My big breasts and me on Really now

My mum decided in her youth that the only way to have clothes that flattered her was to make them herself. She always looked good even in 70s styles, but she spent a long, long time hunched over the sewing machine to achieve the effect. She was petite and slim to boot and even if she did buy something occasionally she would have to alter it to fit.

only one person was anti breast reduction here!

i'd love to have one myself.

xposts

So eg a woman with big breasts who is a size 8 all over but with a bust that will only fit into size 18 clothes - well obviously it isn't going to make her feel good. Ideally there would be clothes to fit all shapes and society wouldn't proscribe one size being preferable over another size.... within healthy margins obv.

If you get my drift.

Women who are naturally very small and slight can't get clothes to fit or flatter
Ditto short
Ditto tall
Ditto big busted
Ditto small busted
Ditto slim hipped
Ditto big hipped

Ad infinitum

Mens clothes OTOH I love looking in mens shops. Trousers come in waist and leg. Why can't we have that? T-shirts are interesting to look at rather than what's under. And if you're bigger you can easily get fashoinable eye-catching ones which fit. Great!

It all seems not quite right.

What a coincidence that many fashion designers are men, gay men at that

Which feminists?

I was going to say that vixsatis your post is made me realise something. Or remember it. About clothing - and how women's clothes are cut in a way that totally fails to take into account the wide variety of women's bodies out there. If you have big breasts for your frame, clothes simply don't fit. Women come in so many shapes which are all natural and lovely and we only get clothes (unless we look hard) that fit a fairly specific type. I have always found this a bit odd - even when I was in my early 20s and very slim, clothes didn't fit me. And that made me feel wrong.

Yet again I feel that is is large external forces making people feel rubbish - the media and fashion industry... People have to fit their narrow ideas to feel "right" rather than vice versa. It's all arse about face.

I'm a 32J. I'm a fatter 5'2 and they still kill me.

That does sound grim, actually.

< ahem >

some feminists...

My friend had this op done when she was 19. She was 5'1". She was a slim size 8. She was a 32J.

There wasn't a bra in the world that would keep them up, she just didn't have large enough back muscles, they were disabling her! Should she have hung onto them to keep feminists happy?

I am going to report my last post in a few minutes and get it pulled

The photo in the link is only one google click away, but I don't think Kim would thank me for drawing attention to it, but would understand I am sure I am simply saying I understand why she did it, and would certainly do it myself, in a heartbeat

30GG here.

I have never had a reduction because it seems a bit disproportionate. I wouldn't have had one pre-children because I wanted to breast feed (a bit) and I wouldn't have one post children because there are risks associated with GA: leaving ds orphaned because I don't like the look of them would be awful.

Having said that, I absolutely understand why people do it. I have hated them since I was 14. I have hated the leering but even more I have hated the attitude of a lot of women: large breasts seem to be seen by many women as inherently rather vulgar and styleless and incompatible with elegance.

And then there's the clothes question. A suit for work? Ha Ha. A suit for work that isn't made out of nasty polyester? Ha Ha Ha Ha. And bras? There are the faintly surgical ones and the very trollopy ones, nothing just pretty and sexy which fits well.

And exercise? No matter how well a bra fits, running and similar are simply out of the question, partly because it is painful and partly because one is carrying the equivalent of a baby strapped to one's front. There is also of course the memory of being laughed at in a leotard.

Ghastly

I know two women who are serious runners, with large breasts, and they spend a fortune on exercise bras that keep them comfortable. And exercise bras that fit them are hard to find too.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=kim+woodburn+photo&hl=en&sa=X&rlz=1T4ADBF_en-GBGB263GB263&biw=1024&bih=512&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnso&tbnid=6MlAn6tHhuqE-M:&imgrefurl=www.blackandwhitearmy.com/forums/index.php/topic/28765-the-new-would-you-thread/page__st__1500&docid=45hro0LjS1WAjM&imgurl=www.nowmagazine.co.uk/imageBank/s/SamFoxKimWoodburn.jpg&w=400&h=300&ei=SufTTtXuHZPA8QOuv7XkDw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=172&sig=103568960995939013870&page=2&tbnh=137&tbnw=183&start=11&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:11&tx=111&ty=86" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">these look bloody painful

I don't blame her

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=kim+woodburn+photo&hl=en&sa=X&rlz=1T4ADBF_en-GBGB263GB263&biw=1024&bih=512&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnso&tbnid=nyYS-GCaduuarM:&imgrefurl=www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1231525/Im-A-Celebrity-Kim-Woodburn-isnt-fazed-witchety-grubs--shes-faced-worse-real-life.html&docid=1mhPhr0woUuElM&imgurl=i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/11/27/article-1231525-07629B28000005DC-323_468x737.jpg&w=468&h=737&ei=SufTTtXuHZPA8QOuv7XkDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=101&vpy=109&dur=125&hovh=282&hovw=179&tx=116&ty=182&sig=103568960995939013870&page=1&tbnh=163&tbnw=104&start=0&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">wow

kim was quite the femme fatale when she was younger, I believe

saf yes when I see very large breasts whether natural or otherwise I always think they look rather cumbersome. They are heavy.

Yes whatswrongwithyou Kim's breasts would be admired by those same people when she was in her 20s

Kim did say she had them done because of what someone said in the paper about her boobs being down to her waist.

Maybe that's a key difference between the surgically-enhanced and falsely uplifted kind and naturally large boobs which, once the owner gets beyond a certain age, give in to gravity.

It's as if you're only allowed for them to be big if you're young, nubile and skinny as well. Oh, and photogenic and willing to show them to the lads off for money.

very odd thread.

i did have a thought - albeit at a bit of a tangent.

it suddenly occurred to me that very large breasts out of proportion to one's build are a bit like foot binding, or high heels, or restrictive tight clothing etc. they slow you down and make you less strong in your body and burdened. and oh look they're really popular with the porn culture

never thought of them that way but really what better way to slow down a woman or make her look vulnerable than to stick great slabs of silicon in her boobs.

Yes I really think that the reason the vast majority of women get them reduced is to do with discomfort or to do with disliking them due to the attention they draw / have drawn.

The idea that people cut into healthy flesh to make it better meet a narrow idea of what is desirable or even normal is really sad.

What individual women (and men) do is up to them and I would never have anything to say about someone having these procedures done for whatever reason. The fight is against attitudes in society that make this happen not against individuals living in that society.

Just for general clarification really, it's often worth saying on these sorts of threads (and has been said upthread as well).

....and very very different to have them reduced in size for personal comfort

Don't know what to make of that. Kim seems happy with them.

I guess it's the personal vs the general

Kim had them done and feels better. So good for her.
Is it a good thing that in our society a 69 year old feels that she needs to have surgery for a "better" figure? No
That's to do with ageism as much as sexism though - I don't think that many men are comfortable with what happens to their bodies as they get older either. They can have their balls lifted I think? It was on MN that I found out that testicles meet the same effects from gravity over the years as boobs...

Kim had them lifted to look younger - different thought process I think to a young woman who gets them enlarged to meet a "lads mag" ideal.

I've got J's now and I am overweight, however when I was slim they were still huge for my frame. Like I said, it's the family curse.

I found this article that I thought might be interesting.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2067240/Former-I-m-A-Celebrity-star-Kim-Woodburn-reveals-jungle-spurred-boob-job-aged-69.html

Summary for those who don't want to click on a DM link: Kim Woodburn saw pics of herself in the jungle and been criticised for her figure, so has now had a boob reduction.

The three women I know are not overweight

2 of them are sisters, and their mother suffered all her life with massive boobs

The third also inherited her shape from her mother

"why doesn't the NHS pay towards the costs of proper bras for women big enough to meet the surgery criteria and try this for a year before referring for surgery? Or provide gym passes or dietary help which was shown in the prog to really help one of the women?"

You are ignoring two quite basic things

That women who are experiencing pain due to their breasts will have sought out bras til the cows come home, tried exercises and different postures and all sorts of things to try and stop them causing trouble before heading for the surgeon

And I don't understand why you are equating big breasts with being overweight? Of course your breasts increase in size as you get fatter and the solution is to lose weight. If you are very overweight then a breast reduction isn't the answer and I find it hard to believe that the women going for this procedure have breasts that are large simply because they have got fatter, and when slimmer were average sized up top. The women I have known who have wanted breast reductions have all had breasts which are disproportionate to the rest of their body ie they're a size 10 all over but with humungeous boobs. Amd if they got fatter it wouldn't be the fat causing the problem as their breasts would grow as well and be even more enormous and thus still out of proportion. That assumption that you have made there seems peculiar to me.