Bra vs. Braless (females only)

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I can't bear wearing an upper decker flopper stopper with the correct strap size. The cups on all mine fit, but the straps are miles too loose. I won't go into a changing room with a bra fitter, because it just turns into a battle! I need a bra because of my E cup size – I still have firm boobicles that look OK if I don't wear one, but I get neck pain – but I just can't bear the strap to fit as it 'should'. My strap measurement is 34", but I wear a 38". It seems to be enough to give me some support and stop the stress on my neck.

I can manage at home if I'm just sitting and watching TV in the evenings – and it's just the best feeling when you've taken the ruddy thing off. It's like taking your boots off after a 20-mile hike!

It disappoints me that women still feel under this pressure, actually – it's as if all the hard work done by feminists in the 60s and 70s never happened. I feel lucky to have been guided in my upbringing by a feminist (who simply didn't wear a bra and no-one else ever thought it was any of their concern), and to have been carefully taught how societal pressures on women work. Whilst I've never been a hard-line feminist, I grew up in the 1970s with, for instance, a healthy disregard for the way women are portrayed in the media, and I'm utterly dismayed by the way some of today's young women are affected by it. Someone surveyed 9-year-old girls in Britain about whether they'd ever consider cosmetic surgery – 9 year-olds!! – and a high percentage of them said they would. Thousands and thousands of British women go for breast augmentation each year, without counting all the other kinds of surgical mutilation that goes on.

So...women...whilst I know virtually none of you would be vulnerable enough to these kinds of pressures to go as far as cosmetic surgery, understand that the pressure to wear a bra is part of the same deal. If you like reading, look up some of the feminist literature of the 60s and 70s. It might seem hard line and even over the top now, but those women had to go to those extremes, and they were fighting for you. Reading about their struggles might just make you feel justifiably angry at the pressures that society – and not all of these are men, many of whom have been brave enough to change – places on women. Or at least, just pissed-off enough not to feel you have to wear a bra.

I wouldn't feel right without a bra on, but my friends have criticised that I should wear a more shaped bra. I always worry then that the horrible offensive glares I get from other females of any age are to do with them somehow noticing that I don't have a proper bra on.

I have a love/hate relationship with bras. I have a large bust so going without a bra in public causes me way too much stress and anxiety. Yet, I've found it is hard to find a great bra and wearing an inferior one can also cause stress; physical pain plus not fitting right can be embarrassing.

In a nutshell though; I absolutely adore bras that fit perfectly (though I haven't had many) and I love basic sports bras.

In the perfect world though it'd be great to go bra-less without it being an issue.

I like the pressure of the bra. When I was a teen I would only wear sports bras because I didn't like all the seems. As I got older the feeling of the pressure and support got to be more important than the discomfort of the seems so now I wear padded with an underwire. I used to NEED to sleep in a bra. I don't HAVE to now, but sometimes I'll put on a sports bra to sleep (the underwire is to pokey to sleep in).

I wear a bra almost every day because I probably wouldn't get away with going braless. Sometimes I wear sports bras.

Not that I enjoy it, but I prefer wearing bras. I am definitely not someone who can get away with going bra-less.

I have not been able to stand to wear a bra since the 1970's. I have a sensory thing that I am bothered by having anything bind me on my ribs. I have small boobs but now that I am getting older and saggier, I wish I could tolerate bras. I wear camisoles and self adhesive nipple covers (can get them from JCPenny), but doesn't help my sagging. Does anyone else have sensory issues with bras? Any suggestions on dealing with sensory problems with clothing?

I wore a bra all day until I was around 42. Then I read that wearing them could be unhealthy. I also didn't work for 3 years so didn't have to worry about appearances. Then when I was 44 I had reduction mammoplasty because they were giving me back problems so now I can get away with not wearing one. But if the shirt is too revealing, I will wear a camisole under my shirt to hide any "nipplage" that may be evident.

I am a dress size 8-10 (USA size 4-6) and require a DD - E cup so I cannot get way with braless as they bounce around a lot and this is uncomfortable.

I'm really big in that department, with a very small ribcage to support them, so I can't really get away without wearing a bra, or they wind up engulfing my waist and getting in the way.

However, I don't find bras very comfortable, in large cup sizes the straps are always spaced so widely that they start under the armpit in the front, and dig in on their way up to the shoulder! I cant go any smaller or the underwire will be sitting on breast tissue.
I sometimes go without when around the house.

I never wanted breasts, and one day I hope to have them removed.