Word: breasted
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ESSAY Barbara Ehrenreich on the need for breast implants...
Admittedly, micromastia is in some ways an atypical disease. It is painless, which is why many victims put off treatment for years, and it in no way diminishes breast function, if that is still defined as lactation. The implants, on the other hand, can interfere with lactation, and they make mammograms less able to find cancer (not to mention the potential for a disfiguring or life-threatening side effect like lupus or scleroderma). But so what if micromastia has no functional impact? Why can't a disease be manifested solely by size...
Consider the rigorously scientific methods employed by the medical profession in its efforts to curb the epidemic. Not just anyone could get breast implants. No, the doctor had to study the afflicted area first to decide whether they were truly needed. For example, a friend of mine, an ( inquiring journalist of average proportions, called a New York City-area plastic surgeon to ask about implants and was told to come in for an exam. One quick, searching look and he told her yes, she needed them, badly...
...plastic surgeons were willing to cough up hundreds of dollars each to finance the ASPRS's campaign to show the bright side of the breast-implant story. Though nearly 2 million micromastia victims have been cured, millions more remain untreated, as shown by the continued existence of the plague's dread symbol -- the A-cup bra. There have been many earnest attempts to reach the untreated: public health-oriented magazines like Playboy, for example, repeatedly print photos illustrating normal breast size for the woman in doubt. Tragically, though, many women still live in denial, concealing their condition under mannish blazers...
...culture is almost uniquely obsessed with large, nurturing bosoms. And with the silicone scandal upon us, we can begin to see why: in a society so unnurturing that even health care can sadistically be perverted for profit, people are bound to have a desperate, almost pathological need for the breast...