Happy National No Bra Day, girls! By girls, of course, I mean EVERYONE who identifies themselves as female. Hello to all the cis-gendered ladies, the trans ladies, and, I’m shouting extra loud for the bi-gendered people at the back.
Now we’ve got that settled, I’ll get on to the facts us girls are all way too accustomed with. Bras hurt. The underwire digs in. They leave red marks that make you feel awful about your body at the end of the day. Most of us are not even wearing the right size. They are, quite frankly, a pain. Today, of all days, I implore you to take the thing off.
But that’s just it, isn’t it? You can’t. What happens if your nipples show? What happens if they bounce when you walk in the street? Won’t you feel naked on the bus as that old lady tuts at you?
No, no, and NO! Where have these thought processes have come from? Society! Everywhere, on every platform, on every billboard, we are told that women must cover up in fear of ‘asking for it’, or being labelled as a slut. Chances are, if you are wearing a bra because you don’t want to be considered too revealing, you, too, are a victim of this patriarchal manipulation.
Don’t get us wrong, bras are also wonderful, in their own right. They can empower us in the same way not wearing one can empower another. Many of us have gone on a bra shopping spree just to feel sexy. And it works, right? Instantly, when you walk into Boux Avenue and Ann Summers, or head online, you feel revitalized. Especially seen as so many women don’t like their bodies.
Also, don’t even get us started on matching sets. There’s something about putting on a red lace matching set from Boux Avenue of a morning, and crushing the day. It’s like, hidden underneath all of the chaos and cacophony, will always be your trusted set that makes you feel like you are killing it.
We feel like the bra should be used to empower and ONLY empower. Doing just this is one hell of a way to reclaim the bra from the patriarchal male standard of beauty it was invented to support.
Bra or no bra, we are all about pro-choice. Some women aren’t given enough of them in this world, and we need to start celebrating our right to do as we please with our bodies. Whack on your sexy set, or take it off, we don’t care! Just know that you have the right to do whatever the hell you want with your boobs.