In this special Pretty Hurts series, the Cut explores women’s complicated relationships to beauty standards and the efforts required to meet them.
Nora Ephron didn’t just feel bad about her neck. She called breasts, or her lack of them, “the hang-up of my life.” In a 1972 Esquire essay, she wrote, “If I had had them, I would have been a completely different person. I honestly believe that.”
To find out how women see their own breasts, the Cut polled 57 New York women, ages 17 to 72 (plus one 4-year-old who grabbed the marker from her mom) and asked them to draw their boobs and write one sentence explaining how they feel about them. In cafés and bars, on playground benches and on the way to work, women laughed when they heard the question, disparaged their drawing abilities, and gave it a shot.
We heard stories of breast cancer, breastfeeding, and what it’s like to become a double D in elementary school. Women drew their scars, big nipples, or barely there boobs. They offered advice, wrote what they love about themselves or why they wished for something else. Big, small, or somewhere in between, there were a few instances of eh and a good number of they’re perfect! Click through our slideshow to see the results.
*This is an extended version of an article that appears in the November 17, 2014, issue of New York Magazine.
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"I am not my bra size." —Glorimar, 23
"Not so bad for 50." — Kathy, 50
"Sweet size, always look young." —Carol, 56
"My mom says I have long nipples!" —Yolanda, 23
"I like how my boobs stay perky." —Alexa, 18
"EH." —Alix, 22
"They're more slight than I'd like with stretch marks and erect nipples I wish I could hide ..." —Brianna, 23
"Not wearing a bra is my favorite pastime ..." —Lauren, 24
"A handful is all you need." —Hayley, 24
"I used to think I'd never get them." — Alex, 24
"I wish I had pockets in my chest so I could tuck my boobs into them when I don't feel like wearing them." —Claudia, 23
"Every time I see other boobs I realize how different we all are." —Alayna, 25
"Your resilience to the cut of a knife and the prick of a needle, to insure your health and well being, made me appreciate and fall in love with ... "Your resilience to the cut of a knife and the prick of a needle, to insure your health and well being, made me appreciate and fall in love with you for the first time." —Atongular, 37
"Sometimes I treat my breasts like a design piece and sometimes I just ask people to lick them." —Beth, 67
"In high school, we said you could either have cupcake or water drop boobs. Mine are the latter." —Christina, 25
"Protest, a method of unrefined anarchy." —Indie, 22
"A handful is just enough ..." —Nessi, 20
"I don't have them." —Ethel, 72
"Home is where the bra comes off." —Callan, 29
"Sometimes heavy and uncomfortable!" —Jenny, 31
"Providing love, nurture, and comfort to myself and others." —Kathryn, 24
"My boobs feel great." —Lauren, 23
"It's a handfull and a mouthfull." —Glenda, 54
"Not big enough." — Irene, 41
"I love my breasts!" —Gerry, "62"
"No more cancer!" — Pat, 62
"I feel comfortable with my breasts." —Rosa, 25
"Every body needs a bosom for a pillow." —Katherine, 31
"Size don't really matter. Thank God I'm cancer free." —Carol, 50
"Never have more martinis than you have breasts!" —Jennifer, 45
"The milk is closing ... Two kids later I have a new appreciation for boobs." —Naomi, 37
"Boobies!" —Hannah, 4
"They grew to a C last year and my mother asked if I had been switched with another baby in the hospital." —Kate, 30
"These are great for my opera career." —Jenny, 30
"Not what they used to be." —Sara, 38
"Downward dogs." —Allison, 28
"They look like those Dutch shoes." —Sandra, 47
"Itty bitty, but with lots of nipple." —Katy, 32
"They are not fake!" —Maira, 52
"Wouldn't be upset if they were bigger, but at least they're perky (for now)." —Serena, 31
"What is there to say?" —Jem, 33
"Well, they never did get bigger! (I'm 72.)" —Lucy, 72
"Loving me!!! Small, happy, fun, joyful. Youthful and like I never aged! Same as when I was 15 years old. Young and fun!" —Jonie, 51
"Pretty okay for 31." —Olga, 31
"I love when my husband sucks and holds them, yum!" —Doris, 37
"Wonkyish." —Marn, 18
"I hope my nipple learns how 2 fly." —Carol, 18
"I have stretch marks and love to fondle them." —Madeline, 19
"Movie boobs never have hair like mine do." —Jess, 38
"I'm fatter now and have cleavage for the first time ever!" —Dana, 58
"They were 'too small,' nursed a child, kept a hubby happy and I still am grateful that they're mine." —Andrea, 56
"They are always with us." —M.C., 55
"One is bigger than the other." —Carmin, 17
"Good." —Chelsea, 21
"I've had DD's since 4th grade. I used to be embarrassed of them, but now I LOVE them!!" —Stephanie, 22
"I've never really thought too much about them." —Sarah, 24
"I feel they are too big." —Carisma, 17
"You're looking at them? Well, they're looking at you." —Belle, 42
