Last weekend I was on the phone with my gramma while I was killing time waiting for my homies.
"What are you doing?" She asks.
"I'm in Union Square waiting for my friends." I reply
"Wait you're alone? Is it dark? What are you wearing?" She questions nervously.
"Yes I'm alone but the park is packed, people are everywhere. Yes gramma it's dark, it's 10:30pm. I'm wearing jeans, and a tank top and some flats...what's it matter what I'm wearing?"
"Well are you wearing a brassiere?" She pries, "It's very important for a young woman to wear a brassiere so she doesn't end up with her tits around her belly button."
I'm gonna put my shit out there real quick and let all you strangers know that I have pretty small boobs and I go braless...brassiereless...a lot now. I didn't used to, I used to wear padded bras - attempting to fill things out and give me cleave - but in the last year or so I've started loving my small boobs for what they are and embracing the fashion possibilities that go with them. That night, coincidentally, I was not wearing a bra...though I told gramma I was so she didn't worry about my future droopy tits.
Since I couldn't find any on a Google search, I decided to write my own Guidelines for Going Braless. Oh, and there are a few exceptions:
* Supermodels and catwalk situations are not being taken into consideration. This is for regular girls who do regular things like go out to dinner, party, etc.
* As for work, I think a bra should always be worn.
* There are plenty of tanks and dresses these days with built-in bras, so this doesn't apply to those either. Think more along the lines of t-shirts, beaters, button ups, tube tops, halters, etc.
Here goes:
SHIRT COLOR/MATERIAL: If the nipple/areola color can be seen through the shirt, you are revealing too much. You are not a nursing mother who shows her boobs to everybody all the time. Allowing people to see the shape of those mammary glands is great, but the color is TMI. I love Rihanna and I love her style, but No to this:
BOOB SIZE: Let's put it this way, if you were to jump on a trampoline and your boobs fly up when you jump and make a loud SMACK against your chest when you land...OR if they're big enough that they make your back hurt when you don't wear one...OR if they go as far as your elbows when you have your arms at your side (like Drew Barrymore below)...I believe you need a bra. No to this:
THE FAKE FACTOR: This might be a slightly controversial statement, but I think fake boobs are great. I especially like them because they allow big breasted women to go braless - whenever...with whatever they feel like it. It's a beautiful thing, and who better to demonstrate than the boobiest wonder of the world, Pam Anderson. Yes to this:
OWNING IT: I experienced it the first few times of going braless...it's like dayum, I'm braless. It makes you more aware of your boobs than ever...and yes, of your nipples too. But once you get the...hang of it (pun intended!)...it can be fabulously liberating. Below are some ladies that work the bralessness. Yes to this:
So that's what I have so far. I suppose it's a list in progress...any other guidelines to add? Do's and Don'ts, Favs and Faux Pas?
'prece.
7 comments:
Hahah love that topic.
I'm so jelly!
Good article. But I hate to burst your bubble about pam anderson (lowercased o purpose), in that pic she has a bra on.
If you can't see it, adjust the contrast on your monitor a little, and it will become easier to see.
Still a good article though...
Actually, they did this study once where they measured women's breasts for a period of time to see how much they sagged as they got older. (I'm totally serious.) They concluded that the chests that had the most time in a bra ended up drooping the most as they got older.
I read a similar article Anonymous. Aside from the fact that there has been no conclusive evidence that bras prevent sagging, Japanese researchers found that wearing a bra actually accelerated sagging. The hypothesis is that, since the breasts are supported by a bra instead of Cooper's ligaments, the ligaments atrophy and the breasts sag even more.
On top of all that, Singer and Grismaijer found a very strong positive correlation between bra use and breast cancer. Women who wore a bra 24 hours a day had a 3 out of 4 chance of developing breast cancer. Women who never wore a bra only had a 1 out of 168 chance of developing breast cancer. So by wearing a bra, a woman can be up to 125 times more likely to develop breast cancer than a woman who goes bra-less. Their hypothesis is that bras hinder lymphatic drainage.
Singer and Grismaijer were also doing a research project on bra use and fibrocystic breast disease. Their hypothesis is that anoxia (lack of oxygen) in the breasts from constricting bras plays a key role in the development of this disease. Their research involved instructing women with this disease to go bra-less for 8-12 weeks. The results were pretty amazing.
It just goes to show that the human body was designed to do just fine in a naked state. Our feet were designed to walk barefoot on soft, uneven ground. Breasts were designed to work best without a bra. This applies to exercise as well. French researchers found that, after an initial period of discomfort, women who exercised regularly and discarded their sports bras experienced greater breast comfort and firmer, more youthful-looking breasts (http://www.e-sante.be/soutien-gorge-question/sport-sante-77-243-6294.htm).
Hope this helps.
A couple of points:
1) A European country did a study of female twins separated at birth (via adoption) where one went brafree most of her life and the other didn't. If memory serves, they had three sets.
They measured the "hang factor" of them both, and asked the one to go completely brafree. After 6 weeks, the two were virtually identical. After 6 months, the one who was raised wearing a bra had a worse hang than the other.
In the study, they used the term "hang" and "sag" to identify this. A breast would "hang" if the natural support structures were in tact and doing their job of supporting the breast. A breast would "sag" if the natural support structures were not doing their job.
They then went out and studied various women who did/did not wear a bra, and found they could identify those who did/did not based on the "hang" or "sag" of the breast.
So: wear a bra, and your breasts will sag; go bra free and they will hang nicely.
On behalf of all heterosexual men, I suggest going braless all the time. Thank you.
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