Cleavage (breasts)
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225077254
2008-07-11T19:42:18Z
195.184.215.250
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[[Image:LargeBreastCleavage.png|thumb|An example of breast cleavage.]]
[[Image:Pierre-Auguste Renoir - Girl Braiding Her Hair (Suzanne Valadon).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Suzanne Valadon]], painting by [[Pierre-Auguste Renoir|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. The neckline of a garment that exposes cleavage is known as ''décolletage'' (or ''décolleté'' in current [[French language|French]]). ''Intermammary sulcus'' or ''intermammary cleft'' are the terms adopted by the [[International Federation of Associations of Anatomists]] for the area of cleavage between the breasts not including the breasts.
==Theories of cleavage==
[[Evolutionary psychology|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."<ref>Charles B. Crawford & Dennis Krebs (eds.), [http://books.google.com/books?id=B96QZyBluRgC&pg=PA113&lpg=PA113&dq=%22flat+chested+ape+to+modern+buxom+woman%22&source=web&ots=RaQ7YIBwJ2&sig=cDIuiyc56Xi7rd8ZbXsU9wuraL4#PPA113,M1 "How Mate Choice Shaped Human Nature"], ''Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology: Ideas, Issues, and Applications'', Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (1998).</ref> Popular [[United Kingdom|British]] [[zoologist]] and [[ethologist]] [[Desmond Morris]] theorizes that cleavage is a sexual signal that imitates the image of the [[Cleavage (buttocks)|cleft between the buttocks]]{{Fact|date=June 2008}}, which according to ''[[The Naked Ape]]'' is also unique to humans, other apes as a rule having much flatter buttocks.
==Controversies==
In the United States there is controversy over how much cleavage exposure is acceptable in public. In two separate incidents in 2007 [[Southwest Airlines]] crews had asked travelers to modify their outfits, to wear sweaters, or to deplane.<ref>"Woman Told She Was Too Hot To Fly" NBC News, http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=102968</ref>
==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". It is a day for women to celebrate not only their cleavage, but their independence.<ref>[http://www.wonderbra.co.za/nationalcleavageday.aspx National Cleavage Day - Wonderbra<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
==See also==
*[[Breast fetishism]]
*[[Cleavage enhancement]]
*[[Mammary intercourse]]
*[[Buttock cleavage]]
*[[Toe cleavage]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{Commons|Category:Décolleté|Décolleté}}
*[http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=g&p=a&a=i&ID=424 "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]]".
*[http://www.azcentral.com/style/articles/0314bosom.html "Cleavage Is Back by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, The Baltimore Sun"], viewed 9 June 2007.
[[Category:Breast]]
[[Category:Human appearance]]
[[Category:Parts of clothing]]
[[Category:Necklines]]
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[[id:Belahan dada]]
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[[ja:胸の谷間]]
[[ru:Декольте]]
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[[uk:Декольте]]