look like. My boobs
are important in a sexual relationship.

I was your average Asian girl in the 70s. I

had a strict upbringing and no friends
outside the family unit. Then I got a white
boyfriend, and started wearing jeans and
showing off my figure. I look back at
pictures now, and I was stunning. I’ve got
brown skin and no wrinkles – Asian skin
doesn’t age as much. My breasts are getting
looser around the nipples, the skin is
thinning and the elasticity’s going. The rest
of my body doesn’t seem to have that. I
don’t mind ageing.

It wouldn’t be appropriate to wear a low-cut

dress to work, but I might wear a well-cut
‘I did notice that men looked at me differently after
shirt. Sometimes
my breasts grew’ I change at the end of the
evening, even for a short walk home. I don’t