Down With Bras! Pandemic Is Ridding Women Of Uncomfortable Garments

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 23:16

Down with bras! Pandemic is ridding women of uncomfortable garments

During self-isolation, many women have become so accustomed to home "relaxed" wardrobe that after the abolition of quarantine they are ready to abandon the bra forever. What is the health benefit of living without a bra?

Photo: CC0 Public Domain

Last week, the satirical feminist website Reductress published an article titled "Bra: Unpaid Vacation Extended," which discusses women's massive rejection of this intimate wardrobe piece. “It was a real challenge for me, I assumed we were really valuable employees. I was worn by everyone almost daily except during the days when I was in the wash. But I try to maintain the spirit of our entire team,”writes Reductress, ostensibly on behalf of a frustrated bra.

"I just can't imagine bras coming back after all this," Tomi Obaro, editor of the media company Buzzfeed, tweeted.

The Guardian reports that even university professors and government officials, who are required by their work to have a strict dress code, are rejecting bras.

“I put it on once after two months at a remote work and thought: why would I wear this every day? The back is itchy, the bones are pressing on the chest,”says local government member Emma Roddick.

According to Clare Turner, head of the supply department of the Bravissimo lingerie brand, the abandonment of bras is not only related to quarantine - this trend has been observed for the past couple of years. The company is focused on creating lingerie for women with a large bust, and this segment of customers is unlikely to be able to permanently abandon bras. But at the same time, the demand for more comfortable and practical underwear without underwear is increasing. Turner notes that for many women, comfort and concern for their health becomes more important than striving to please others.

Doctors believe that giving up a bra will not cause any harm to health and will not affect the shape of the breast, on the contrary. The popular myth that bras hold back sagging and reduce back pain was dispelled back in 2013. A group of scientists from the University of Franche-Comte studied the effect of wearing a bra on a woman's breasts. The study involved 330 women aged 18 to 35 years. The most accurate and innovative instruments were used for measurements: slide rule and vernier calipers. In the test, women who stopped wearing a bra had a 7 mm nipple rise.

According to the researchers, wearing a bra from an early age has no effect on sagging breasts or relieves back pain. When wearing this piece of clothing, the supporting muscles do not fulfill their function. What's more, a bra can obstruct circulation and tone down the breasts.

“For young women, not wearing a bra will increase collagen synthesis, which improves support for developing breasts,” said Dr. Stafford Broumand.

However, rumors about the deadly danger of bras are also greatly exaggerated. In 1995, a book called Dressed for Murder was published, which claims that women who wear underwired bras 12 hours a day have an increased risk of breast cancer. The authors claimed that bras limit the functioning of the lymphatic system, which leads to the accumulation of toxins in the body. The US National Center for Health Research released a statement that there is no evidence for this. What's more, body fluids move upward to the lymph nodes in the armpits rather than under the breast, where the bra bones are located.

“Women who wear underwired bras are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer simply because they are usually worn to maintain their larger breasts. Being overweight and high in body fat increases the risk of cancer. But this does not mean that underwired bras cause cancer,”the doctors write.