Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 87 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
Exclusive to OpEd News:
Life Arts    H4'ed 1/31/17

The Supporting Role of Breasts

By       (Page 1 of 7 pages)   No comments, 4 series
Follow Me on Twitter     Message Joan Brunwasser
Become a Fan
  (89 fans)

Florence Williams
Florence Williams
(Image by Sue Barr)
  Details   DMCA

My guest today is science writer, Florence Williams, a contributing editor at Outside Magazine who also writes for National Geographic, The New York Review of Books, Slate, Mother Jones, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Bicycling.

Joan Brunwasser: Welcome to OpEdNews, Florence. The New York Times Book Review makes a list each year of the top 100 notable books for fiction, poetry and nonfiction. Your first book, Breasts, a natural and unnatural history [2012] made that list for nonfiction. While it's extremely well-written and shot through with humor, the topic is a serious one and often quite upsetting. Were you caught off guard by this high level of recognition, especially first time out?

Florence Williams: Well, as an environmental journalist, I'm pretty used to writing things and watching them go bump against the floor. This is science journalism after all, and as you mention, the topics can get depressing. But this topic is BREASTS! So I figured it would get more attention than the usual clean air act story. I tried hard to think in new, original ways, and the idea of looking at a body part through an environmental lens was pretty fresh. So it was really gratifying to see that get some attention and become part of a larger conversation about health, pollution, culture, feminism and the environment.

cover art for Breasts: a natural and unnatural history
cover art for Breasts: a natural and unnatural history
(Image by courtesy of Florence Williams)
  Details   DMCA

JB: Why breasts for your first book? When breasts are frequently seen as little more than sex objects, were you afraid you wouldn't be taken seriously?

FW: Maybe I went into it naively, but as someone who always took breasts seriously, I didn't think it would be weird. I got the idea for writing the book when I found out there were toxic industrial pollutants rising exponentially in American breast milk, and I wrote an article about that for the New York Times Magazine. I never came at it as a breasts-are-titillating topic. It only became a little more engaged with that as the book came out, and all these morning radio shows wanted me on for some laughs (as well as a few moments of sobriety). That was kind of a surprise to me, actually. I guess there are still a lot of adolescent brains doing talk radio...But I think I was still able to get some good points across, I hope.

Scientists now believe that the primary biological function of breasts is to make men stupid.

Next Page  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Funny 1   Supported 1   Inspiring 1  
Rate It | View Ratings

Joan Brunwasser Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Follow Me on Twitter     Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Other Series: View All 66 Articles in "Women"

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Interview with Dr. Margaret Flowers, Arrested Tuesday at Senate Roundtable on Health Care

Renowned Stanford Psychologist Carol Dweck on "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success"

Howard Zinn on "The People Speak," the Supreme Court and Haiti

Snopes confirms danger of Straight Ticket Voting (STV)

Fed Up With Corporate Tax Dodgers? Check Out PayUpNow.org!

Literary Agent Shares Trade Secrets With New Writers

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend