Feminism: chat
‘They’re not treating us as small men’: Team GB women get the right bras
Bergamotte · 19/06/2021 10:10
A small positive move in sport. I'm surprised that it seems managers / uniform designers or whoever hadn't already considered proper sports bras, given that the whole point of sport is to be able to move your body around, but better late than never.
It was interesting to read the case study of the hockey player who had to have various monitoring devices strapped to her chest and can now have them incorporated into her bra. Very familiar quote: "like many things in sport, the idea often starts off in male sports and then gets adapted, rather than being developed from scratch with the female athlete in mind."
www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jun/18/theyre-not-treating-us-as-small-men-team-gb-women-get-the-right-bras
SpringBluebellWoods · 19/06/2021 11:00
Really interesting - thanks for sharing. I’ve got two dds who do different sports, and even at the crop top stage it really makes a difference. One is now wearing a padded crop top for football (took ages to find one with tight enough elastic to not ride up when she’s really active) as otherwise a ball to the chest is very painful for her.
Bergamotte · 19/06/2021 13:46
@SpringBluebellWoods
Ouch, yes, I remember that stage. I'm glad you've found something that helps and hope your DDs continue to enjoy sport even through puberty.
CardinalLolzy · 21/06/2021 16:51
Fascinating article, thanks OP! Loved this bit, hadn't thought about it before;
Lorraine Lambert, who hopes to win a medal at the Paralympics in September, has been fitted with a bespoke bra which she hopes will improve her performance by keeping her breasts out of the way and preventing the tiny movements of her heartbeat being transferred to her rifle.
“Unlike the dynamic sports where they’re trying to minimise [breast] bounce, I just need to be really still, because when I shoot, we’re talking millimetre precision,” she said. “I’ve also got quite a large chest, so my bra is all about flattening me.”
To achieve this, the Clover designers used mesh panels, and the strategic placement of darts to redistribute Lorraine’s breast tissue, pushing it down, and then forwards, so that when she’s shooting, the gun doesn’t have any contact with her body. This is important, because she could be awarded penalty points if her rifle touches her breasts. “The gun is allowed to touch my hands because I’m holding it, and I’m allowed to support my arms on to my torso, but the gun physically cannot touch me anywhere on my body,” she said.
Optical sensors attached to Lorraine’s gun suggest that her accuracy has improved, as a result of the new bra. She also feels more comfortable wearing it during shooting. “It’s not only the support and how it flattens me, I just feel better in it,” she said.
Marmite27 · 21/06/2021 16:57
We had a talk a few years ago as part of international women’s day at work. One of the speakers was a lady who had been part of the GB cycle team and she told us about lots that they took back to scratch to ‘reimagine’ for the women. The saddle was key. Different pelvis shapes etc needed to be considered. They also had done lots of research into menstruation and how it affected performance. It was really interesting.
334bu · 21/06/2021 17:05
Mind you as one of their elite cyclists will soon be unaffected by these pesky female problems regarding saddles and menstruation, I think GB cycling will quickly find they don't really need to do any more research. Ditto weightlifting. Training during menstruation, no problem, just pick someone who will never,ever have these difficulties and what's more they will be guaranteed a medal because they don't have a female body.
HeavenHotel · 21/06/2021 17:25
@334bu
Ooooo be careful or we'll be moved over to the naughty step 🙄
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