Cleavage, formally the intermammary cleft, is the narrow depression or hollow between the breasts of a woman. The superior portion of cleavage, to a greater or lesser extent, may be fashionably displayed through décolletage – using clothing such as a low-cut neckline to reveal the division. Joseph Breen, head of the U.S. film industry's Production Code Administration, coined the term cleavage when evaluating the 1943 film The Outlaw starring Jane Russell. The term was explained in Time magazine on August 5, 1946. It is most commonly used in the parlance of female fashion of the West to refer to necklines that reveal or emphasize a display of the upper breast area, i.e., the term cleavage is used to describe the low neckline itself, instead of the term décolletage.
The visible display of cleavage can provide erotic pleasure for those who are sexually attracted to women, though this does not occur in all cultures. Explanations for this effect have included evolutionary psychology and dissociation from breastfeeding. Since at least the 15th century, women in the Western world have used their cleavage to flirt, attract, make political statements (such as in the topfreedom movement), and assert power. In several parts of the world, the advent of Christianity and Islam led to a sharp decline in the amount of cleavage which was considered socially acceptable. In some cultures today, cleavage exposure is considered unwelcome, or is even legally banned by law. In the Western world it is often discouraged in daywear or in public spaces. In some cases, exposed cleavage can be a target for unwanted voyeuristic photography or sexual harassment.
Décolletage started becoming popular in the Christian West as it came out of the Early Middle Ages and enjoyed significant prevalence during mid-Tang-era China, Elizabethan-era England, and France over many centuries, particularly after the French Revolution. But in Victorian-era England and during the flapper period of Western fashion, it was suppressed. Cleavage came vigorously back into Western fashion in the 1950s, particularly through Hollywood celebrities and lingerie brands. The consequent fascination with cleavage was most prominent in the U.S., and countries heavily influenced by the U.S. With the advent of push-up and underwired bras that replaced the corsets of the past, the cleavage fascination was propelled by these lingerie manufacturers. By the early 2020s, dramatization of cleavage started to lose popularity along with the big lingerie brands. At the same time cleavage was sometimes replaced with other types of presentation of partially clothed breasts, like "sideboob" and "underboob".
Many women enhance their cleavage through the use of things like brassières, falsies and corsetry, as well as surgical breast augmentation using saline or silicone implants and hormone therapy. Wearing necklaces can also draw attention to exposed cleavage. Workouts, yoga, skin care, makeup, jewelry, tattoos and piercings are also used to embellish the cleavage. Male cleavage (also called by the slang heavage), accentuated by low necklines or unbuttoned shirts, is a film trend in Hollywood and Bollywood. Some men also groom their chests.
Etymology
The word cleavage was first used in the early 19th century in geology and mineralogy to mean the tendency of crystals, minerals, and rocks to split along definite planes. By the mid-19th century, it was generally used to mean splitting along a line of division into two or more parts. In the 1940s, Joseph Breen, head of the U.S. Production Code Administration, applied the term to breasts in reference to actor Jane Russell's costumes and poses in the 1943 movie The Outlaw. The term was also applied in the evaluation of the British films The Wicked Lady (1945), starring Margaret Lockwood and Patricia Roc; Bedelia (1946), also starring Lockwood; and Pink String and Sealing Wax (1945), starring Googie Withers. This use of the term was first covered in a Time article titled "Cleavage & the Code" on August 5, 1946, as a "Johnston Office (the popular name for Motion Picture Association of America office at the time) trade term for the shadowed depression dividing an actress' bosom into two distinct sections." The word cleavage is made of the root verb cleave 'to split' (from Old English and Middle English ; cleft in the past tense) and the suffix -age 'the state of, the act of'.
While the division of the breasts is a cleavage, the opening of a person's garments to make the division visible is called a décolletage, a French word that is derived from 'to reveal the neck'. The term was first used in English literature before 1831 and was the preferred term among educated people in the English-speaking world before cleavage became the popular term. Décolletage (or décolleté in adjectival form) refers to the upper part of the female torso, consisting of the neck, shoulders, back and chest, which is exposed by the neckline, the edge of a dress or shirt that goes around the neck, especially at the front of a woman's garment. The neckline and collar are often the most attention-grabbing parts of a garment, effected by bright or contrasting colors, or by décolletage. The term is most commonly applied to a neckline that reveals or emphasizes cleavage and is measured as extending about two hand-breadths from the base of the neck down; both in the front and the back. In anatomical terms, the cleft in the human body between the breasts is known as the intermammary cleft or intermammary sulcus.
Typology While there has been much work done to classify breasts based on their shapes, contours and sizes, there has not been much work done to classify their cleavage, despite its prominence in aesthetic determination.
Culture
In most cultures, men typically find female breasts attractive. Women sometimes use décolletage that exposes the cleavage to enhance their physical and sexual attractiveness, and to improve their sense of femininity. Display of cleavage with a low neckline is often regarded as a form of flirting or seduction, as much as for its aesthetic or erotic effect. According to Kinsey Reports, most men derive erotic pleasure from seeing a woman's cleavage. When designing costumes, creating shapes that draw attention to the face or the chest helps distract the gaze from body parts that are considered less desirable. Male cross-dressers and trans women often want female-like cleavage to make their bodies look more feminine. Convincing cleavage may distract attention from less-feminine aspects of the appearance and improve the ability to pass as female.
The amount of cleavage exposure that is acceptable in public differs significantly between cultures and societies. In contemporary Western society, the extent to which a woman may expose her breasts depends on the social and cultural context. Displaying any part of the female breast may be considered inappropriate and may be prohibited in some settings, such as workplaces, churches, and schools, while in other spaces, such as parties, beaches and pools, it may be permissible to show as much cleavage as possible. Art historian James Laver noted the changing standards of cleavage are mostly applicable to evening wear rather than to day wear. The exposure of nipples and areolae is almost always considered immodest and in some instances is viewed as indecent exposure.
Cultural distribution
The fascination with female breasts and cleavage is widespread but not universal. It is more prevalent in Western and Westernized cultures, particularly in the U.S. and countries that are heavily influenced by the U.S. Many people in Western culture, both male and female, consider breasts to be an important female secondary sex characteristic and an aspect of femininity. The flaunting of cleavage became an aggressive statement of gender. Films like Erin Brockovich, in which Julia Roberts was required to wear a silicone gel-filled bra to increase her cleavage, demonstrated cleavage as a woman's right and an application of feminine attributes as "a source of power".
Across history and cultures, other parts of women's bodies have sometimes been viewed as more enticing than breasts, including buttocks, legs, necks, ankles, hair, and feet. American anthropologist Clellan S. Ford and ethologist Frank A. Beach said in their 1951 book Patterns of Sexual Behavior that only 13 of 130 cultures in a cross-cultural survey perceived female breasts as sexually attractive. In some cultures, for example in African communities, it is not unusual to see uncovered breasts, which are not considered titillating.
Documentarian Carolyn Latteier said in Jennifer and Laura Berman's TV program All About Breasts, "I interviewed a young anthropologist working with women in Mali, a country in Africa where women go around with bare breasts. They're always feeding their babies. And when she told them that in our culture men are fascinated with breasts there was an instant of shock. According to Rosie Sayers, "Breasts have retained their primary biological function [in Mali] and hold no sexual connotations or stimulus."
Evolutionary psychologist David M. Buss observed that "Americans are probably the most extreme in viewing the breast as a sexual signal." American cultural anthropologist Katherine Ann Dettwyler, editor of Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives, found parallels between the modern American practice of breast enlargement and the past Chinese practice of foot binding. She suggests that both are "culturally sanctioned mutilations of the female body" for the purpose of "male sexual pleasure", and both "compromise a woman's health" and make her body "nonfunctional".
During adolescence, some girls become obsessed with breast shape and cleavage, while others try to resist the growth of their breasts during puberty by binding down their breasts, wearing loose clothes that disguise them or adopting a hunched or stooped posture. A study found that girls whose breasts develop early may be ashamed and embarrassed because of unwanted staring. There is historical evidence that some cultures, including classical antiquity, strongly discouraged cleavage or any hint of a bosom. During the Middle Ages and up to the Renaissance, a woman's stomach was often the central symbol of her sexuality, rather than the breasts. Early English Puritans used a tight bodice to completely flatten breasts, while 17th-century Spaniards put lead plates across the chests of pubescent girls to prevent their bosoms from developing.
India In India, women's traditional clothing (saris and cholis) generally exposes more midriff than cleavage. Gagra choli, a dress taken as very chaste in India, also exposes significant amount of midriff and cleavage. Cholis customized for Bollywood movies have particularly deep décolletage. Women of the Bishnoi people wear kanchli blouses with very deep necklines that are embellished with frills and bells to draw attention to their cleavage. Other women wear angia, a small, bikini-like top that is tied at the back with a string, often with the front open enough to show deep cleavage. In late 20th-century India, cleavage became a staple point of attraction in Bollywood movies.
In a 2006 study conducted among young people in Mumbai, both male and female respondents believed that women wearing cleavage-revealing filmi (movie-like) clothes may be more prone to become victims of sexual violence. By the 2010s, Indian men and women wearing décolleté clothes was seen as a fashion statement and not, as in the past, a sign of desperation. At the same time, the allure of on-screen cleavage waned as cleavage-revealing clothes became more commonplace.
Islamic view