It is no secret - men are infatuated with bosoms. The male eye has its way of looking to the chest after it first notices a woman. This is such a common occurrence that it has become a cliched joke over the years.

Why do guys like breasts? What makes a man’s eye attract directly to the breasts? Experts in the study of social science are all fascinated by this topic and there have been numerous research studies done to find the real reasons behind this phenomenon.

When looking from a biological standpoint, the obsession with breasts is actually pretty strange. Men are unique male mammals and the only ones who are fascinated by breasts to the point of sexual arousal. Women are the only female mammals that go through breast enlargement at puberty, rather than just during pregnancy. It may come to your surprise, but we are the only species who engage in sexual activity involving a female’s breasts during foreplay and sex.

Women Agree

From a sexual standpoint, women love when guys pay attention to their breasts. A study was done by Dr. Roy Levin and Dr. Cindy Meston published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine found that 82 percent of women enjoyed stimulation of their breasts and nipples because it enhances their sexual arousal. 60 percent of these women said that they would outright ask the man to touch and play with their nipples. Men are usually more than happy to oblige!

The success of the Hooters restaurant chain, different “men’s” magazines, and thousands of years of art all shows us the obsession that man has with breasts. Breasts are tempting to men, and it is believed that when a man is confronted with breasts or an item that makes them think of breasts, their decision making process is altered and may even cause clumsiness or odd reasoning.

Altered Decision Making

A study was done on a group of men with hope to gain insight on the idea that breasts can change the way a man makes his decisions. The men were all offered money to sit down and watch different videos. They had to choose whether they wanted to get paid right after they finished or in a few days. Those who selected to wait a few days got a higher payout, and those who wanted to get paid right when they finished received less pay.

Some of the men were directed to watch pastoral videos and the others would watch videos of attractive women with a lot of exposed skin. The men who watched the video of the attractive women chose to get paid right after the video significantly more often than the men who watched the pastoral scenes. The scientists attribute this behavior to breasts and how they activate different parts of a man’s brain that are associated with reward and pleasure.

Is this scientific validation to the popular cliche that men sometimes “think with their penises” rather than their heads? Perhaps so - neurochemicals and the activated motivational circuits all play a part in shutting down the reasoning center of the brain (pre-frontal cortex) and cause the man to make a decision based more on instant gratification. This sheds a little light how breasts and sexual arousal will increase the temptation and motivation activity in the brain, causing men to make decisions that may not be in their best interest in the long run.

Mother-infant Bond

A professor of psychiatry at Emory University, Larry Young, says that upon the many years of human evolution, breast feeding has played a very important role in the mother-infant bond. This neural circuit has evolved and become so powerful that it can even strengthen the bond between couples as well.

When a woman is breast-feeding, oxytocin - a neurochemical that is known as the “love drug” - floods her brain and causes her to focus all of her attention, affection, and care directly on breast feeding her baby. Research is showing us that this circuitry and brain process is not reserved for the mother-infant bond though, and that it can have the exact same effect on a woman and her partner.

We know that breast and nipple stimulation enhances how sexually aroused a great majority of women are when they are with their partner. Oxytocin is released in the woman’s brain when a woman is turned on due to these sexual activities, just like when a baby nurses with its mother. In this context the woman is focusing on her partner rather than the baby, strengthening her relationship and desire to bond with this person.

A man can make himself more desirable and loveable by focusing on stimulating his partner’s breasts and nipples when engaging in sexual activity.

The attraction to breasts is something that develops during puberty in a straight male. Evolution has caused man to become more attracted to breasts in a sexual context because the outcome is that it will activate the female bonding circuit and make them feel closer to one another.

Conclusion

Men and women alike have gone through a significant amount of changes throughout evolution in the areas of sexual stimulation and partner bonding. As of right now, research is pointing towards the fact that both men and women like to feel desired and loved, causing partners to practice stimulation in new ways that enhance the relationship and bond.

Breasts play a huge role in enhancing the bond between a man and woman because of the oxytocin that is released in the brain of a woman when her breasts are being stimulated, mimicking the feelings of affection and care that a mother would have for her child - but in a very different context.