Bra-Burner And Feminist Analysis

For many people, the words “bra-burner” and “feminist” are synonymous, with both terms often holding negative connotations. It is easy for one to see how the word “feminist” could arouse negative feelings in a patriarchal society such as today’s, but what is it about that other little alliteration that causes people to recoil in disgust? Going braless in today’s day and age is a taboo reinforced by men, women, and the brassiere itself. Aside from being largely unnecessary and uncomfortable, these garments reinforce the sexualization and objectification of women’s bodies by holding the woman’s body in an unnatural shape, concealing the nipples, and supporting, or displaying, breasts. So why do women wear bras? It is widely believed that

Pair this with the popularity of the bra and you’ll see women, and men, judging each other based on whether or not they wear a brassiere. One of the most obvious giveaways for whether or not a woman has donned a bra is her nipples, which are naturally larger and more prominent than a man’s nipples. The knowledge that if their nipples show through their shirts they will be labelled as lazy, unprofessional,or promiscuous, and that they’ll get unwanted comments and stares, is the reason many women choose to wear a bra, even if they find it uncomfortable. Such attention to the female nipple shows us just how eroticized that part of a woman’s body actually is in our society. Again, we can trace this sexualization back to the fact that nipples are reserved for sexual activity. When we only portray a woman’s nipples as objects meant for sex, of course they’re going to be seen as a sign of sexuality. If they weren’t sexualized, chances are women would be allowed to breastfeed in public without being considered obscene, female nipples wouldn’t be censored, and overall there would be less of a focus on the concealment of nipples. Bras are now designed to specifically hide the nipples, with many having built in “concealment petals.” Since the sexualization of the nipple comes from the situations in which they are deemed acceptable to be seen, we can hold the bra largely responsible for this attitude. Without the bra the nipple would be seen in everyday situations, thus normalizing that part of the body, rather than coding it as specifically for