Ashley Montagu

Natural Selection and the Form of the Human Female Breast-Reply

To the Editor:— The evidence for the statement that the widespread belief that suckling a baby will deform the breast is erroneous is provided by the innumerable women who have suckled babies and have never developed anything resembling a deformed breast. Controlled studies so far as I know are, unfortunately, not available. There is a tremendous variability in the form of the female breast within the human species, and from individual to individual within each ethnic group. Lack of proper support and of care of the breast and aging will, in many cases, result in changes in the female breast which are often erroneously attributed to suckling. The fact is that precisely similar changes may be observed in the breasts of women who have never given birth to or suckled a child. Why, if the human type of female breast has such high selective value did not the anthropoids develop