Women's somatic styles: rethinking breast self-examination education

In this ethnographic study I explored women's somatic and sexual experiences, reception of breast self-examination (BSE) messages, and reactions to the practice of BSE. Mainstream BSE education uses messages that deemphasize the woman, her breasts, and her relationship to them as sexual. The turbid confluence of societally eroticized breasts and self-touch taboos makes it unlikely that women filter these messages in an asexual way. Using grounded theory, I examined women's expression of the self-body relationship and the sociocultural milieu within which women consider BSE education materials. Seven subjects varying in age, sexual orientation, parenting, and relationship status were interviewed about their physical experiences, self-touch, and body image. Subjects also participated in a BSE class and focus group, and composed a journal entry describing their reactions to practicing BSE. Discernible patterns in somatic memories, somatic styles, and reactions to BSE educational messages were found. This study suggests a need for a more consciously feminist approach to BSE education.