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Buttocks

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The buttocks (often called butt, buns, bum, booty, ass, arse or backside) are rounded portions of the anatomy located on the posterior of the pelvic region of the apes, humans and many other bipeds or quadrupeds.

Anatomy

Female human buttocks.

The buttocks are formed by the masses of the two gluteal muscles: the gluteus maximus and the gluteus medius (also known as 'the glutes'), superimposed by a layer of fat. The superior aspect of the buttock ends at the iliac crest and the lower aspect is outlined by the horizontal gluteal crease. The gluteus maximus has two insertion points: 1/3 superior portion of the linea aspera of the femur, and the superior portion of the iliotibial tractus. The masses of the gluteus maximus muscle are separated by an intermediate gluteal cleft or "crack" in which the anus is situated. They allow primates to sit upright comfortably without needing to rest their weight on their feet, as (for example) cats and dogs must do when they sit upright.

Some baboons and all gibbons, though otherwise fur-covered, have characteristic naked callosities on their buttocks.

Connotations

Buttocks depicted on a plaster replica of Donatello's sculpture of David.

Many consider well-formed buttocks to be sexually attractive. However, the definition of "well-formed" is up for debate, as sexual aesthetics of the buttocks vary considerably from culture to culture, per fashionable style period and even from person to person.

In Ancient astrology, various parts of the body were associated with signs of the zodiac- e.g. the buttocks to the Balance.

Depending on the context, exposure of the buttocks in non-intimate situations often causes feelings of shame, embarrassment or humiliation in a non-exhibitionist subject, and embarrassment or amusement in a non-voyeurist audience. Expression like "caught with the pants down" or, more explicit in Dutch, met de billen bloot 'with bared buttocks', use the image as a metaphor for non-physical embarrassment as well.

Students at Stanford University conduct a "mass-mooning" in May 1995

Willfully exposing one's own bare buttocks as a protest, a provocation or for fun is called mooning. Mooning someone is generally considered an act of and for the young, but some adults — especially intoxicated — have been known to practice mooning as well.

On the other hand having one's bare buttocks exposed by another unexpectedly and in public, sometimes called a "(de)pantsing", is usually a source of humiliation.

A wedgie is pulling someone's undergarments or swimming trunks up through their 'crack' to be hauled over the top of the victim's pants, sometimes partially baring the victim's buttocks. An atomic wedgie is pulling the undergarments or swimming trunks up over the victim's head.

An adult (or adolescent) forced to expose or take punishment on their buttocks may seem reduced to the status of a child in cultures where public nudity below the waist and/or spanking is common only for young children.

It is no coincidence that the English verb to spank is the only one specifically meant for physical discipline of a specific part of the body, and various other languages have terms specifically referring to spanking; in many punitive traditions, the buttocks are the preferential target for painful lessons, from educational to judicial, as offering them for punishment (especially divested) adds a psychological dose of embarrassment to the pain, which can be meted out with less risk of longterm corporal harm then elsewhere. Thus in various cultural traditions expressions like "A black man's ears are in his buttocks" (e.g. in Uganda) or "seat of learning" clearly refer to the preferential paining of the posterior in a submissively bent and exposed position.

Many comedians, writers and others rely on the buttocks in these and other ways (such as flatulence and toilet humor) as a source of amusement, camaraderie and fun, despite (or in some cases searching) the risk of being held to be in dubious taste, if not censored.

Quite commonly phrases use the buttocks as a synecdoche for a whole person, but generally with a negative connotation. For example, terminating an employee may be described as "firing his ass". One might say "move your ass" as an exhortation to greater haste or urgency. Expressed as a function of punishment, defeat or assault becomes "kicking one's ass". Such phrases also may suggest a person's characteristics, e.g. difficult people are termed "hard asses". People deemed excessively puritanical or frugal may be termed "tight asses".

Certain physical dispositions of the buttocks -- particularly size -- are sometimes identified, controversially, as a racial characteristic (see race). The most famous intersection of racism and buttocks may be the case of Saartjie Baartman, the so-called Hottentot Venus.

Look up buttocks in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Synonyms

The anatomical Latin name for the buttocks is nates (pronounced /'neɪti:z/ in English), which is plural; the singular, natis (buttock), is rarely used. As buttocks are an object of both shame and fascination, it is not surprising that there are rather a lot of colloquial terms, euphemistic, ironic or other, to refer to them. These include the following:

  • backside, posterior, behind and its derivates (hind-quarters, hinder or the childish heinie), rear or rear-end, derrière (French for "behind") - all strictly positional descriptions, as the inaccurate use of rump (as in 'rump roast', after a 'hot' spanking), thighs, upper legs; analogous are
    • aft, stern and poop, naval in origin
    • caboose, originally a ship's galley in wooden cabin on deck; also the "rear end" car of a freight train considered a cute synonym suitable for any audience
    • bottom (and the shortening "bot" as well as childish diminutives "bottie" or "botty"), but the use of near-homophone booty (black slang for the female body since the 1920s) as famously by K.C. and the Sunshine Band's Shake Your Booty, is an 'artistic liberty'
    • tail (strictly anatomically a zoomorphism, humans only have a tail-bone; also used for the even more sensual phallus) and tail-end
    • tush or tushy (from the Yiddish / Hebrew "tuchis" or "tochis" meaning "under" or "beneath")
    • trunk, in American English, particularly when describing large buttocks "junk in the trunk"
  • arse or ass, and (butt-)hole - a pars pro toto (strictly only the actual anal region); also used as an insult for a person
    Buttocks depicted in a portrait of a woman in pastels by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec c.1890.
  • badonkadonk - onomatopoeic slang meaning the voluptuously bouncing, large yet firm buttocks of a woman
  • breech, a metaphorical sense derived from on older form of the garment breeches (as the French culotte meaning pantoloons, via cul from Latin culus 'butt'), so 'bare breech' means without breeches, i.e. trouserless butt
  • bum - in British English a mild often humorous reference to buttocks, not necessarily in vulgar or sexual context; however also used in reference to anal intercourse, often as an insult, as in bum boy (for a homosexual). Also verb - to practise anal intercourse
  • buns, mounds and orbs - shape-metaphors, usually in the plural
  • bundas - origin derived from Portuguese. A bunda-lover is also known as a 'Bundaist'
  • can (a container) had an unusual development: Slang meaning "toilet" is c. 1900, said to be a shortening of piss-can, meaning "buttocks" from c. 1910, verb meaning "fire an employee" (to flush=dump?) from 1905.
  • cheeks, a shape-metaphor within human anatomy, but also used in the singular : left cheek and right cheek; sounds particularly naughty because of the homonym and the adjective cheeky, lending themselves to word puns
  • fanny - a socially acceptable term in print, in the United States at least, for many years before some of the bolder terms came along; and a subject of jokes, since "Fannie" can be a woman's name, diminutive of "Frances". However, in British English fanny refers to the female genitals and is considered vulgar.
  • fundament (literally "foundation", not common in this general sense in English, but for the butt since 1297)
  • hams, like buttocks generally as a plural, after the meat cut from the analogous part of a hog ; pressed ham refers to mooning against a window; brawn, a singular derived from the Frankish for ham or roast, is also used for both a muscular body part (but either on arms or legs) or boar meat, especially roast
  • moon was a common shape-metaphore for the butt in English since 1756, and the verb to moon meant 'to expose to (moon)light' since 1601, long before they were combined in US student slang in the verb(al expression) mooning "to flash the buttocks" in 1968
  • prat (British English, origin unknown; as in pratfall, a vaudeville term; also a term of abuse for a person)
  • seat (of the trousers; or metaphorically) another long-standing socially acceptable term, referring to the use for sitting - but compare the sarcastic use of seat of wisdom and similar expressions, such as 'seat of learning', referring to use as target for an 'educational' spanking.
  • ultimatum (Latin, literally 'the outer-most') was used in slang c.1820s.
For more slang terms for the buttocks, see WikiSaurus:buttocks — the WikiSaurus list of synonyms and slang words for buttocks in many languages.
For unrelated homophons of butt(ocks), see also butt and bud (disambiguation)
  • The word "callipygian" is sometimes used to describe someone with notably attractive buns. The term comes from the Greek kallipygos, which literally means "beautiful buttocks"; the prefix is also a root of "calligraphy" ("beautiful writing") and "calliope" ("beautiful voice")
  • Both the English (in) tails and the Dutch billentikker ('tapping the buttocks') are ironic terms for very formal coats with a significantly longer tail end as part of festive (especially wedding party) dress
  • a pygopag(ous) (from the Greek pygè 'buttock' and pagein 'attached') was a monster in Ancient (Greek) mythology consisting of two bodies joint by common buttocks, now a medical term for (Siamese) twins thus joint back-to-back
  • pygophilia is arousal by contact with buttocks; an adept is called pygophilist
  • pygoscopia means observing someone's rear; pygoscopophobia a pathological fear to be its unwilling object
  • pygalgia is soreness in the buttocks, i.e. a pain in the rump.
  • Steatopygia is a marked accumulation of fat in and around the buttocks.
  • uropygial in ornithology mean, situated on, belonging to, the uropygium, i.e. the rump of a bird
  • "bubble butt" has at least two connotations, which are at odds with each other: either a small, round and firm pair of buttocks resembling a pair of soap bubbles next to each other, or a large rear end, seemingly about to burst from the strain. In both cases, the term implies an appealing shapeliness about the buttocks.

Fashion

Japanese man in a traditional swimwear Fundoshi -rokushaku

In most cultures with a (partial) nudity taboo, this specifically applies to the buttocks (as usually to the most erogenous zones), so mainstream garments generally cover them completely, even when that is not a practical requirement. An example of another attitude in an otherwise hardly exhibitionist culture is the Japanese fundoshi.

Clothing can be used to accentuate the buttocks. Some articles are designed specifically to show off the buttocks or to expose them, both outer or single layer garments and underwear (visible only in the bedroom or lockerroom). Wearing only thong underwear or a black vinyl dress with a large hole cut out of the back might be examples. Wearing thong underwear with pants is done to hide "panty lines", creases in the pant caused by certain underwear that breaks the smooth line of the body. Both of these choices are undertaken for style. However, some articles merely have utilitarian features. The butt flap in long underwear, used to allow baring only the bottom with a simple gesture (as for hygiene), is a good example. That flap was so ubiquitous that it was used in cartoons and comics for generations.

Emphasis on one part or another of the body, especially the female body, tends to shift with generations. The 1880s were well-known for the fashion trend called the bustle, which provided even the skinniest woman with seemingly huge buttocks. Like long underwear with its flap, this clothing style was acknowledged in popular media for generations afterward. The popularity of this fashion is shown in the famous Georges Seurat painting Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte in the two women to the far left and right.

Later, the cleavage of the buttocks could be exposed by some women as fashion dictated trousers be worn lower.


File:Cellulite.jpg
Female buttocks with exagerated cellulite in European advertisement.

There are endless references, e.g. dozens of movie productions with the keyword buttocks or a mention in the English title on them [1], even during the days of the Hays Office. The rules seemed to be that the buttocks could be referenced, but only in a presumably non-sexual context, like spanking of a child and/or in a humorous situation.

Early in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, Uncle Henry is holding the gate open for Miss Gulch, and at a seemingly appropriate time he lets it go, and it swats the disagreeable old lady in the rear, emphasized by a musical "thunk" on the soundtrack's underscore.

There is a scene in the 1942 movie Yankee Doodle Dandy in which Cohan's father wishes to punish his disobedient son. He can't hit him anywhere that would show, or that would otherwise impact the family's vaudeville act. The frustrated father finally says, "Here's one place with no talent!" He turns young George over his knee and begins spanking, as flour (left over from a stunt in the preceding stage show) flies up and emphasizes the apparent impact of the blows.

The comic character Ado Annie in the 1955 movie musical Oklahoma finds herself on the receiving end of this subject at least twice. First, she mentions something (not quite getting the point) about having been compared to a Persian cat, because they both "have soft, round tails". Then, during the song The Farmer and the Cowman, she makes a funny comment, and Aunt Eller swats her on the bottom.

The 1956 horror film The Bad Seed has a fairly silly postscript ending in which the mother spanks her naughty child, for having murdered several people during the course of the film's plot.

In 1966 Yoko Ono made a roughly 90 minutes long experimental film No. 4, colloquially known as Bottoms which consists of nothing more than footage of human buttocks in motion while the person walks on a turntable.

At one point in the 1971 James Bond adventure Diamonds Are Forever, Bond (Sean Connery) stashes a computer tape into the back of Jill St. John's bikini bottom, whispering "Your problems are all behind you now." Later, the villain (Charles Gray) notices this object and says, "We're showing a bit more cheek than usual, aren't we, Miss Case?" before roughing her up for her treachery.

By the 1970s, television was also becoming more liberal. There was an episode of The Bob Newhart Show in which it came out that Bob's secretary, Carol, had once gotten a tattoo on her behind, which she was now looking to have removed. Bob seemed to sympathize, and then commented with a slight smirk, "We don't want you to be the 'butt' of any jokes!"

In an infamous episode of The Newlywed Game from 1977, host Bob Eubanks asked the husbands, "What's the most unusual place you've made love?" In the next segment, one wife who was asked that question came back with, "Is it in the ass?" The incident itself was long thought to be an urban legend, but it actually did happen, as revealed on a "Game Show Bloopers" TV special in 2002. (See www.snopes.com.)

In a nighttime talk show, Lee Marvin happened to mention that he had received a Purple Heart during World War II, and the host asked him where he was shot: "In the ass!" It being late at night, and merely truthful and not lascivious, the line was not bleeped.

The 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap contained the song "Big Bottom" featuring the lyric Big bottom, big bottom, Talk about bum cakes, my girl's got 'em, Big bottom drive me out of my mind, How could I leave this behind?

In the 1985 movie Pee Wee's Big Adventure, star Paul Reubens ("Pee Wee Herman") responds to someone who says, "Yes, but..." with the comment "Everyone I know has a big 'butt'!"

In the 1994 movie Forrest Gump, the title character has just received a medal from President Lyndon Johnson, who asks Forrest where he was shot: "In the butt tocks, sir," (as if tocks were something attached to his butt); then the President remarks, "I wish I'd seen that!" and to everyone's surprise Forrest, misunderstanding him, turns around and drops his trousers.

File:Zeta posterior.jpg
Catherine Zeta-Jones attracts attention in Entrapment.

The 1999 film Entrapment was both lambasted and praised as an excuse to show a closeup image of Catherine Zeta-Jones raising her rear end. Zeta-Jones' buttocks are, according to one reviewer, "the true star of the film."

Martial Arts Movie Star Jean Claude Van Damme has appeared nude in various movies, giving his naked buttocks considerable celluloid exposure, leading some reviewers to declared his the "best butt in cinema." This was parodied in an episode of Friends when he remarked "I can crack a walnut with my butt."

Several songs have been released which glorify this body part. Examples include

Rolling Stone magazine named the 1990's the "Decade of the Butt" because many of these songs were released in that decade.

Agnetha Fältskog of ABBA was famous in the late 1970s for her spandex pants and having 'The Sexiest Bottom in Europe', as the press described it. When she asked if this was true, her rejoinder was "How can I answer that? I don't know, I haven't seen it."

In the latter part of the 20th century, this body part really "came out of the closet" and has become a frequent popular culture topic, as with the famous entertainer Jennifer Lopez, whose rear end is as often discussed as Dolly Parton's breasts were at the height of her career.

See also


Sources and references

  • Etymology on line one can also search for most synonyms
  • For synonyms: On-line thesaurus
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) passim
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