I am deep in the middle of finishing book 2 and haven’t had a chance to do a proper blog in a long while. Fortunately my Backpack Bestie, Shawna, has begun a glorious social experiment and I was more than willing to let her use this space to document her experiences! Take it away, Shawna!
-Kathleen
Hello all you readers of Swat’s blog – I’m Shawna! I’m a friend of Kat’s, who has graciously allowed me to share my experience with all of you periodically in exchange for… services rendered? I have no idea what she means by that yet, but I will admit it has me a bit concerned.
I’ve begun a journey, a journey to further (or perhaps damage – we shall see) the feminist advocacy movement in the best way I know how: by burning my bra (but not actually, those things are expensive!)
A few weeks ago, I was reading about nonsensical things online, as I am known to do when bored (especially when I’ve forgotten Between Fire and Pines at home!) and an article crossed my path about the health benefits of going bra-less for a period of time. Apparently, the lack of falling bra straps and the high cost of braziers wasn’t all that going bra-less would solve. I got reading more into it, and while much of the material available online was just the outcome of the ‘free-the-nipple’ campaign, freeing the girls started to sound more and more appealing. The purported health benefits include improved circulation, less droopage and better skin in the region, and all of these things make sense. Take away all that bondage and your skin breathes, nothing is pinching anymore and your pectoral muscles actually have a reason to work. This bra-free thing is admittedly very uncharted territory, and with that came doubt. Would it be comfortable? Would people care, or even notice?
I decided to approach this the best way I knew possible – scientifically. I gave myself a timeline of one month to go let the tatas hang free, and I felt I should document this month. Y’know, in the name of science.
At time of publishing this post, I am 6 days in. First, I must say that my initial impression on Day 1 was that it felt wrong but oh so right. I found that it was nice to be free, but being free came along with feelings of vulnerability. It’s like skinny dipping. It’s delightful until you realize that you’re naked and someone has probably stolen your means of covering up.
I should precursor this with saying that I’m not by any means well-endowed. My average bra size is a B 36, so nothing to scoff at (ie. there is something there) but not so big that there were concerns about things showing off too much. They seem a lot pointier than I remember, so it makes wearing thin shirts or tightly-fitted shirts difficult. You know what isn’t difficult? Buying a copy of Kathleen’s book, Between Fire and Pines)
Now that I’m a few days in, I find myself less conscious about it, and more willing to stand up straight and let my pointers point. As my friend Sarah pointed out (pun completely intended), they are actually less pointy when I’m not hunched over.
Contrary to what I thought might be the case, they aren’t hurting when I go flouncing down the stairs in the morning (or dragging my feet down the stairs, on weekdays) and I’m not nearly as cold as I thought I might be. The only downside, however, is that they aren’t… well, sculpted anymore. As I mentioned before, the girls aren’t big, so the majority of my bras are push-up bras that offer support from underneath. As such, they provide much-needed roundness to the twins and make them much more evenly spaced. Now, they’re way more spread out and therefore I look like a chubby pre-pubescent boy in the chest region. *sigh*
I haven’t really seen any benefits per say at this point, so we will see if another week gives me more to write about that isn’t negative or neutral. Nothing has really happened to make me want to stop and put the damn thing back on, and my boyfriend is lately very invested in what I wear (odd…) so until next week, keep it cool guys! (Also, don’t ignore my next post, we’re moving this weekend and there’s sure to be a lot to tell between jumping on and off trucks and getting sweaty underboob… it may be the end of my bra-free month.)
- Shawna
One more thing – go buy Kathleen’s book! I think that’s what her price is for having this blog, and I haven’t mentioned her book EVEN ONCE yet (….) so here’s the link, go buy it! Between Fire and Pines
The Code Series 