“If you don’t wear a bra, when you will get old your boobs will be droopy”
I think you have heard this quote at least once in your life. And I have always believed that. Till TODAY!
As a second size bra cup B, I have never struggled so much to find a bra and didn’t really give attention to the type, colour and shape of the one I was buying so far as it does what it’s supposed to do. Even I was giving less attention to sport bra: all I cared about it my boobs don’t jump all over the place and allowed me to run without pain and annoyance, with that I was satisfied.
But as soon I left my tomboy life and started wearing tight with very deep collar dresses, in which a bra would have been like a punch in the face, I had to confront something I didn’t think I would have enjoyed so much: going out without wearing a bra.
My problem of going around bralessness (I think for most of women) was that I always felt uncomfortable with the thought that people could see my nipples through the shirt. And it is still something I am concerned about, but at the same time I think: is it more important what other people think or how I really feel? Do I feel good without a bra? If the answer is yes, so let’s do it (But if you think to go to church without a bra, and your mum tells you “Are you going to pray to Jesus without bra?” Then maybe reconsider it lol)
Then I started to ask myself, why do we need to wear a bra?
“Bra became popular in America during the First World War, in part because the metal previously used to make corsets was needed for ammunition at that time. It’s a product like any other, sprung from a perceived necessity, and also from an attempt to create necessity where there is none or very little “(The New Yorker).
As medical doctor, I know that wearing bra has pros (controlling breast shape and size, helping with back pain for larger breast, and better posture) but even cons (sweating, shoulder and neck pain, skin abrasions, discomforts, especially when you can’t still find the perfect bra for your breast: “70-80% per cent of women wear bras that are too small, while 10% are wearing bras that are too big. In addition, according to The Institute of Osteopathy, there’s evidence that larger breast/cup sizes can be a contributing factor to changes in your posture, which in turn may lead to musculoskeletal pain” (Elle).
But isn’t it always a relief when we get back home and we remove our bra? Are bras really necessary or is just a social norm that has been constructed and kept followed by women?
I did some research and read lots of articles about this issue trying to answer my questions. Something that all papers agree on is that there is no scientific evidence at the moment that says rather bra are totally necessary or are dangerous (Fred Hutch; U.S. National Cancer Institute)
All theories about wearing bra causing cancer or not wearing bra contributing breast sagging or instead wearing it increase the possibility of it (as Professor Jean-Denis Rouillon states in his famous and criticized study) are still “myths”. Researchers are still trying to find a direct cause, connection among bra and different types of breast condition (as studies of Hsieh, C. C.; Trichopoulos, D. (1991). “Breast size, handedness and breast cancer risk”); but genetics still play a key role and it is very difficult to state one single thing that many women can value.
But going out without bra is not only a medical issue, but also a very important social and cultural aspect.
It is now fundamental that bralessness phenomenon has been an important topic in the feminism movement. To mention two episodes:
- In 1966, during the height of the hippie era in San Francisco, two women students at San Francisco State College protested a proposed law that would require women to wear bras by walking topless near the campus (“FALSE: Hillary Clinton Went Topless in the 1960s”; “Nude Fine Art Print from San Francisco State College, 1966 at Wolfgang’s”. Wolfgang’s. Archived)
- In 1968 at the feminist Miss America protest, protesters symbolically threw a number of feminine products into a “Freedom Trash Can” (Dow, Bonnie J. (2003). “Feminism, Miss America, and Media Mythology) These included bras, which were among items the protesters called “instruments of female torture”and accouterments of what they perceived to be enforced femininity (Duffett, Judith (October 1968). “WLM vs. Miss America”. Voice of the Women’s Liberation Movement. p. 4.)
“Woman body has always been seen as a sexual object, something dangerous, provocative, distracting and disrespectful, and breast and nipples even nowadays creates gossip and discussions”.
Women have protested the physical and cultural restrictions imposed by bras over many years.
And nowadays we have a lot of movement like “bracott”, “free the nipples”, “no bra no problem”, “No bra day”, because as you might think, the problem is still present.
Bras are increasingly an issue for women in the workplace and academia. Women have sued employers who have attempted to require them not to go braless, and for harassment and even termination as a result of not wearing a bra while on the job. Furthermore young women in high school have been disciplined for going braless.
“Because women’s breasts — and especially nipples — are so sexualized, and because our culture is both hyper-sexualized and also quite repressed, women who want to challenge this and go topless are wanting to challenge the double standard, judgement, and harassment,”.(Laura Tempesta)
Justifications like “it is an expectation” of wearing a bra or “they are a distraction”, “they might make others uncomfortable” for being bralessness are the ones given often from others and are discriminating and inacceptable in 2020 , considering that the requirement to wear a bra is unequal treatment, given that boys are not supposed to cover their breasts or nipples.
I believe that one of the main problem is the failure of those concern ( parents, families, administrators…) to educate boys that girls should not be harassed or given undue attention because they are braless.
At the same time not wearing a bra has become a social, trend and fashionable issue.
We have a list of many female celebrities (Rihanna, Chelsea Handler and Miley Cyrus to mention few) in TV, magazines and events do not wear bra and making brassless a millennial trend. Rihanna once quipped, “If I’m wearing a top, I don’t need to wear a bra”- VERY CLEAR!
Till today , LADIES,is a personal choice, on how and if we feel to wear a bra or not. Don’t feel shy and feel free to do what you want to do. It is your body and you choose what you want to do with it : “Even as a woman with breasts, I do what I want with my body. Every human has nipples. There shouldn’t be any shame [in showing them], but if you want to hide them, that’s okay, too, as long as the choice is yours.” ((“The #FreetheNipple Movement Came Stateside in 2017—But French Girls Have Been Doing It for Decades”. Vogue.)
Ps. By the way I started to go permanent brassless 🙂
The Feminist Health CIC 