Bra Revolution

As I continue my self-love journey, I have been trying to be mindful of the phrase, " Don't judge, least you walk in my shoes" Or some hooblah to that affect. LOL. Going outside my house, I watched as a voluptuous woman's bra free breast walk so carefree. My reaction was to smile and ask if she wanted formula I had gotten that Moo' ( Mazikeen-Leiyana, My now, three your old wild natural-leader of a child) was given from W.I.C. ( If you don't know what Woman Infant and Child is, I guess you could google it, but here is a fun fact you might not find during you google adventure, Black Panther Party had a similar program for their community, which was dismantled, and then soon after the WIC program and breakfast food program at schools for breakfast began * I will let you read and make your own conclusion on where I am going with this idea > ( https://www.history.com/news/free-school-breakfast-black-panther-party). She said she was breastfeeding and I was like Ahhh! that explains the no bra. When I breastfed my son my breast went from a nice C to a fuckin E! Like what in the actual hell was going on, with my 17 year old body!?! Do you know how much nursing bras are! They are fuckin expensive!! In my head I actually had nerve to pondered what her reasonings might be... Like why did I care, she was not bothering me, and I even understood the feeling of comfort going bra-less while nursing a child. Does it even matter what her reasonings are for! No! I started to annoy myself and that's when I decided, I'm going to go bra less for a day, which turned into a week.

First off the only thing I would have to complain about is doing yoga, It is not comfortable doing Downward dog, or even cobra pose with your breast hanging around. For someone with anxiety, I was just imagining, my nipple getting stuck under my hand, or somehow getting a nipple splinter! ( Odd chick I know). I woke up like ok, I can do this bra-free thing, easily... Not quite! Several times, I had to reprogram my brain. My older sons came by, and although I know they solely see my breast as once their food supply, I still felt like respect would be to wear the bra. I didn't, and I dnt think they even noticed, or cared. This then made me realize how I taught my children, women's breasts are naturally intended to feed. There shouldn't be so much sexism attached to it. Especially, while feeding their child(ren). So many mental conditioning for men and women to re-program/retrain so many minds.

My actual dilemma was when I had to go to the store and ended up wearing a thin sweater bc I was feeling like I was being inappropriate, and wasn't lady-like'. How is wearing something to constrict our breast, to hold a form that naturally changes with age, & development lady like? I also had to reprogram my thoughts about my very obvious cold nipples in the freezer aisle. Was this a normal thing, bra-less women experienced? If I was elevated on Mary Jane then I guess I would be so entuned with the universes synchronicity, that it wouldn't even matter. In the moment right there day one, my judgements of self were so loud! It deafened my logic, and normal thinking. You are the person that speaks to yourself most often. If we don't check ourselves, we may end up creating more damage. In that moment I felt ashamed that I even allowed myself to be judgmental, same as I had of the woman earlier. I remember feeling so brave breastfeeding my child, in public. Like a real life super-hero. I was upset by my bias opinion for someone not wearing a bra. The very thing that judged us women for so many stupid reasons! From where you bought it from, to what size your body decided to form for your breast. Something so unique and individual, yet something that also characterized a women, and motherhood. I felt so good that I reframed my thought, but also that I put action to how I was going to reprogram. Below I a picture of me with my 3rd son Massiah. <3

Like most of my blogs, I'm going to share my findings for the no-bra movement. Why is there a revolution attached to not wearing bras? Lets start at the beginning, the emergence of the brassiere dates back to the 14th century B.C., however it wasn't until the 1800s when girdles, corsets, and bras became associated with changing popular perceptions of the female body. The anti-bra movement began as a retaliation against feminine norms, coinciding with the second wave of feminism during the 1960s. Prior to the 60s/70s, we were only able to achieve things with our husbands consent. ( Think about how some men lack common sense, and are sometimes oblivious to all things! Now imagine you have to get his permission for basically anything)pfft! Id never!!. We couldn't get a house, a bank account etc. without a mans consent. Well during this bra liberating revolution that is exactly how it was! Aug. 26, 1920, was the day that women gained the right to vote. Then years later, feminists of the Women’s Liberation Movement marched in 1968 protesting the Miss America Pageant, focusing on images of 19th century suffragists, like Susan B. Anthony and Sojourner Truth that read: “Our Heroines.” On August 26, 1970 NOW organized the Women’s Strike for Equality, with 50,000 people in attendance. In 1971, a joint resolution requested by Congresswoman Bella Abzug made Aug. 26 “Women’s Equality Day”—a commemorative day, not a federal holiday. So did they burn bras or nah!? Bras were just one of the items protestors were encouraged to bring that day that signified how the male-dominated culture was keeping women locked into rigid ideas of beauty, but they weren’t burned. Starting a fire on the boardwalk was illegal, so protestors opted to Playboy magazines and other items in a Freedom Trash Can. Still, the bra-burning image remained—a symbol that was easy to belittle as women focusing on something trivial. (citation info can be read here https://time.com/2853184/feminism-has-a-bra-burning-myth-problem/)

Bra-less for a day was liberating, and I felt like I got entuned to my hippie/revolutionary self. I actually went a full week, and I swear my breast got firmer. Once I got out of my own self-judgement, and societal idea of what women are supposed to look like, I was fine. I at one point forgot I was bra-less, until I came back from the store! Pro to no bra is, I most definitely had less back aches! Although I cant seem to get over my under boob touching my stomach, I sucked it up for the cause, and can say I probably don't mind going bra-free every now and again, especially in the summertime.

I felt so ashamed that for someone so very liberal that something simple like a woman's choice to wear or not wear a bra made me judgmental. I'm not quiet at a no bra all the time, tho I find myself not wearing one in the evenings past 8p.m. I have to say that it was simply another mental conditioning I need to fully reconstruct in my brain. Society really has so much of an impact on how we behave, and think. I want for my children to grow up not as conformed to what society says is "correct" and know they can be as unique as they want to be. This includes wearing a bra, or wearing anything they see as constrictive to their person.

Typing this wile bra-less (wink)

Leah Logic

xoxo