Susan's Place Transgender Resources

A serious question: for those of you who are A or B cup in a bra, why do you wear one? I can think of a number of reasons why people might wear them:

Protection for sore/growing/sensitive boobs?
Support (necessary now or preemptive?)
Symbol of womanliness?
Enjoy wearing them?

Do any of these reasons, or all of them, or other reasons entirely, apply to you? I'm really curious, as I'm not clear what the point of them is except for bigger boobs, but then I don't have any yet so I have nothing to go on from personal experience :(.

Why do you wear them, if you wear them?

All of the above... after 5 months HRT, I'm barely 1/2 to 3/4 of an A cup ( :icon_tears: ) so it kind of helps me feel better about my appearance to wear a padded and slightly stuffed A.  But my breasts are still a tiny bit sore (I've never had the really bad pain everyone talks about) and so the bra helps with padding when I accidentally hit them.  And sometimes, if I jump, they hurt a little bit, and the support is quite welcome.

I recently just put on 25 pounds to get back to a normal body weight, but it all went to my belly and nothing to my breasts.  The bra helps balance my proportions out since I have nothing up top otherwise.

I don't have any boobs but I like to wear one just because it is part of feeling feminine.  My wife has bigger boobs but she hates wearing one and will only wear one when we have to go out.

I just became an A cup but the extra weight is helping that. I wear a sports bra to give the girls a little protection, stop them from giggling which hurts and to hide them a little bit. With the extra weight they just look like moobs so I don't worry too much about hiding them. What surprised me was how quickly I started feeling naked and exposed without a bra.

Makes me feel more confident about myself, I guess a symbol of womanliness, that I have enough boob size to warrant wearing a bra. I also like the way they look, the bra itself as well as when its on me. Sure sometimes they get uncomfortable wearing them if on too long, but still prefer than not having one on.  When I first  started wearing a bra so many years ago, it felt like I was being embraced, in a nice way, I gained comfort actually in wearing a bra, just feels right to me. At home, sometimes I wear one, sometimes I don't, depends on my mood I guess, if I'm just lazying around, then no bra. If out, whether shopping or at work, yes, a bra all the time. Sure sometimes women go without a lot, but I'm not looking to gain that kind of attention, boobs jiggling about freely, nipples saying hey look at me, sure I enjoy a little bit of bounce as well as some attention once in a while, but I don't want to look sloppy, especially not at work, just not a profession thing to do, braless boobs would be a distraction. Oh, plus wearing a bra makes me look like I have fuller, larger breasts than I actually do, so again, more confidence.

I wear one to make them appear better shaped than they really are. 
Also, a push-up works wonders for cleavage.  ;)

One word.  Cleavage.  Enough said.

It helps with my confidence and it makes me just feel plain better about myself! I have been off hormones for 3 weeks now because I am getting an Orchiectomy next week. Mine appear to have shrunk not being on hormones and its getting to me. But my wife/partner has been telling that i will have what she calls a "boob-plosion" once i go back on hormones.  :D

Thanks for the replies, and I hope no-one found the question iffy. This all helps me to make sense of the bra, fingers crossed I'll need one one day :).

You are mistaken if you think a B cup doesn't need support. Believe me it does. I remember running down the stairs when they started to grow to that size, feeling them bounce up and down and thinking "Owww, that hurts!" A sports bra is also now essential for the same reason. Another thing it does it hide your nipples away. They do tend to pop out at the most inopportune moments. The nipples also need to be protected from chaffing.

Okay, ouch! All this makes sense.

I just didn't appreciate the gravity of the situation.

;D

Quote from: Helena on May 19, 2011, 02:08:07 AM
Yeah, even little boobs need support because they'll sag over time.

Says the girl with the biggest boobs I've ever seen grow after just 9 months...  :o

besides - like me you don't really fit Padma's size profile to be in this thread miss "C cup all on your own!" ;)

Mind you she is exactly right though! Going braless sounds very cool until you do it and try running for a bus! OWWW!  :o

You know, looking back at my original post, the tone is kind of iffy - I am genuinely curious about bras, but underneath that was just frustrated boob envy, I'm annoyed with Dr Perring for making me wait >:(. Oh well, I can enjoy all your boobs vicariously (if that's okay with you...:))

And of course they are great things to shop for. So many colours and styles and it is really funny to see guys terrified of being in a lingerie shop >:-). And Helena 9 months ::) ::) ::)

You have triggered world wide jealousy

Cindy

Quote from: Padma on May 19, 2011, 03:34:47 AM
You know, looking back at my original post, the tone is kind of iffy - I am genuinely curious about bras, but underneath that was just frustrated boob envy, I'm annoyed with Dr Perring for making me wait >:(. Oh well, I can enjoy all your boobs vicariously (if that's okay with you...:))

Thing is my good personal friend Dr Russell Reid only narrowly escaped severe penalties for being too allegedly free and easy with the sweeties. Dr Michael Perring is also a friend of Russell's and has learned from what happened, namely that it is a small world, and what you do in it with the best of intentions, can sometime backfire on you if you get a cabal of one or two difficult patients and a handful of other doctors who don't approve of your clinical practice.

For this reason he HAS to be able to show that he has abided by the SOC guidelines which call for a  wait of 3 months before HRT is started, during which time the patient is supposed to be counseled about their gender issues so that informed consent really can be demonstrated to have been "informed".

Ie they were given all the information needed to make the decision on a truly informed basis.

If you had been able to demonstrate that you had had some counseling from someone else prior to coming to see him I feel sure you would have gotten what you wanted.

Be patient Padma. You will get there. After all you've waited for several decades to get to this point. Hopefully a couple more months won't harm you too much.

Now, I'm not on HRT or anything, but when I had all my stuff I wore it to feel more feminine. I physically didn't need one, so it was for aesthetics and my peace of mind.

@Janet- Cleavage? Whats that? lol jk.  ;D

True, Jenny - I'm not saying I can't deal with my impatience, I'm just saying I have it :).

The thing is, I may have been waiting several decades, but I've only really experienced anything like full-on dysphoria over the last couple of months, and that's what's giving me this new sense of urgency for change. For the moment, all I can do on my own is fight the tide of male hair with cold steel, but Dr Perring said he'd probably be happy to recommend finasteride sooner than the HRT, so that's a start.

But I'm taking myself very seriously, and want to be met with that. And at the same time, it's obvious to me that he and I have only met twice, and that the relationship upon which he would feel confident to make medication recommendations needs more time to develop. So I'll keep my inner tanty in a box :).

(All this is playing hell with my English - I started sentences with and, but, and so... channelling my inner adolescent...)*

*No, I don't really care, I think it's funny, given that I'm a proof-reader!

a few reasons...
1:even while mine are A-cups if I do somthing active, Like dance like a maniac, Or go for a jog, Or race down stairs then they still bounce and tug painfully.

2: My nipples grew ALOT more than my actual breasts also my boobs are kinda pointy, I got a slightly inappropriate comment from a friend when a cool summer breeze blew past me. *Poink* -.-

3: As my boobs are kinda small and pointy what helps with both of these problems is just a small amount of padding, It evens out the shape obfuscates the big nipples, and gives them a degree more volume, To wear padding you need a bra.

I didn't see two other reasons. So your nipples don't scrape on the inside of your clothes. So people can't see your nipples through you clothing.

Quote from: Helena on May 19, 2011, 09:59:44 AM
It's not all sunshine and cake...they tend to bang into things, like doors :(

I can see why you're leaning towards kevlar, wheels or no wheels :). But I assume a certain amount of sunshine and cake are required for healthy breast growth. I plan to test that theory in the field, cometh the hour.

Yup, you'd want a bra for that :D.

Hmm....

QuoteProtection for sore/growing/sensitive boobs?
Support (necessary now or preemptive?)

Well, I have been wearing it though only AA size or less as it does bounce when I move and it had hurt. Though I have just discovered that it no longer really hurt now. I'm guessing that's not a really good sign for growth :(

QuoteSymbol of womanliness?
Enjoy wearing them?

Well before when I had nothing, I wore it all the time along with my breast form, even when going to sleep. Helped me to feel more feminine. Now though, not so much. Not when going to sleep (make me feel uncomfortable), and even not during the day at home if I'm being lazy.

I do definitely wear it when out. Makes my breast look at least visible and a more desired shape. Also help if the bras are shaped or with a little bit of padding.

I'm an A right now. I get occasional boob pains, but I just kinda feel naked and inappropriate going without one.

I guess it's kinda funny. Today, my roommate told me she thought me boobs looked really great in the top I was wearing as we were traversing downtown for a scavenger hunt event. Made me happy, at least.

Hope you don't mind if I jump in here. In the early eighties, my childhood skin allergies kicked in big time, and I hated wearing a bra because I couldn't find a single one that was 100% cotton--the only fabric I could wear back then.

When I moved away from my parents, I stopped wearing bras altogether. They made my skin break out worse. So I usually wore colorful cotton t-shirts, the equivalent of a Hanes Beefy-T, with pictures and messages on them. Being young, I was...well, my chesticles were firm and high-set. They jiggled. Men liked them. I had mixed feelings about them, but I was in my assimilate-as-a-girl period, and I really had no choice about skipping the bra. Anyway, I liked men and liked the male attention.

Here's the thing. Maybe times have changed, but back then, I was treated differently because I was "loose." A lot of people thought that made me "loose," if you know what I mean.

I wasn't big--B cup--but men talked to my chest (that happens a fair bit anyway), some men thought I was easy (I was polyamorous, but not easy), and I got a number of requests that I pose nude for photos and sketches. Often, even when I was trying hard to fit in as a female, I was embarrassed.

Some female coworkers refused to even talk to me. I was close with a male coworker, and he explained that they talked about me behind my back. They thought I was showing off what I had, and they thought I must be looking to sleep around--or actually sleeping around. All because I didn't wear a bra.

My male coworker thought they were just jealous. I think it was a bit more complicated than that. People had been trained to disapprove of a braless woman.

I hope times have changed, but I suspect that a lot of people will still make snap judgments about a woman who doesn't wear a bra.