Cleavage (breasts)

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An example of breast cleavage.

Suzanne Valadon, painting by Renoir, 1885. Profile view of cleavage.

Cleavage is the cleft created by the partial exposure of a woman's breasts, especially when exposed by low-cut clothing. Décolletage (or décolleté, its adjectival form, in current French) is cleavage produced by a low-cut neckline that exposes the neck, shoulders and parts of the breasts.

Décollatage evolved in Europe during the late middle ages, and evolved with the Victorian swimdress, and is a feature of the unitard, leotard, maillot, and bikini.

Intermammary sulcus or intermammary cleft are the terms adopted by the International Federation of Associations of Anatomists (IFAA) for the area of cleavage between the breasts not including the breasts.

Theories of cleavage

Evolutionary psychologists theorize that humans' permanently enlarged breasts, in contrast to other primates' breasts, which only enlarge during ovulation, allowed females to "solicit male attention and investment even when they are not really fertile."^[1] British zoologist and ethologist Desmond Morris theorizes that cleavage is a sexual signal that imitates the image of the cleft between the buttocks^{[citation needed]}, which according to The Naked Ape is also unique to humans, other apes as a rule having much flatter buttocks.

Related slang

Exposure of the underside of the breast, such as below an extremely short crop top, is known as neathage, Australian cleavage, reverse cleavage, sleevage or underboob. When the lateral aspects of the breasts are uncovered, it is known as side cleavage or sideboob.

Annual celebration

On the first Friday of every April in South Africa, brassiere marketer Wonderbra sponsors a National Cleavage Day.^[2]

See also

• Breast fetishism
• Cleavage enhancement
• Mammary intercourse
• Buttock cleavage
• Toe cleavage

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Cleavage

• "Sargent's Portraits", an article including a mention of the scandal caused by the portrayal of cleavage in John Singer Sargent's "Portrait of Madame X".
• "Cleavage Is Back by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, The Baltimore Sun", viewed 9 June 2007.
• "Why Yes, I Was Staring at Your Breasts" A retrospective look at why women choose to display breast cleavage.

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