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Look at the old pinup girls. Marilyn Monroe, Bettie Page, Jayne Mansfield. Boobs hanged freely, somewhat soft, often pointy. No obvious separation between boobs and body. Nothing that would be considered "perfect" today. There boobs were neither perky, nor firm nor round.
Even in the Eighties Whitney Houston would still sing without bras on her covers and still have a ... scoped neck.
And here we are today with a completely different ideal. What happened?
Hello boys! said Ewa Herzigova in her Wonderbra. It was 1991 Suddenly we were all to wear pushup bras with boobs pushed into the middle of our bodies and touching there. The TV serie Baywath got popular at the same time because of Pamela Anderssons boobs. Silicon and silicon looks had hit the market.
And now silicone boobs aesthetic is all over the bra market and we really don't even understand it. Just look here on Bratabase. There's a say here "bras works like braces on teeth". There is attempts to migrate boobs, there are talks about separating tissue from tissue.
Why?
Wires.
Wires separate our boobs from the rest of our bodies so that our boobs can become more fake looking. When we strive to remigrate, when we strive to shape our boobs we are copying the plastic sergeants ideal. Because that ideal is all over the bra fitting world following it like a shadow.
It decides what we see as sexy, it decides what we see as looking good, it decides how bras are designed. And really it's very very unnatural.
Boobs are not separated from the chest wall. There are no sharp lines between boobs and chest walls apart from when a person is stick thin, has super firm boobs or is altered by a knife. And that's why measuring breast root is so hard. There's no natural separation between chest wall and boobs. There's no lining up a perfect circle like in this knife altered pair of boobs: http://www.realself.com/photo/660438?offset=119&topic_id=106770
When I see the bra fitting world I see some renaissance for the pinup ideals. But what is even up with words as "granny" when it comes to pants and bras. What about vintage? Really have you ever seen a picture of Marilyn Monroe? Granny?! And the dread for softness and sagginess, who taught us?
Really look at the old pinups. Because though there waists was manipulated by corsets and their postures fake their boobs were certainly not.
Ideals changes and how we feel about them also changes. I've come to see the separation of boobs from the chest wall as something very problematic and also on a squishy body even somewhat violent. Wires works as knifes cutting off what "shouldn't be there" and saving what "should be there", just like the plastic sergeants determines how a "perfect breast" should look. Why do we listen to that kind of logic? Why does the ideals of a huge industry that feeds on us feeling bad about ourselves determine our perceptions of beauty?
Yes, I'm speaking to myself. Because all my life of all that body hatred I knew nothing of why I had it. Why did I dislike soft boobs? Who told me there was anything wrong with that? Who told me I needed projection? Who told me I needed boobs to be at the front of my chest? Who? And why?
And why did I believe them?
With that said I don't see any natural beauty ideals really. To me they are social constructs, but that's also why I think it's important to know what and why they are. To be aware of what we think and why.
Looking at old pinups is more healthy for me because I can identify. Well not with their waists but with their boobs lol.
This bra adventure didn't quite come out the way I had imagined it would. I should have written more about how separating tissue gets all sorts of side effects but I got stuck in the body ideal track instead
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Shared on Mar 22, 2013 Flag this
Oo that was epically fast :) I'm quite interested to know it works for you there
I just discovered that I got mine too! It's too small in the cups (and SO POINTY) but wow it is the best fitting band I have ever encountered. Four hooks! Little stretch! Totally no need for underwire! I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for a bigger size. More later...
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