"Det går väl aldrig att vara perfekt som kvinna" : En intervjustudie om den kvinnliga levda erfarenheten av att ha bröst

Sammanfattning: The aim of this study is to analyse how women talk about their breasts, how their breasts affect their orientations in the world as well as how their relationship to their breasts changes throughout life. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with eight white and heterosexual cisgender women between the ages of 23-64 years old. The main theoretical frameworks for the study are phenomenology and the life schedule. The interpretational work has been conducted through thematic analysis.  The study shows how the women meet different expectations and ideals connected to their breasts throughout their lives. The heteronormative life schedule is relevant for understanding how these experiences are formed. Starting from the women´s entry into puberty and when they develop breasts, their place in the world changes. The breasts bear a strong meaning for how the women in the study construct themselves as sexual beings as well as heterosexual subjects. The meaning of the breasts is generally mirrored against the male desire. The relationship to their own breasts is formed by ideals of normative breasts which shape their experience of having breasts. The ideals are perceived as more intense during younger years, whereas age is a way of negotiating the meaning of the breasts. The empirical material show that the meaning of the breasts changes with the different stages of life but always plays a vital part in the women’s orientation and how they perceive themselves in their everyday life.