175
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 21 Sep 2025
175 points (100.0% liked)
Asklemmy
51016 readers
860 users here now
A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions
If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!
- Open-ended question
- Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
- Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
- Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
- An actual topic of discussion
Looking for support?
Looking for a community?
- Lemmyverse: community search
- sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
- !lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities
~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
As a teenager and young woman, not being able to find a good super supportive sports bra for my weird size was one of the reasons I stopped trying to exercise.
I still hold my boobs automatically when taking the stairs or when I run somewhere. Otherwise it hurts and feels like my breasts are being torn away from my body.
I'm a dude, we seldom think about these kinds of things until women bring them up then suddenly women disliking having large boobs makes a lot more sense. Sounds like a bit of a raw deal, fun to look at, terrible to own.
I'm sorry you gave up exercise because of this. Female friends telling me the same is what inspired me to write the response. One was an amazing long distance runner who had breast reduction surgery in high school so she could continue her passion.
Sports bras are a necessary evil for many women. It's not a societal restriction but a physical preference for less discomfort.
Kudos to your friend going through with a reduction to pursue her passion!
In my case, I have a very small band width, so I cannot shop in regular stores. (In my city, there is exactly one shop that has my size.) As a teen and young woman, I simply didn't have the money to even consider a 50€ sports bra, let alone a 100€+ one. And since the selection is super limited, I didn't even find one in my size that would - no matter the money - give enough support for comfort.
Funnily enough, regular wired bras with cups still ended up giving better support than any sports bra I could find. But they still only work so well. (And I, by far, wasn't as passionate about sports as to get a reduction, or spend my limited bra money on a semi working, ugly sports bra.)
My friend was committed, but it helped that it was not uncommon for larger endowed teens where I grew up. Doctors openly discussed the option and it was covered by government health insurance.
I can sympathize with the difficulty of finding the right size. It wasn't until my wife traveled to her country of ancestry and measured at a department store in her 20s that she finally obtained her first bras that truly fit. They still weren't cheap. I think that is when I learned the burden of what is, for most, a medical support garment.
And that is what I find so frustrating. Bras should be treated like a medical device: basic models that fit well should be covered by government health care. The 200-400% markup in most prices is outrageous, and there would be a positive return for society with women more confident in more activities.
Of course, I live in the United States, so we've regressed to the point of figuring out whether dying of communicable diseases is bad.