July 13, 2021

"I have 38D boobs and have been wearing a bra since fifth grade, so the thought of returning my boobs to any state of confinement has left me horrified."

"How could I go back to imprisoning my ladies after a wondrous year of letting them roam? In the words of Kate Lambert, 'I see women out and y’all are wearing bras again. I THOUGHT WE HAD AN AGREEMENT.'... Babe, I assure you, it is not about politics — it is about comfort. A few years back, a dear friend wrote about her bra-free path, saying that the decision to not wear a bra was not political, 'except insofar as everything a woman does with her body that isn’t letting someone else dictate what she ought to do with it is a political decision.' That sounds about right to me."

From "Free the Boob!" by Dayna Evans (NY Magazine).

4 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

Wendybar writes:

"I am 60 years old, and have hardly EVER worn a bra, even though most people would think I should. (No 38D, but I am 38C) It isn’t about anybody else, it isn’t political, it isn’t for attention. It is because bras are so uncomfortable, that unless I am dressing in a sheer top, it ain’t happening."

Yes, I agree. You just have to dress a bit strategically. Those who think it's obvious are wrong.

By the way, not wearing a bra is also good for keeping them from getting saggy with age!

Ann Althouse said...

Rebecca writes:

"Reading this article made me realize again how shockingly out of touch I am with the hardcore stay-at-home/social distancing folks.

"I often think (perhaps incorrectly?) that most working people had to go to work in person due to the nature of their jobs, meaning the bra-less aspect would be a moot point for the majority. They either continued to wear or not wear... whatever."

Ann Althouse said...

Tanya writes:

"You said in comments: “By the way, not wearing a bra is also good for keeping them from getting saggy with age!”

While there was ONE study of 300 women in 2013 claiming that, the substantiating evidence never followed.

“… the idea that it can is a persistent misapprehension probably arising from wide publicity given a pronouncement in 2013 by a professor at a small French university. Jean-Denis Rouillon, whose field is sports medicine, claimed to have spent 15 years on a study of the anatomy of more than 300 women before reaching a “preliminary conclusion” that bras make breasts sag. In a radio interview he maintained that wearing a bra weakens muscles that hold up the breasts. Rouillon’s work has not been published, so all we know is what he said in interviews at the time. Even today (four years later), we’ve seen no evidence to support his claims.”
(https://www.drweil.com/health-wellness/health-centers/women/do-bras-cause-breast-sagging/)

I think you are sharing a myth—aging and weakening ligaments is a better explanation. Feel free to skip wearing a bra if you want, but not in support of a myth!

Ann Althouse said...

Sydney writes:

"The story you mention in your post highlights the politicization of COVID. Certainly, Desantis is politicizing it with his campaign merchandise, but so is the reporter for the Washington Post. I get so tired of newspapers misusing numbers to scare people. Florida may have one of the highest absolute case numbers, but if you look at their week by week trends it's obvious that they, like the rest of us, are in the low, background noise level of COVID cases. http://ww11.doh.state.fl.us/comm/_partners/covid19_report_archive/covid19-data/covid19_data_latest.pdf

"It's time for us to realize that we are past the pandemic stage and now in the endemic stage of this new virus."