As if periods and cramps were not enough, us girls also have to deal with certain man-made self impositions, namely bras and our love-hate relationships with them! From the cups and underwires to straps and hooks, they come with so many complications and difficulties that my boobs and I have struggled with.
So this incident happened one random day, when my boyfriend and I were chilling at his place. I was scrolling through my newsfeed and he was watching videos on his laptop. I came across this article which had Miley Cyrus posing to show her support for the #freethenipple campaign. I couldn’t help but mention this to him.
We had a brief discussion on the topic and proceeded to the controversial topic of feminism, where he pointed out how some women wanted to feel empowered in society but were not accepting of their own bodies. For a reference, he told me to look at myself and how uncomfortable I felt when I got stares for wearing something fitted, that put my boobs in focus. Also, on how I always kept my bra on, in front of everyone other than him.
I couldn’t deny that he had a point. But what I couldn’t take was that he had indirectly proved that I, a girl who claimed to love her body, was not fully accepting of it. And hence I refuted, and he got back to me saying, “Okay, cool. Dare to go braless for a day, then? ”
And there it was, the challenge!
My ears couldn’t believe what he had said and my stomach refused to digest it. He dared me, a girl with C-cup breasts, who has never even been braless in front of her mother, to go braless and defenceless in front of the whole world?
After a moment of silence (thanks to the shock), I accepted the challenge without thinking. Damn my impulsive personality! I regretted it immediately. I realized what I had agreed to and was already dreading the experience.
No matter how nervous I was, once I accepted a challenge, I had to go through with it. So after I got out of the shower, I chose a black loose t-shirt and borrowed his shirt for the day. I layered it over my top and put on a pair of jeans. He watched me as I dressed up, with a wicked smirk on his face. I knew he was enjoying every bit of my misery.
I stood in front of the mirror for the last time. Thanks to his oversized shirt, I looked fine, with no visible signs of my ‘ditch the bra for the day’ challenge. With a thousand inhibitions and insecurities, I was finally ready to step out of the house.
Our destination was a mall that was walking distance from his place. We started walking on the side of the road that lead to the market and to the mall. For the first time ever, I looked at almost every single person that passed by us. I would look at their face first, their eyes then and then pull my shirt together. I was visibly awkward. Though my boobs felt free, it was a weird feeling. There were no underwires digging into my skin and no itchy bra straps, but I felt vulnerable and… weird. Very, very weird!
That’s when he held my hand and said to me, “ Don’t feel awkward. It’s your body and it’s beautiful. You need to learn to accept it, in its real form. “ Well, as unconvincing as it may sound, his words did help me. They made me realise that there was nothing to actually feel weird or awkward about. It was my body and I had the right to carry it the way I wanted to.
We proceeded to the mall, watched a movie, ate at the foodcourt and came back, all the while, I was sans a bra!
I won’t lie, there were a lot of greetings from my nipples to the world and wind in my shirt moments. Not to forget the constant stares. They troubled me initially, but after all the weirdness and awkwardness faded, I was left with a feeling of ‘empowerment’.
Yes ladies, I felt empowered and it felt amazing.
It was one crazy day, but we had a lot of fun and I had managed to spend it without wearing a bra! From that day on, I’ve ditched my bra a lot of times and felt great. In fact, one of my added talents includes not wearing a bra in public, and not caring a bit!
Images: Shutterstock
