Okay, so in comments to one of the Hijab Monday posts folks got onto the subject of what kind of article of clothing worn by Western women might be equivalent to the hijab in terms of cultural/patriarchal pressure to wear it, wearing it won’t protect you from harassment but might keep you from getting branded a slut, not wearing it might be the proper feminist choice, it’s restrictive and/or uncomfortable, and something that women would probably not choose to wear had they their druthers. And the answer seemed to be: the bra.
Allow me to quote from an article I found at Bitch, Ph.D.’s place to demonstrate why, for me, that kind of talk is crazy talk:
A pair of D-cup breasts weighs between 15 and 23 pounds—the equivalent of carrying around two small turkeys. The larger the breasts, the more they move and the greater the discomfort. In one study, 56 percent of women suffered from breast pain when jogging. . . .
Computer systems then track the breasts’ motions in three dimensions by following the moving lights. “We can actually work out exactly where they’re going, how they’re moving, and how this movement is affected by bras,” Steele says. Breasts move in a sinusoidal pattern, Steele has found, and they move a lot. Small breasts can move more than three inches vertically during a jog, and large breasts sometimes leave their bras entirely. “We have videos of women who, particularly if the cup is too low, spill all over the top,” Steele says.
The larger the breasts and the more they move, the more momentum they generate. To change or stop that momentum requires a large force, usually applied through bra straps. When straps are thin, the pressure exerted through them can be so great as to leave furrows in the shoulders of large-breasted women. As the straps dig into the brachial plexus, the nerve group that runs down the arm, they may cause numbness in the little finger. In some cases, breasts can slap against the chest with enough force to break the clavicle.
I like my clavicle as is, thanks.