The Kama Sutra gives detailed instructions on how to pamper him with pats. Italians of our day grope it before placing a bet. American women have it spruced up by plastic surgeons, so much so that it now rivals breast augmentation. The female arse, buttocks, bum, bottom has always been able to command awe, stimulate the imagination or inspire slavish devotion. Curiously, it serves less aesthetic than practical purposes in the first place: Biologists explain that the rear end keeps our bodies balanced while we walk. But whichever pygomaniac - as the die-hard fans of this body part are somewhat matter-of-factly called - you ask, the answer is always the same: The female bottom is there to flatter the eye, the hands and certain lower body parts. A tight ass inevitably triggers a boner. As Zora Neale Hurston notes in And Her Eyes Were Looking God, "Men noticed her butt cheeks, which were so plump and firm, it was as if she had grapefruits in her back pockets." And the rapper Sir Mix-a-lot proclaimed, "My anaconda won't eat nothing right now, unless you got an ass, 'hot."Falling behind in the Western culture of the bosom-obsessed second half of the 20th century, the shapely bottom is currently undergoing a remarkable resurgence, which some attribute to the American singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, others think has to do with the increased popularity of ass-fixated hip-hop culture. But this enthusiasm for shapely asses is nothing new. The ancient Greeks paid homage in temples to Aphrodite Kallipygos, the goddess of the beautiful pos, and in most cultures of the southern hemisphere the female butt has always been an object of worship.The Big Butt Book, the fourth work in the critically acclaimed series Dian.