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Welcome to this introduction of a book in the making. I'm an American teacher and photographer taking a modern look at an ancient problem: breast shame. You can be a part of the solution if you agree that it's better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

It's clear that young girls are often ashamed of their breasts while they are growing, because of their "small" size or "pointed" shape. Clothing isn't considered enough to cover growing breasts, so in public arms are often raised or books held up to hide the uncomfortable development. Some women report having felt so embarrassed about their growing breasts that they fantasized cutting them off (1).

The embarrassment sometimes persists into adulthood, so that many women feel too ashamed to perform periodic breast self-exams, or when a suspicious lump is discovered they won't see a doctor until the tumor has  grown huge or spread and drastic surgery becomes necessary. The potentially fatal decision to not breastfeed your child is often influenced by breast shame, and failure to breastfeed correlates with poorer health in children and increased risk of both breast cancer and endometrial cancer of the uterus (2,3).

Breast shame is a widespread problem in Western countries, originating in our neglect and mis-education of children. Instead of teaching children to be proud of their breasts, adults merely exhibit their own inherited shame and say nothing. Does a "training bra" serve some rational purpose, or is it a kind of "dog collar" as one woman called it?

Many uninhibited observers would add: growing breasts aren't ugly, they're beautiful, and the sudden and relatively fast development of breasts around puberty is one of the most wonderful miracles of life. The first logical step in combating breast shame is to bring the subject out of the closet and into public discussion. What better way than to publish beautiful images of girls during this fascinating stage of life?

For the past five years I've been documenting one girl's passage through puberty with photographs in color and black and white, and detailed text describing her thoughts and experiences as her flat chest budded and then blossomed into full maturity (Tanner Stage five). Girl Becomes Woman is a true documentary, presenting objective observations, and information from competent representatives of different views about the subject - not merely propaganda promoting some particular ideology. Stay tuned for news about the forthcoming publication and reactions of the mass media to this ambitious project. Look out world, here we come!

(1) Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book 3rd ed. by Susan Love, M.D. (Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2000), p. 15.

(2) The Breast by Drs. Andrew and Penny Stanway (Granada Publishing, London, 1982), p. 16.

(3) The Politics of Breastfeeding: When Breasts are Bad for Business (3rd ed.)by Gabrielle Palmer (Pinter and Martin, London, 2009).

Anjeza at 13, from Girl Becomes Woman

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