Has there ever been such a controversial body part as the nipple?
What’s the deal with men’s nipples?
What makes them so special, and why do they even have them?
Unless you skipped your high school health class, you know that theprimary evolutionary function of nipplesisbreastfeeding.
Are they there just for decoration?
Are they some sort of evolutionary mistake?
Are male nipples a vestigial part that once served some kind of purpose?
The truth is actually pretty straightforward.
The reason everyone has nipples is that nipplesbegin forming in the wombbefore a Y chromosome is assigned.
By that point, the typical fetus already has nipples regardless of biological sex.
That’s not to say that male nipples are totally useless, though.
The male nipple might not serve a biological function, but it can come in handyduring foreplay.
Nipples are typically sensitive across thegender spectrumand are considered to be an erogenous zone in all humans.
It wasn’t always like this, though.
There was a time when the male nipple was equally reviled.
American men were expected to keep their nipples covered up at all times, even on the beach.
In 1915,fifty men were arrested for topless sunbathingat Coney Island.
It wouldn’t be until the 1930s, though, that things really began to change.
In 1934,eight men were fined for going topless at Coney Island.
The following year, 42 men were arrested in Atlantic City for going topless.
By then, it was clear that men were determined to free the male nipple.
New York finallylifted the ban on men going topless in 1936and the rest of the U.S. soon followed suit.
