Sizing Guilt and Denial

For some reason, women find it harder to accept their true bra size than their age. Why? It boils down to guilt and denial because of what 'the norm' has been defined as in the past.

I'm sure you've read that 80% of all women are wearing the wrong size bra. The thing that bothers me more than that fact is just how far off women are. Example: My sister was wearing a 34C bra and just looking at her, I knew that wasn't anywhere near right. I measured her and what she really needed was a 36DD. 1 band size and 2 cup sizes larger. That's a massive difference!

Like most women, she was blown away with disbelief at this measurement. It wasn't until I actually sent her a bra in the right size that she saw the difference. She was more comfortable, better supported, she looked thinner and her clothes fit better. Why was this size such a far fetched idea? It was a denial in the right method on measuring and guilt in being anything over a D cup.

We all already know that the sizing systems, especially in the US are waaaaaay off. Old school sizing rules, like adding 4 inches to your band size, causes everything to measure incorrectly. Let's say your underbust measures 34" and your overbust measures 40". With the old method of measuring, that would put you in a 38" and if you use the standard '1"=1 cup', you'd only have a 2" difference. With old school measuring, that would put you in a 38B bra. If you take the measurements literally, as intended, you would wear a 34 band and that would be a 6" difference between underbust and overbust. That places you in the correct size of a 34DDD. That's a pretty big variance.

Women adding those 4" to the underbust, this has massively undersized cup sizes for generations and deeply impacted the sizing availability in the industry. With this sizing method, your overbust would have to measure 42" in relation to your 34" underbust to be a D cup. That's an 8" difference. 8" is a pretty large bust. If you think in those terms, anything over a D cup would seem unnaturally large on the frame of a woman of the 1950s or 1960s. That's where the idea of being anything over a D cup being a 'bad' thing.

A combination of this sizing method, the petite frames of women in fashion and the ideals of the era, women needing a D or larger were rare and frowned upon. We've carried over this idea of D+ sizing being negative ever since. Society has placed guilt on these sizes due to old school sizing for decades. With such a stigma, women have been in denial of being over a D cup, even though the sizing method has changed

As technology and production has improved, the tailoring and fit of bras has changed over the years. With it, bras are able to more precisely fit your body instead of a your body fitting a bra. This is amazing news for the fit and comfort of women, but with it, the memo about NOT adding 4" just didn't go out.

Bras are still be produced based on what size women think they are, not the size they need. This means that the bras available are limited to larger bands and smaller cups than we should be wearing. It also means that there's a smaller range of bras that they need to produce, saving them money.

There's also size guilt in the opposite. Once I found my bra size, I really got involved in the bra community, As many women learned that their band size is actually 4" smaller than they thought, 'the norm' for band sizes goes down. As the average band size is thought to be 34", this sized down to a 30" band. Yes, it made the need for proper sizing more evident, but my seeing and reading bra reviews for bras in sizes 28F and 30H made me feel like a flat chested cow being a 34F.

But truth is, I'm pretty average built. In fact, I would venture to guess that the correct average bra size is likely a 36DD for most American women instead of the standard 34C.

In any case, women are allowing an old antiquated method of measuring and sizing to make them feel guilty about their bra sizes and denying themselves the proper fit. It's pretty ridiculous if you think about it.

So, find your right size. Know that your size is normal and acceptable. Enjoy your body allow yourself to be comfortable in it.