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Sarah Thornton with Michael Lewis: Myths and Misconceptions About Breasts

Sarah Thornton with Michael Lewis: Myths and Misconceptions About Breasts

FromCommonwealth Club of California Podcast


Sarah Thornton with Michael Lewis: Myths and Misconceptions About Breasts

FromCommonwealth Club of California Podcast

ratings:
Length:
55 minutes
Released:
May 22, 2024
Format:
Podcast episode

Description

An innovative investigation of the five strange worlds that worship women’s chests.
After years of biopsies, sociologist and bestselling author Sarah Thornton made the difficult decision to have a double mastectomy. But, after her reconstructive surgery, she was perplexed: What had she lost? And gained? An experienced sleuth, she resolved to venture behind the scenes to uncover the social and cultural significance of breasts.
Join us in person or online as Thornton talks with Michael Lewis and draws on what she learned from latest book, which excavates the diverse truths of mammary glands from the strip club to the operating room, from the nation’s oldest human milk bank to the fit rooms of bra designers. Thornton has insights from plastic surgeons, lactation consultants, body-positive witches, lingerie models, and “free the nipple” activists to explore the status of breasts as emblems of femininity. She examines how women’s chests have become a billion-dollar business, as well as a stage for debates about race, class, gender and desire.
Blending sociology, reportage, and personal narrative with refreshing optimism and wit, Thornton has one overriding ambition―to liberate breasts from what she says are centuries of patriarchal prejudice.
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Released:
May 22, 2024
Format:
Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's largest public affairs forum. The nonpartisan and nonprofit Club produces and distributes programs featuring diverse viewpoints from thought leaders on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast — the oldest in the U.S., since 1924 — is carried on hundreds of stations. Our website features audio and video of our programs. This podcast feed is usually updated multiple times each week.