Bottoms up say authors in study to overturn bum deal

FROM the country that gave the world Brigitte Bardot and topless sunbathing comes a fresh exposé of the human anatomy: man’s enduring fascination with bottoms.

Large or small, pert or flabby, we’ve all got them, yet, since the dawn of time, buttocks have been seen variously as a source of inspiration and erotic desire, a taboo and a mocking V-sign at authority.

Now two journalists from France – where else? – want to get to the bottom of why the derrière casts such a spell and why it should be celebrated rather more than it is.