It’s kind of hard to ignore a 36-point headline emblazoned with the words “Men’s Nipples.” Why has Sunday Mainichi (Sept. 12) chosen to raise this heretofore largely ignored topic? “Many women,” it writes, “take an interest in men’s nipples that protrude through their linen shirts or polo shirts. Rather than men’s backs, we’re in an era when men’s nipples are discussed.”
“I was in a beer garden the other day. The nipples of the man at my table were poking through his polo shirt, and I couldn’t get my mind off them!” pants Mika Naito, a 39-year-old author of erotic fiction.
Naito says she is particularly turned on by the “fresh” nipples of young acting hunk Haruma Miura, age 20.
An unnamed female journalist is quoted as saying she likes big, dark ones. “Because I feel more secure when I’m with someone with the same color and shape as mine,” she explains. “A guy with little nipples is also a little man in other ways,” she adds.
The above are by no means isolated instances. When essayist Sachiko Ikeno asked 100 girls in their 20s working in Tokyo if they had any interest in men’s nipples, 57 replied that they did, and 77 conceded they liked men to have “nice nipples.” Other remarks were offered concerning the degree of hairiness and one gal’s amazement when discovering that a certain gentleman’s nipples were inverted.
“I was surprised by the large number of women who say they’re interested in men’s nipples,” Ikeno says. “This may be evidence that more barriers between human males and females are disappearing.”
One 28-year-old survey participant working for a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals complained that the sight of a male co-worker with nipples visibly poking through his shirt distracted her to the point that she “couldn’t get any work done.”
Authoress Naito remarked that she uses different descriptions of men’s nipples to indicate whether they’re slobs or narcissistic fops.
The next astonishing bit of information served up by Sunday Mainichi is that more men are undergoing cosmetic surgery to make their nipples smaller. Tatsuro Kamakura, who oversees a chain of eight surgical clinics in around the nation, says he performed 17 boob jobs on men last year, and this year (as of end-August) he’s up to 10 already.
“Nearly all of them want smaller nipples,” says Kamakura. “Sometimes men are embarrassed when their children tell them, ‘Daddy, your boobs look just like mom’s!'”
The article also takes up the uplifting topic of brassieres for men, which was previously featured in this column.
Naito even goes so far as to predict that based on the rising number of herbivorous males in their 20s, it’s only a matter of time before some fashion house introduces bikinis for men.
“It would direct women’s attention toward men’s’ breasts as an erogenous zone,” says Naito with an approving nod.
Source: “Onna ga sono ki ni naru otoko no chikubi,” Sunday Mainichi (Sep. 12, page 134)