This may be a little too far out for the P-Vine, but I wanted to share it in case it helps any. My apologies to anyone who is squeamish.

One of my favourite sci-fi books of all time is Thendara House by Marion Zimmer Bradley. She had a lot of voice in her books about social issues including women's rights, warfare, etc. Anyway, when a woman chose/grew up to be an archer, she would voluntarily have her breast removed in order to be able to pull back the string to the fullest, etc. It made me cringe the first time I read it, but as I read the whole DARKOVER series and realised how brilliant they were, it made me think: if I ever had to have such a procedure, I would come to terms and feel a sense of strength and, dare I say it, pride of survival.