‘Our breasts are not for pleasing men’: Annie Yi on her renewed perception of female body

Big or small, it doesn’t have to define us.

In a Weibo post yesterday (Aug 16), Taiwanese singer Annie Yi talks about how to choose a suitable bra but her message was more than that. She also spoke liberally about the change in her perceptions on breasts and the female body, and what she teaches her daughter about this.

Annie wrote assertively: “Our breasts are not for pleasing men, and not for female rivalry, mutual condescension or even used as bragging rights. It’s a part of our bodies and a gem we treasure. We don’t have to care about how others see it, and we are not defined by our bodies’ ages.”

The 55-year-old recounted her perceptions of breasts in her childhood and youth.

“Faster, get her a bra. She has entered puberty, if she doesn’t wear one it looks terrible,” Annie wrote that this was what neighbours told her parents when she started puberty, and that “shame” was her first concept of women’s breasts.

In high school, girls with more developed figures used to diss others who were different: “Your future husband will be disappointed.” According to Annie, this gave her the perception that “our breasts are for pleasing men”.

She elaborated: “From a source of shame to a tool for female rivalry and pleasing men – nobody felt that there was anything problematic with this line of thinking.”

Annie admitted that her line of thinking changed once she had her own daughter, explaining: “Those types of thinking are wrong. Indeed, our chests are essential for attraction and ultimately reproduction of life. However, if a man likes you for your body, he may like another body too. He has not chosen your soul but your body, which is replaceable.”

She added that a woman has autonomy over whether she wants to wear a bra, which is worn for health reasons and to maintain their shape.

“All mothers should teach their daughters the right concept. Your body is beautiful and you are beautiful, you don’t need others to define you,” Annie concluded on an empowering note.

Annie has a daughter Cindy, seven, with her second husband Qin Hao whom she married in 2015. She also has a son Harrison, 21, from her previous marriage with Taiwanese singer Harlem Yu which lasted from 2000 to 2009.