This photo is a screen shot from a Chinese breast enhancement advertisement. The ad was shown on the Ellen DeGeneres talk show. In the advertisement, women put on the bra like device that is meant to be pulled in repeatedly. This action of pulling the breast together is said to bring other fat from other areas of the body to the breast region. On the Ellen show she mocks how implausible this process would be in effectively enlarging the breast. This begs the question, why are the Chinese willing to try ridiculous things in order to enlarge their breast? When did this obsession start?

well raised questions

During Mao’s China the feminine body was meant to be hidden or just not prevalent. This is because in communism everyone is put at the same level. Both genders wear the same things and are required to be able to accomplish the same tasks. After the fall of Mao’s China came the emergence of western culture to Chinese culture. Chinese women saw that western women had larger breast. They affiliated large breast with the more, at the time, advanced western society. Large breast were then seen as a sign of a high level of civilization. Large breast was a point of liberation for Chinese women. By having more feminine features they separate themselves from past Mao china ideas.   They use large breast to free themselves from the constraining ways of a communist government.

A way that Chinese women differ from western women is in the reasons behind enhancing their breast. In western culture most women get breast enhancements is to please their male counterparts. Westerners get breast enhancements in order to please others and conform to societal guidelines on how an attractive woman should look. In Chinese culture women get breast enhancements in order to please themselves. (also to meet male and social desires)  In advertisements the male gaze upon the women is not prevalent. Ads focus on how the woman is pleasing her own desires. Chinese relate breast to being mature. Once the breast have size the women has bloomed into her whole self. It is interesting to see the comparison between “the why” between western and Chinese culture for getting breast enhancement.

In terms of breast enhancement it is clearly a case of the West entering into eastern culture after the time of Mao’s china. Past that point there is a variation between the reasons why the women want enlarged breast as see above.

nice to compare the fashion of female body between mao’s and post mao China with west as the model.