Monday, March 26, 2012

Big Boobs Equals More Confidence - Unless You Actually Have Big Boobs Apparently!

Gossard recently commissioned research with Manchester University to study the correlation between enhanced cleavage and improved confidence. The research is for the launch of Gossard's Super Egoboost bra which gives small busted women a larger cup size and more pronounced cleavage. The research measured actual physical signs of confidence and found that women wearing the Super Egoboost displayed more confidence:
  1. Smiling - which represents positive emotion and signals confidence increased dramatically by 73 per cent when the women were wearing a push up bra. 
  2. Averting gaze and breaking eye contact - normally associated with low confidence - decreased by 41 per cent. 
  3. Self-comforting hand movements such as stroking of the chin or wiping the forehand, which is a signpost to low self confidence, decreased by 64 per cent during the trial. 
One Rule for Small Boobs, Another for Big Ones
It's fascinating to me that small busted women feel more confident with a larger bust when I know that a lot of big busted women feel less confident because they're busty. Why is there such a disconnect between the two? If this research were true for all women then we busty girls should be overflowing with confidence when in reality some busty women go to extreme measures to hide their shape.

Control and Options
I wonder whether there's something empowering about having the option to be big or small busted that is unique to smaller breasted women. If you're a 34B then you can choose to be small busted and demure or you can whack on your ultra boosting push up bra and rock an hourglass figure. Do busty women tire of only ever being busty?
Why do lots of naturally busty women feel like the woman on the right and not the one on the left!?
Why Aren't Busty Women More Confident?
I meet women every week who don't like being busty and it always makes my heart sad. I truly believe that not having adequate bra support (physically and emotionally) from an early age undermines the confidence necessary to fend off the ignorant comments busty women inevitably experience at some point. It's such a shame that busty women who haven't been emotionally supported can't enjoy being busty and just ignore the moronic stereotypes and jibes - it's all just jealousy!

Wearing the wrong bra for a long time doesn't help either; it doesn't just wear down your shoulders it wears down your happiness. How are you supposed to feel happy, let alone confident, when you're in pain and your boobs move independently of you?

Being in the right bra gives you back control over your breasts
The Right Bra and Confidence
I know that when I'm in a bra that I love I feel even more positive about the clothes I wear over the top and about the way I look. Wearing the correct size and style of bra for you won't solve your confidence issues over night but with time it will give you a degree of control back over your body and that is an empowering thing.

Let's face it you can't compare a foam-filled bra with the natural tissue that makes up your beautiful and natural boobs; a push-up bra isn't subject to the laws of gravity! I'm a firm believer that when you put good stuff in, good stuff comes of it, so start a new relationship with your breasts and get them into the right bra for you and your life. More than just your confidence can improve.

Are you someone who has made the journey from hiding your breasts to feeling confident about your shape? I'd love to hear your personal story xx

13 comments:

  1. I agree that it has a lot to do with the bra. I'm someone who never hated my bust per se but hated the back pain, the ill-fitting clothes, the stretchy ugly bras, and how low my breasts sat on my body. Once I got into well-fitting bras (shoot and I'm STILL not there completely because my bra size keep changing!) it did a huge number on my self-confidence.

    I'm still waiting on my bust friendly clothes but I know when I'm well-dressed and supported my body image is much better. I often wonder what that would have done for my teen years if I would've had a well-fitting bra and clothes.

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    1. You're so right June, the lack of choice is definitely exhausting and takes some of the fun out of big boobs. I really feel that in the next 10 years we will see a big shift in bra sizes. Not least because of projects like yours, The Bra Band Project, that bring awareness to the need for more band sizes. xx

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  2. It's thanks to reading June's blog that I finally got a bra that fit properly. (Thanks!) Such a revelation! No more back pain, no more droop, and wonder of wonders, I have a waist. It was just hiding behind my sad boobs. Not anymore. :D
    I agree that the right bra = confidence. It sure has for me. I even *gasp* tuck things in occasionally now, to show off my newly discovered waist. Now I'm trying to talk to all of my friends and family about how getting properly fitted can rock their worlds, too.

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    1. Happy boobs and a waist - wonderful! The right bra is a physical and emotional revelation. I'm so glad you can tuck things in again from time to time and feel passionate enough to want the same happiness and liberation for other women - spread the good bra word! xx

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  3. I love the comment above, "Being in the right bra gives you back control over your breasts". What a wonderful and yet simple statement. How absolutely perfectly on point for big busted women.

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    1. It's so important to me that busty women can feel in harmony with their bodies. When you feel like your bust is unruly and dominates your clothes choices, posture, activity level and health it is a miserable relationship. The right bras can help you feel a control not just over your breasts but your life xx

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  4. I think you hit the nail on the head here. Having the choice to look a certain way is empowering. Not to mention small busted women likely have bras that are close to their right size on. Now that I am beginning to get a variety of bras, I found that I can control how busy I look on any given day and I love that control. Some bras have more projection, others are more rounded and others are more minimized. I love that if I'm feeling shy today I can choose if I want to display my assets in their full glory or not. I also love that now that I have supportive bras I can totally show them off if I want to, which has in turn slowly upped my confidence.

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    1. I love this comment! It's wonderful to hear that as your confidence has grown you have found variety in your fit. This is a great encouragement to women still struggling to find their fit to know that with good fit comes choice. Thank you for sharing your experience xx

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    2. Thank you! And for the record I am a 34K so even in my size if you don't give up you can find pretty things that make you look great.

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  6. I know why... it's because mainstream clothing manufacturers do not make clothes or cute lingerie for women with larger boobs.

    I have no idea what my true size is. I've found that I get the best fitting bras (available in my budget) if I buy a 38DD in a full-figured bra like Vanity Fair, and then I take ~2" off the band in the back. The resulting bra is nice and snug, contains my boobs, and also lands the strap back ends closer to my spine, so the straps don't fall off my shoulders. According to your fit guides, the cups are still a tad too small... but I have never yet found cups large enough that did not cut up under my arms, because on top of being small with huge (natural) boobs, I'm also ridiculously short-waisted. My boobs... when lifted nicely in a bra... still reach the bottom of my ribs. My back-waist length is only 15".

    So that's me... and if I'm wearing my size-6 jeans and a good-fitting T-shirt, I feel sexy and my husband says that I am...and he says I get checked out often enough to prove it that it's not just his opinion.

    But I'm on here because I just went trying to find lingerie for a get-away with my husband... and I'm as close to hating how my body looks as I ever have been. Yes, I'm 15 lbs overweight, but I can still look hot in jeans and a T-shirt! But do they make lingerie for large busted women? NOOOOO.

    They make racks and racks of cute little this and that for small-busted women. I even tried on some XL size teddys... my boobs looked horrendously fat, overflowing out of the still-miniscule cups, even while the rest of the thing was monstrously too large around. Everything thing I tried made my body look HORRIBLE.

    Totally hopeless. I have reached the point where I'm thinking that if I want lingerie, I might have to make it myself... which is what I was Googling when I found your site.

    But seriously. Take a look in any normal store or catalog at anything cute and attractive and sexy. The sizing usually stops at C. Very rarely they will have a D.

    Look at the bras for larger cups.... we are limited generally at white, black, and beige.

    WHAT MAKES THEM THINK THAT LARGER WOMEN DON'T WANT TO BE SEXY? Seriously?

    Don't even get me started on dresses.... and swimsuits... and anything that assumes that you fall into general proportions. It's no wonder we do not like our huge boobs... they make it nearly impossible to find things that fit when we just go shopping for fun. No... for us, finding clothes that fit is a chore.

    :::::gggggrrrrrrrrrrrrrr:::::::::::::::

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    1. The Cleo Marcie baby doll is the only thing I know as far as specialty lingerie. Maybe take a good look at CurvyWordy's blog too.

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