Nipple stimulation or breast stimulation is

stimulation Stimulation is the encouragement of development or the cause of activity in general. For example, "The press provides stimulation of political discourse." An interesting or fun activity can be described as "stimulating", regardless of its physic ...

of the

breast The breasts are two prominences located on the upper ventral region of the torso among humans and other primates. Both sexes develop breasts from the same embryology, embryological tissues. The relative size and development of the breasts is ...

. Stimulation may be by

breastfeeding Breastfeeding, also known as nursing, is the process where breast milk is fed to a child. Infants may suck the milk directly from the breast, or milk may be extracted with a Breast pump, pump and then fed to the infant. The World Health Orga ...

sexual activity Human sexual activity, human sexual practice or human sexual behaviour is the manner in which humans experience and express their sexuality. People engage in a variety of sexual acts, ranging from activities done alone (e.g., masturbation) t ...

, an indirect non-sexual response, or kissing the nipple. As part of sexual activity, the practice may be performed upon, or by, people of any

gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns ar ...

. It may occur with the use of fingers, orally, such as by sucking or licking, as well as by use of an object. Nipple stimulation may produce sexual excitement, and erect nipples can be an indicator of an individual's

sexual arousal Sexual arousal (also known as sexual excitement) describes the Physiology, physiological and psychological responses in preparation for sexual intercourse or when exposed to Sexual stimulation, sexual stimuli. A number of physiological response ...

. Adult women and men report that breast stimulation may be used to both initiate and enhance sexual arousal, and a few women report experiencing

orgasm Orgasm (from Greek , ; "excitement, swelling"), sexual climax, or simply climax, is the sudden release of accumulated sexual excitement during the sexual response cycle, characterized by intense sexual pleasure resulting in rhythmic, involu ...

from nipple stimulation.

Development and anatomy

Male and female breasts,

nipple The nipple is a raised region of tissue on the surface of the breast from which, in lactating females, breast milk, milk from the mammary gland leaves the body through the lactiferous ducts to Breastfeeding, nurse an infant. The milk can flow th ...

s and

areola The human areola (''areola mammae'', or ) is the pigmented area on the breast around the nipple. More generally, an areola is a small circular area on the Human body, body with a different histology from the surrounding Tissue (biology), tissue ...

s develop similarly in the fetus and during infancy. At

puberty Puberty is the process of physical changes through which a child's body matures into an adult body capable of sexual reproduction. It is initiated by hormonal signals from the brain to the gonads: the ovaries in a female, the testicles i ...

, the male's breasts remain rudimentary but the female's develop further, mainly due to the presence of

estrogen Estrogen (also spelled oestrogen in British English; see spelling differences) is a category of sex hormone responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sex characteristics. There are three ...

and

progesterone Progesterone (; P4) is an endogenous steroid and progestogen sex hormone involved in the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and embryogenesis of humans and other species. It belongs to a group of steroid hormones called the progestogens and is the ma ...

. Smaller female breasts, however, are more sensitive than larger ones.

Physiological response

Breasts, and especially the nipples, are

erogenous zone An erogenous zone (from Greek , ''érōs'' "love"; and English ''-genous'' "producing", from Greek , ''-genḗs'' "born") is an area of the human body that has heightened Sensory processing, sensitivity, the sexual stimulation, stimulation of wh ...

s. Nipple stimulation may result in

, and erect nipples can be an indicator of an individual's sexual arousal. The individual's sexual partner may find such erection erotically stimulating. A survey in 2006 found that sexual arousal in about 82% of young females and 52% of young males occurs or is enhanced by direct stimulation of nipples, with only 7–8% reporting that it decreased their arousal. The stimulation of women's nipples from suckling, including

, promotes the production and release of

oxytocin Oxytocin is a peptide hormone and neuropeptide normally produced in the hypothalamus and released by the posterior pituitary. Present in animals since early stages of evolution, in humans it plays roles in behavior that include Human bonding, ...

and

prolactin Prolactin (PRL), also known as lactotropin and mammotropin, is a protein best known for its role in enabling mammals to produce milk. It is influential in over 300 separate processes in various vertebrates, including humans. Prolactin is secr ...

. Besides creating maternal feelings, it also decreases a woman's

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...

and increases feelings of bonding and trust. Oxytocin is linked to sexual arousal and

pair bonding In biology, a pair bond is the strong affinity that develops in some species between a mating pair, often leading to the production and rearing of young and potentially a lifelong bond. Pair-bonding is a term coined in the 1940s that is frequently ...

, but researchers are divided on whether breastfeeding commonly incites sexual feelings. Nipple erection during sexual arousal or breastfeeding are both caused by the release of oxytocin. Nipple erection is due to the contraction of

smooth muscle Smooth muscle is one of the three major types of vertebrate muscle tissue, the others being skeletal and cardiac muscle. It can also be found in invertebrates and is controlled by the autonomic nervous system. It is non- striated, so-called bec ...

under the control of the

autonomic nervous system The autonomic nervous system (ANS), sometimes called the visceral nervous system and formerly the vegetative nervous system, is a division of the nervous system that operates viscera, internal organs, smooth muscle and glands. The autonomic nervo ...

, and is a product of the pilomotor reflex which causes

goose bumps Goose bumps, goosebumps or goose pimples are the bumps on a person's skin at the base of body hairs which may involuntarily develop when a person is Tickling, tickled, cold or experiencing strong emotions such as fear, euphoria or sexual arousa ...

. Few women report experiencing

from nipple stimulation. Before Komisaruk et al.'s functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) research on nipple stimulation in 2011, reports of women achieving orgasm from nipple stimulation relied solely on

anecdotal evidence Anecdotal evidence (or anecdata) is evidence based on descriptions and reports of individual, personal experiences, or observations, collected in a non- systematic manner. The term ''anecdotal'' encompasses a variety of forms of evidence. This ...

. Komisaruk's study was the first to map the female genitals onto the sensory portion of the brain; it indicates that sensation from the nipples travels to the same part of the brain as sensations from the vagina, clitoris and cervix, and that these reported orgasms are genital orgasms caused by nipple stimulation, and may be directly linked to the genital sensory cortex ("the genital area of the brain"). In '' Patterns of Sexual Behavior'', a 1951 analysis of 191 traditional cultures, the researchers noted that stimulation of the female breast by the male before sex "seemed absent in all subhuman forms, although it is common among the members of many different human societies."

Psychological response

Studies have shown that nipple erection can significantly impact people's perceptions of and behavior towards women. A recent psychological study found that the presence of nipple erection can influence people's views of a woman's intelligence, morality, and sexuality. Another study found that men are more willing to help women with erect nipples, which could indicate that men view women with nipple erection as more sexually attractive and approachable.

References

{{Human sexuality

Stimulation Stimulation is the encouragement of development or the cause of activity in general. For example, "The press provides stimulation of political discourse." An interesting or fun activity can be described as "stimulating", regardless of its physic ...

Oral eroticism Sexual acts

Development and anatomy

Physiological response

Psychological response

See also

References