THE BRA: A Symbol of Female Repression
by Hannah Reyes
The best part of my every day is probably preparing to go to bed—taking a shower, drinking milk, curling up to a cold cozy bed, texting my boyfriend goodnight and praying. But you know what the most liberating part of this process is? It’s taking off my bra. Yes, I believe that brassieres are very oppressive things.
Being a girl, I have lots of experiences with breasts and bras. When I was eleven, I got my first bra (not that I needed it). I was always teased as a kid because I was such a late bloomer. This made me feel awful as a child who could not understand. It made me feel like I was less of a girl, and it made me rebel actually. I started wearing male clothes—baggy jeans, loose shirts and upside down caps until I realized that I was happier wearing female clothes. I grew up a little and so my beautiful breasts flourished as well.
However I always needed to wear a bra, and on some incidents, this really felt like a bad thing. In my five years of bra-wearing, I have already fainted thrice because of the tightness needed for ‘support.’ This is a direct manifestation of the physical repression brassieres make.
Brassieres may be useful for sports and movement, but they aren’t always a necessity. When I was a child, I also used to wonder why I could not dress up in front of men, and until now, I wonder why I have to dress up in the smelly bathrooms near the tennis courts after PE class while my guy friends can just take their shirts off and change. It makes life so much easier for them. Being suddenly in a co-ed school magnified my realization on this. I’ve always been comfortable just dressing up in front of my classmates and taking off my clothes when we had to change, and suddenly now, since there are boys, I have to be more conscious of my virtue, actions, and of my cleavage.
The bra directly covers the breasts, which directly implies that they should be hidden. Why should we hide the source of what fed us when we were all babies?
The different kinds of bras also shape the ideals of what the right kind of breasts should be. Push up bras imply that breasts ought to be ‘perky’ or not saggy. Maximizers tell women, that they can cheat their way into big breasts because men like big breasts. As a woman, I know that I don’t like men who wouldn’t like me if my breasts were tiny. Bras have become a hidden tool of ideology. I don’t think that it is fair for the female half of the population to suffer just because we have mammary glands. It’s not fair. However, the sad part is that it’s not like women will do anything about it right now. A cultural revolution is needed to fix the mindset of the people so accustomed to having women’s breasts and nipples hidden. Because it is so normal, there isn’t a clamor for a new bra-less society.
I for one wouldn’t really wage a revolution to end the oppression that bras are creating for me, because there are bigger things in life and I choose to just accept bras so I can go and worry about other things. I’m not saying that I like them though. I think of a bra-less society and I picture a slow motion scene of happy women running in a field as their beautiful breasts are freely bouncing without any bras to stop this happy bouncing. I think of this hassle free world where I can dress up wherever I want to and take off my shirt when I feel hot. However, as I said, there are bigger things in life, and I’ve gotten accustomed to these oppressive cups.
For now, all I can do is relish the fact that everyday, I get to liberate myself over and over whenever I take off my bra.
Reposted with permission from the author.
full credit given to ms Frances
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