Overview

'Excellent' - Economist Most women in the developed world are dissatisfied with their breasts. They dismiss them as silly boobs, lament their less-than-ideal forms, or renounce thinking about them altogether. Why is this emblem of womanhood so often derided and maligned? Tits Up investigates breasts through the eyes and lives of women experts. It explores the truths of mammary glands, from strip clubs to operating rooms, human milk banks, and bra designers' studios. With refreshing optimism, Thornton unmasks the sexism behind the perceived profanity of breasts and hopes to liberate them from centuries of patriarchal prejudice. 'Will make any woman reconsider her body, and any man reconsider how he treats the bodies of the women in his life' - Independent 'Tits Up asks readers to reimagine the bosom . . . as a site of empowerment and even divinity' - New York Times

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9781035053933

Table of Contents

Reviews

A consciousness-raising romp around feminism via the rack. -- Philippa Perry An excellent new book. . . Owners and admirers will not look at breasts in the same way again. -- The Economist Will make any woman reconsider her body, and any man reconsider how he treats the bodies of the women in his life. -- Sunday Independent [Thornton’s] impassioned polemic makes a convincing case that the derogatory way Western culture views tits…helps perpetuate the patriarchy . . Tits Up asks readers to reimagine the bosom, no matter its size and shape, as a site of empowerment and even divinity. -- New York Times Tits Up is avant-garde sociology as well as a witty and important feminist contribution to knowledge. -- Angela McRobbie FBA, Prof. Emeritus Goldsmiths University of London This witty and informative sociological study of women's breasts in Western societies is sometimes shocking, often hilarious, always revealing. Tits Up is a must read – especially for men. -- Professor Simon Frith, Edinburgh College of Art Sarah Thornton strikes the perfect balance of personal experience, scholarship, and fun. This is an important book. -- Professor Sarah Oglivie, University of Oxford A foundational ethnography of the most visible emblems of womanhood. -- Professor Mandy Merck, Royal Holloway University Of London Tits Up is a wonderfully written book which deepens our understandings of the many and complicated lives of breasts, tits, bosoms and baps. Hugely entertaining, amply proportioned and wide-ranging, Sarah Thornton’s field guide to how tits are treated across different spheres of life and culture challenges many existing preconceptions and makes an important contribution to both feminist thought and everyday experience. -- Professor Jo Littler, Goldsmiths University of London I highly recommend this brilliant, witty, informative and activist book, both to those who have breasts and those who don’t. -- Dr Lucy Soutter, University of Westminster.

Author Information

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. A Canadian who went to the UK on a prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship, Thornton was once hailed as ""Britain's hippest academic"" and is now based in San Francisco.

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