Heather Keane | Contributing Writer
The jury is not just out on whether the bra is woman’s friend or foe. Those who would go bare-breasted will hooray at obscure French studies that assure us the garment is actually increasing sagging, while the rest of the media gushes with interviews conducted with medical professionals saying just the opposite. Most of us get up in the morning and strap on without considering these clinical investigations, just because we think we should. The reasons women feel this ‘should’ have fluctuated wildly since the modern brassiere’s inception, as well as the actual purpose of the undergarment. One thing that may have stayed the same is that end-of-day feeling of release when we unhook and unwind – in the glory days of Facebook Like pages, ‘When You Take Your Bra Off At Night =)’ was up there among the one-liners about going to mass and the regrettable deluge of “when your turban –” sit-coms.
If it’s a cosmetic thing, why is going without a bra any more surprising than foregoing makeup on a lazy day?
ADVERTISEMENT
It seems to be an indisputable fact that women love getting out of their bras. Along with this, we’re bombarded with headlines screaming about the detrimental effects of mistaking our measurements or falling asleep with one on. Muscles and breathing are at risk, lymphatic vessels are compressed and hormone production restricted. Not to mention the cost – for those readers who live without breasts, buyers are expected to fork out an average of €50 for a well-made bra in any department store. When you’re faced with all this, you begin to wonder: why bother? For larger-breasted women, there is an undeniable need for comfort that only a well-fitted bra can provide. What has kept the multi-billion dollar market alive for A-C cup sizes? If it’s a cosmetic thing, why is going without a bra any more surprising than foregoing makeup on a lazy day? Why does it seem less of a carefree choice and more of a grand, liberal statement?
A survey conducted by The University Times about bras took in a majority of answers from women wearing B cups. 30% of the women who wore this size said that they wore a bra most days so that their nipples were not on show. When asked to provide their own answer to the question of why they wore a bra, there was a single recurring theme among the responses from all sizes: the daily donning of a bra is an ingrained social habit, and to go against this would be more hassle than the nuisance of slipping straps and pokey wiring. A significant number of women are wearing a bra everyday for the simple reason of common decency, as if distinguishable outlines of nipples or any discernible wobbling under a t-shirt would shock any and all witnesses.
Women are literally trained to disguise them from prepubescence; the training bra serving no other physical function in the absence of actual breasts.
And this reasoning would be spot on, in a way; hardly a week goes by without tabloid reporting on a celebrity who dared to go bare, nip-slip photos trading like gold-dust. While most of us are not at risk from the paparazzi, there is still a perceived threat of ogling from our peers. While cleavage, side-boob, and under-boob are all heartily encouraged, few of us follow the footsteps of the brave and wise Jennifer Aniston – is the nipple just too real? Women are literally trained to disguise them from prepubescence; the training bra serving no other physical function in the absence of actual breasts.
While I would hate to add any fuel to the totally erroneous bra-burning fire that caught on to 60s feminism through some misleading coverage of protests, I would call on the movement to question the very simple but very pervasive pressure that women are under to present their bodies and their breasts in a neatly yet artificially packaged way at all times. In other words, I’m urging: get your nips out for the gals.
