posted
So I suppose if we all want to discuss breast size accurately, we should be reporting it in cubic centimeters. Let's see, I could fill up a bowl of water and measure the displacement...
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
This is embarrassingly true, Bev. Even the ladies at Victoria's Secret don't seem to get this. When they ask, "What's your bra size" I always hang my head and say quietly, "32D".
Then they ask me to repeat myself, because they obviously didn't hear me correctly. So I say again, more loudly, "32D."
"Oh, no, honey. You're not a D. Let's go find you a nice A or B. No way you're a D."
Then, after "trying on" a 32A, 32B, and 34A I explain to them that a D cup on a 32 bust really doesn't mean anything. The cup size only means the difference between the measurements around the ribcage and the bust. Since I have a 28-inch ribcage, it doesn't take much to get one to a D cup.
It makes me mad and embarrassed just thinking about it.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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posted
I'm sorry, PSI. If anyone should understand how bras work, it should be the people who work selling them. Especially at VS where they are supposed to be experts! Yup, a 32 D is what most men think of as an "A". (Supposedly they measure by how the breast fits into their hands, and that doesn't take into account a girl's proportions at all.)
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
The worst part is that I have to pay more for a bra because it's a D and they only sell a few of their bras in that size. I generally have to settle for a 34B which is a little too small in the cup, or a 34C which is too big all around.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Someday if you are feeling "vengeful", you can ask to speak to the manager and explain who inept the gal they hired is. Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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A couple of years ago I was offered a job at Victoria's Secret and they seemed pretty rigorous about teaching their hirees (sp?) about all that stuff. I turned the job down because I had been offered one elsewhere the day before, so I never got to see if they carried through with it.
For the record, it isn't just Victoria's that this happens. That's just the most embarrassing place. It happens more often in Dillard's or things like that but generally there will be less witnesses.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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"Yup, a 32 D is what most men think of as an "A". (Supposedly they measure by how the breast fits into their hands, and that doesn't take into account a girl's proportions at all.)"
This is, obviously, because to a guy, the important factors in breast size are not how the bra fits, but how the hands fit.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Undoubtedly many men think this about themselves, Paul, but I am willing to bet good money that the proportions of a woman make a difference on how attractive their figure appears to a man. A 32 D will look bigger than a 36 A, yet be the same cup size.
posted
Yes. Something will draw the man's attention in the first place. For men who are not "breast men" this may not be a factor. For many it is.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Unless you're one of those guys who sizes up a lady by running up and testing how her boob fits in your hand. Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Oh, I know proportions matter. Heck, my taste in proportions vary with height, and I'm well aware of that. My point was that, a guy is probably not as concerned with bra size, as with size relative to the guy's hands. For women, bra size matters more, because its something you have to deal with on a regular basis. A guy is likely simply to find out what size his girlfriend or wife wears, so he can buy the appropriate lingerie for birthdays and such. For us, bra size is something we only think about maybe once or twice a year. Beyond that, its appearance, and contact.
I was trying to be a little funny, guess it didn't work.
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Men rarely tend to discuss specifics because we honestly don't have a clue.
All the discussions I've overheard tend to use vague descriptors like "they're nice, or too small or too large or" etc. without trying to delve into numbers.
Unless you're talking about a guy with an extreme and extremely specific fetish, most of us are bright enough to know how much we don't know and won't discuss it as such.
The ones who do are either fashion designers or idiots.
posted
Back to the discussion on Victoria's Secret...
I went to VS while I was in Atlanta (there are NO VS in the state of Hawaii ) and got professionally measured. They had a wide variety of size 38 bras (I even saw some 40s and 42s while I was browsing), including their new "very sexy" line - push ups without padding , which I tried on, but realized there wasn't a chance in the world that I would ever wear one in public, so I bought a more practical one instead. Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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But Paul, and Trevor, it is worse than that. Far too many men speak of cup letter size as though it is a specific thing. For instance, what man does not automatically assume that "D" means "big"? Such a man is suprised when they find out that a "D" can actually be what they might think of as small.
For instance, the first post. While a woman posted it, I imagine it was a man that originally came up with it. For all women's apparent interest in breasts, it is a different *sort* of interest than a man's, if you take my meaning. The first post shows just how ignorant *some* men are about cup size.
posted
You know, I guess a lot of it is comfort, too. I believe that technically I wear a 34, but depending on the bra sometimes I buy a 36. I also go back and forth between cup sizes depending on the style of the bra.
But now that I think about it - isn't it just easier to go without?
posted
Another big (or small) problem is shape. All bras were invented for women with breasts that stand out like cones from the chest area. Puh-lease.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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It's easier, but I assume you'd still like to have the appearance of breasts when you are fifty. Keep your bra on, for your sake.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I've discovered that when one stays at home all day there is no need for a bra. I don't like to feel, you know, *constricted* when I'm making granola from romany's recipe or crocheting throw rugs.
space opera
edit: PSI, I've thought of that. But like Olivia, I must be blessed with anti-gravs. I've breastfed 2 babies and *my* babies are still where they belong.
[ December 15, 2004, 02:44 PM: Message edited by: Space Opera ]
Posts: 2578 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I'm under the impression that breastfeeding is better for the breast shape, not worse. I could be wrong.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I is for "i love everything about breastfeeding but these freaking huge breasts". No kidding, I am a 34I and 5'1. Luckily I can find bras prettily easily from Motherwear but they ARE $38. But shirts that fit right? It does not help that B like to buy me shirts in the JUNIOR'S department and then is hurt when I won't wear them.
And with babies this size, no amount of granola-ness will convince me to go without.
Posts: 1021 | Registered: Sep 2004
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To gain and lose weight quickly is what's bad for the shape. The sudden huge breasts you get when you have a baby if you choose not to breastfeed and then the sudden diminishing of them a few days later will do a number on them. Slowly building up the size and slowly weaning your child months later should, in theory, cause less damage.
quote:Far too many men speak of cup letter size as though it is a specific thing. For instance, what man does not automatically assume that "D" means "big"? Such a man is suprised when they find out that a "D" can actually be what they might think of as small.
You know, this may just be my male ignorance speaking, but it seems to me that the current bra sizing system is rather suboptimal. I mean, it's kind of counterintuitive that cup letters mean different things when paired with different band numbers. It seems to me that it would make much more sense if there were one measurement for bands that always meant the same thing, and one measurement for cups that always meant the same thing. Wouldn't that make more sense? It still wouldn't really address the proportionality thing, because even if a C always meant the same size cup, it would still look bigger on a 5'-tall woman than a 6'-tall woman. But it still seems like it would make sense that way.
Of course, I've also always been mystified about women's sizes. The fact that the same woman can wear size 8, 10, or 12 jeans depending on the manufacturer just seems ludicrous to me. Men's sizes make so much more sense. This is how long my legs are, this is how big around my waist is, pants displaying those numbers should fit me.
Not that all men's sizes make a lot of sense. I mean, it has always bothered me that my sock size and my shoe size aren't the same.
Posts: 4534 | Registered: Jan 2003
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Men's sizing systems are definitely better. Women sizing systems assume that every female on the planet has the same proportions. It's really stupid. Apparently I have the proportions of an five-foot eleven-year-old girl with a bustle on.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote: Men's sizing systems are definitely better. Women sizing systems assume that every female on the planet has the same proportions. It's really stupid. Apparently I have the proportions of an five-foot eleven-year-old girl with a bustle on
Alright, I read Psi's comment above before I read the post discussing men's clothing. I was still in the cup-sizing system, and that quote in that context was priceless.
posted
DPR, When i was nursing, i was lucky to have the Motherwear outlet only a few miles away, so i could get bras for ten bucks or less, as well as nursing shirts.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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The reason womens sizeing is so messed up is because back in the day when standerdized sizeing was developed for the budding consept of the department sorte etc. the whole indistry was run by men with very little input by women.
My aunt once was in France and needed a bra rather desperatly, so she went ot a little bra store and when she asked the women for a bra, the lady wend up behind her put her hands around her rib cage, and then cuped her boobs. The women went strate to a shelf picked out a box and handed my aunt a bra.... apparently it was the best fitting, most comfrtable bra she ever had. She wore it for years till it fell to bits... she has always wanted to go back. It seems like it would be worth it to get something cofortable. Then again, i dont have much to be mesured in the first place Posts: 264 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
34D is the size I have to wear. 34C is the size I measure at in my 34D bra, which is the bra that fits me best. I've gotten the "Oh, honey, you aren't a 34D" line from the women at Victoria's Secret, and then I've proceeded to try on every bra they throw at me and mystify them by overflowing every single one.
Maybe I just have soft, yet voluminous breasts?
Perhaps I'm just strange, but I can't stand wearing a completely opaque sweater or shirt, and having there be a visible, indented line where the bra stops covering my breasts. And I see this on women EVERYWHERE. If you're wearing a bra designed to make you look bigger, or just give you more lift, why announce that the effect is contrived?
Sports bras are even worse. I found one that fit and kept me from bouncing, but it was discontinued. The one I've had to settle for since does almost the same job, but doesn't provide any separation, so they tend to slide together in the front...which means that in spite of being very modestly cut, I still wind up flashing cleavage everywhere. At least it works to my advantage in sparring.
Posts: 54 | Registered: Sep 2004
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My brother-in-law was riding in the car with his parents. He was in the back seat, but was being a radio Tyrant, as teen boys will sometimes do.
Just as they were passing a pretty girl in a tight top on the sidewalk, he gave his father instructions on how to get to the radio station he wanted to hear by telling which button to push. "Seek up! Seek up!"
The fallout of that little misunderstanding has provided us all with entertainment for years. Posts: 1664 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote: You know, this may just be my male ignorance speaking, but it seems to me that the current bra sizing system is rather suboptimal. I mean, it's kind of counterintuitive that cup letters mean different things when paired with different band numbers. It seems to me that it would make much more sense if there were one measurement for bands that always meant the same thing, and one measurement for cups that always meant the same thing. Wouldn't that make more sense?
Saxon, I wholeheartedly agree with you! You know, men are always complaining about how women are so complex and impossible to understand or predict. Maybe it is some sort of sick joke that bra size has to be such a mystery too.
quote: Not that all men's sizes make a lot of sense. I mean, it has always bothered me that my sock size and my shoe size aren't the same.
Again, just following along with they symmetry of this whole situation.
quote: Alright, I read Psi's comment above before I read the post discussing men's clothing. I was still in the cup-sizing system, and that quote in that context was priceless.
Same thing happened to me!
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote: In my experience, the only reason men care about bra sizes is that women care. For guys, there are "small", "medium", and varying degrees of "big", and that depends on what clothing a woman wears much more than how big her breasts actually are. By the time he finds out your bra size, he's already made his decision as to how big your breasts are [Smile]
Might not be the case on this internet forum....
I guess it just bugs me when I hear men tossing around letters like they were talking about battery sizes.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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) and got professionally measured. They had a wide variety of size 38 bras (I even saw some 40s and 42s while I was browsing), including their new "very sexy" line - push ups without padding ![[Cry]](graemlins/cry.gif)
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