Shape, size, cleavage... European women reveal their opinion of their breasts. – AFP pic, March 3, 2016.Women across Europe no longer covet busty figures and are instead coveting smaller, perkier chests, a new survey has revealed.
Results from lingerie brand Triumph's 2016 Female Confidence Report have found that changing body shape trends now mean that 40% of women across Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Denmark and Poland are concerned with the perkiness of their breasts. Meanwhile 34% are concerned about their size, 32% about shape and just 29%are worried about cleavage, in a clear sign that the curvy pin-up shape lusted after in the early 2000s has been overtaken by a slinkier silhouette.
A total of 1 in 3 women in the UK and France are unsatisfied with their busts, while Italian and Polish women are the most "breast confident," the study found.
While younger women aged 18-29 have a tendency to crave cleavage, those aged 30-50 hanker after a more lifted shape. Overall, the study found that 41% of women in their thirties are unhappy with their décolletage.
While motherhood has been shown to boost overall confidence, 40% of moms admitted to being less happy with their breasts after having children, with half feeling that they have lost their "perfect" shape and 63% bemoaning sagging.
Some 70% of women surveyed agreed that a well-fitting bra was the quickest way to a confidence boost – however, only 60% knew their size and only a third had been fitted in the last year. In total, just 10% of the women said they invest a lot of effort in to finding the right bra. Italian women came out top in this category, with 69% getting regular fittings.
Lucy Aphramor, founder of UK health consultancy Well Founded and one of the seven experts implicated in carrying out the study, argues that breast confidence is tied up with the social pressures involved in the aging process.
"We live in a youth obsessed culture, and women whose sense of self is tied up with norms of physical perfection will likely struggle with their changing body when they start aging, and changing breast structure is clearly going to be a part of that," she explains.
The study surveyed over 6,000 women in the European region between the ages of 20 and 50. – AFP, March 3, 2016.
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