My big breasts and me on Really now

[irnbruguzzler]

Tv prog on ATM bout 3 women with big boobs

There are never progs bout men with oversized penises wanting them surgically reduced?

I spend a fortune in Bravissimo, but at the end of the day I am still marked by my bra straps. I suffer from chafing, and have permanent ridges under my boobs. The idea of having an op and scars is scary (I am aware of the risks) but I'd still consider it.

I'm surprised at your judginess, IBG. I think women should do what they please, and if an operation makes their lives physically more comfortable (clothes size etc are happy side effects) they should go for it.

I don't see the ones having the op as betraying those who don't. Who are these legions of women normalising small breasts? I'd say society normalises large breasts - far more women have surgery to increase their breast size. Now that's something to get annoyed at.

himalaya - you may be right, but it is much easier to buy cheap bras in your size if you don't really need much support. I used to have B cup breasts and although it did hurt to go braless, virtually anything would be comfy. Not any more. It's not just because I am vain and prefer not to wear huge beige contraptions (though that is an issue too I will admit). It's also because, at least the huge beige contraptions I've seen, have thick elasticated straps which dig into your shoulders, ie., designed to carry weight from there. But you are not meant to carry the weight like that, you need the support underneath. So I maintain good bras for bigger-breasted women are not very easy to find and expensive to buy. And I'm not even that big!

I would never judge a woman for getting a reduction, she might be in a lot of pain. I am angry though that I really cannot believe that 21st century technology can't come up with a better bra.

Strange OP.

Unusual suggestion that big breasts are considered a bad thing in our society

And to overlook that many/most reductions are done due to physical discomfort / pain due to lugging these two great weights around the whole time. Breast tissue weighs a ton.

"Men accept their bodies whilst women are expected to mould theirs into society's ideal"

"Yes well that's my point. Men accept their bodies whilst women are expected to mould theirs into society's ideal"

If teenage boys who developed large penises early had girls and women commenting on it and trying to touch the whole time and pull their trousers down and laughing and snurking and women shouting out of their cars and leering and female bus drivers offering to let them off the fare if they show them... Then maybe young boys with large penises would want to have them altered.

When did I pass judgement on any individual woman?

Whe society pressurises a woman into having any unnecessary surgery (labiaplasty, breast reduction/augmentation, tummy tuck, bum implants, lipo) I'm firmly placing the blame with society, sorry if that wasn't clear to you.

It seems odd to me that placing the feminist gaze over other cosmetic surgery considers it oppressive, dehumanising even but that somehow breast reduction is exempt from this analysis. It is FAR more dangerous than implants, but we dont hear about that in the media. AF- you even said upthread that your friend developed a post op infection.

I've read other 'big breasts/reductions' threads on here and some posters have been v surprised how quickly they got a referral for surgery. It should be a last resort but seems to be jumped on in the early stages of problems but knife-happy surgeons. Not that i want to get into a debate about costs but 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?

Cosmetic surgeons are overwhelmingly men and make big £££ from these surgeries, as a feminist I have to question their motives.

Doesn't it depend on the motives for the surgery? I spend a fortune in bras and am still uncomfortable and have all sorts of problems with my boobs.

If I could afford the operation I would do so, simply because it would make me feel physically more comfortable. It has fuck all to do with 'knife-happy' surgeons - personally I'm fed up of having massive, painful tits. My body - my business, non?

It seems to me as if you're aiming your ire at the wrong place. Get angry about rape culture that lets woman (especially young women) be harrassed, assaulted and taken less seriously than other people because of their norks. Get angry at page 3. Get angry at the idea that women have to have huge breasts and pornified tiny bodies to become successful actresses.

Don't get angry because some women are fecked off with the physical discomfort of having large breasts and decide to take what to you is a drastic step.

A good bra and a diet may work for you, and that's great, but it doesn't work for every woman's body.

It is worth considering that some of the reason why some people have painfully large breasts is because of oral contraceptives, and (it has been suggested, especially in the US as I understand) the chemicals that are fed to/injected into animals used for food/milk.

The pill is IMO problematic for feminists, in that obviously it bought women a huge amount of freedom, but also has drawbacks.

Does adding these things to the debate perhaps make sense?

I've honestly never heard of anyone having a reduction for cosmetic purposes but it may happen, I just don't know.

I haven't taken oral contraceptives for years, but my boobs have still grown like topsy. It's the family curse.

I do notice that there are many more large-breasted young women around than I was at school (I remember when it was all fields around here etc.) and wonder if what we're eating has something to do with it.

Well, something must explain it. I think there are all sorts of theories but I've no idea which are might be true.

I just does seem we've not really reacted to it, as a society. I mean, D or DD bras are still often the smallest size in the 'bigger bust' range, yet C is the average cup size (and I wouldn't be surprised if the average is bigger when you only look at younger women).

I disagree that big breasts are always painful - I'm a 34F and have never had any issues. I do take care to wear properly-fitting bras, though.

That said... if someone had larger boobs and wanted them reduced, then I would never stop them! Our bodies, our choices.

If I had extremely large breasts, out of proportion to my frame, I would be asking for a referral for a reduction.

No question. I am happy with my smallish ones, but that is down to luck and genes.

I have seen with my own eyes the damage massive ones can do to your posture, back, neck and cause chronic pain.

Thankfully, I don't have this problem, But I do see it as a problem. A physical one that can be fixed. Just because it is < shock horror > breasts doesn't really imbue the subject of breast reduction with any Fem mystery to me. Perhaps because of my profession, I don't know.

To my mind, we should be objecting to breast augmentation as a way of conforming to the feminine "ideal" which apparently is to have large breasts. Why on earth you would make your breasts bigger, I have no idea. And lumping them together as reduction/augmentation makes no sense.

To me, those two interventions have completely different ramifications.

Oh, and OP, name check someone else, eh ? You haven't had universal agreement on your thread, so take it up with someone else and give me a break.

"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.

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

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

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.

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

<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

<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

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.

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