http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/05/wearing-bras-personal-choice/
This article is pretty awesome. I feel like this is what feminism is about--empowering women to make the choices she wants to make, not making women feel guilty about choices she makes just because they happen to also align with "The Patriarchy."
It's also awesome for the simple fact that it does what lots of internet things have a hard time with these days: It's *balanced*. She writes about her viewpoint...but leaves space and hell, even welcomes the fact that her readers may feel differently!
As far as the content is concerned, I really appreciate what she had to say. That wearing bras should be a personal choice. That if you want to wear one, fine. If you don't, that's also fine! Now, as a small-chested woman...
(warning, I will be talking about boobs from here on out, so if this is a no-go subject for you, here's your "Emergency Exit is this way!" cue)
...as a small-chested woman, bras are just difficult for me. I imagine they probably are for most of us boob-havers, but I will just speak from my experience. I always get from other women in my life that I'm "lucky to have small boobs, because I don't need a bra." Well, that's not entirely true. I don't need a bra to avoid the pain of drooping boobs. But without a bra, things just look...angular. (Other small-chested people, can I get a "Mhmm!"?) And underwire just never made sense...if you are an A-cup, why the hell do you need underwire? But most basic bras have underwires, regardless of size. The wires rarely were placed right on my chest--they would come up too high around the side--not comfortable.
For probably the past three years, I've been investigating those "alternative bra options" she mentions about half-way through, not so much because of a feminist philosophy about bras, but because of the sheer difficulty in finding a bra to fit me well. Until recently, I thought I was a 34A or perhaps even a little bit smaller...and that was the smallest size you could find in a standard department store's lingerie section. Maybe 1 out of 20 bras in that size would fit me. And I was getting tired of trying to find that one bra--especially if once I found it, it then went out of production by the time I needed to buy a new one. I even tried looking in the little girls section for 32As!! No such luck. I've found a lot of these alternative bra options to be helpful and just what I need (and I have a new idea or two, too!). I'm still trying to refine some of those options and methods, but I've got a solid start on it and that feels good.
For when I do want to "conform to society's expectations" (eg., in professional contexts), I have discovered a miraculous thing: I am not an A cup. I am actually a B cup! The problem was the band size: I'm a 32B, not a 34A. They are sister sizes (so, same breast tissue volume, just distributed a little differently), but the difference is clear: the cup fills appropriately and the placement of any wires now make sense on my body.
I enjoy this freedom to choose how I utilize garments to make myself feel comfortable in my body. I'm glad someone else recognizes that. I'm glad that I'm not some "fake half-feminist" for choosing to sometimes choose alternative options, sometimes choose a "normal" bra, and only sometimes choose no bra. I'd love to try what that Buzzfeed writer did sometime--I've only ever done 1 day out in public (that I can really remember) braless. I'd be interested in trying an extended experiment, and make those same kinds of notes--how do I feel throughout the day at different situations in different outfits.
Loving this journey of learning how to "do me"--including how I choose to present my body.
This article is pretty awesome. I feel like this is what feminism is about--empowering women to make the choices she wants to make, not making women feel guilty about choices she makes just because they happen to also align with "The Patriarchy."
It's also awesome for the simple fact that it does what lots of internet things have a hard time with these days: It's *balanced*. She writes about her viewpoint...but leaves space and hell, even welcomes the fact that her readers may feel differently!
As far as the content is concerned, I really appreciate what she had to say. That wearing bras should be a personal choice. That if you want to wear one, fine. If you don't, that's also fine! Now, as a small-chested woman...
(warning, I will be talking about boobs from here on out, so if this is a no-go subject for you, here's your "Emergency Exit is this way!" cue)
...as a small-chested woman, bras are just difficult for me. I imagine they probably are for most of us boob-havers, but I will just speak from my experience. I always get from other women in my life that I'm "lucky to have small boobs, because I don't need a bra." Well, that's not entirely true. I don't need a bra to avoid the pain of drooping boobs. But without a bra, things just look...angular. (Other small-chested people, can I get a "Mhmm!"?) And underwire just never made sense...if you are an A-cup, why the hell do you need underwire? But most basic bras have underwires, regardless of size. The wires rarely were placed right on my chest--they would come up too high around the side--not comfortable.
For probably the past three years, I've been investigating those "alternative bra options" she mentions about half-way through, not so much because of a feminist philosophy about bras, but because of the sheer difficulty in finding a bra to fit me well. Until recently, I thought I was a 34A or perhaps even a little bit smaller...and that was the smallest size you could find in a standard department store's lingerie section. Maybe 1 out of 20 bras in that size would fit me. And I was getting tired of trying to find that one bra--especially if once I found it, it then went out of production by the time I needed to buy a new one. I even tried looking in the little girls section for 32As!! No such luck. I've found a lot of these alternative bra options to be helpful and just what I need (and I have a new idea or two, too!). I'm still trying to refine some of those options and methods, but I've got a solid start on it and that feels good.
For when I do want to "conform to society's expectations" (eg., in professional contexts), I have discovered a miraculous thing: I am not an A cup. I am actually a B cup! The problem was the band size: I'm a 32B, not a 34A. They are sister sizes (so, same breast tissue volume, just distributed a little differently), but the difference is clear: the cup fills appropriately and the placement of any wires now make sense on my body.
I enjoy this freedom to choose how I utilize garments to make myself feel comfortable in my body. I'm glad someone else recognizes that. I'm glad that I'm not some "fake half-feminist" for choosing to sometimes choose alternative options, sometimes choose a "normal" bra, and only sometimes choose no bra. I'd love to try what that Buzzfeed writer did sometime--I've only ever done 1 day out in public (that I can really remember) braless. I'd be interested in trying an extended experiment, and make those same kinds of notes--how do I feel throughout the day at different situations in different outfits.
Loving this journey of learning how to "do me"--including how I choose to present my body.
