That No Bra Day

That No Bra-Day 

Ever seen fresh shapely oranges at the grocer’s? Like really fresh orange oranges, yeah, those ones without seeds but really juicy, must be some sort of rare breed. October 13th felt just like that for me.

The male community must have been thrilled about this day, considering a lot of chest flesh was on rampage. Thanks to all the ladies ‘flexing their tities’ on the gram, dear men, what’s not to like? I mean who isn’t a sucker for some bra-less boobies attached to long or short thick necks with pretty faces and gorgeous bodies? Must have been a sight to see for y’all!

Anyway, here I was thinking to myself, come on where is your audacity girl? You gotta show some chest skin too. But poor me, even simple cleavage is barely existent. Damn, girls got chests, it was round and full bursts everywhere. Even the much smaller chests were represented. Aye, it was a field day for thee breast. I must applaud the ladies on the gram, the ones on the TL too. Y’all got so much confidence, y’all so damn beautiful. Honestly if I was into the bra business, the ‘No Bra Day’ would be my biggest threat. Can’t wait for an era where the tities are freed for life!!! 

And so I did some digging, I love to get to the bottom of things. I mean, who even came up with this whole no bra day thing? Were they such a perv…? Wanting to see nipples all over the gram? And guess what I found, no it wasn’t a boob show that they were after. But people have a way of deriving their own meanings and swaying communities to follow suit. I am sure if you ask any woman why they were nipple-showing, they’d say because the day wasn’t for wearing bras. Like a ‘free da tities movement’

So the No Bra-Day came into existence on July 9th, 2011, although it’s been pushed to 13th day of the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This idea was birthed to celebrate the breast cancer survivors, to enable women and men all over the world stand with these women. Getting down to the effects of any cancer will show you that there is no cure unless it’s detected early enough.  Doctors offer a wide range of treatments for breast cancer ranging from chemotherapy, radiation  to surgery. Of course this depends on the severity of the cancer. Either way most cancer patients succumb to it. This is because it’s detected really late where even if you had goldmines, they wouldn’t buy you a cure- simply because there isn’t one. So they die in so much pain, you’d think that at that point, death would be a ‘mercy’ to them. 

Zeroing down to breast cancer brings you pictures of survivors, women who have faced it head on and come out victorious. But what does ‘victorious’ mean in this case? If you ask me, the first step to victory over such ailments is still being able to have life. To breathe, eat, walk and sleep just like any human being. To also be able to return to your loved ones while you’re healthy is victorious. But victory for breast cancer survivors is much more than just mere breath and ability to do all those things. It means undergoing surgeries that may leave with you with a flat chest or one breast. Carrying out mastectomy prevents the cancer from eating up your entire body.

You could think that it’s such a small price to pay in exchange for a longer life

But we all know a physically grown woman has two breasts and so bras were made to hold breasts in place. Here comes a grown woman with none walking into a clothing store and into the underwear department and walking past the bra section, not even stopping to scoff at the exorbitant prices. There is pain in that!

And so this is where my criticism for women flaunting what they have on a day like this comes from.

 Let me open up my mind for you. I don’t see the point of showing off full chests in celebration of breast cancer survivors. It’s purely bad irony or such a bad joke! I would expect people especially females to go all out for these survivors. Why not reach out to hospitals to offer free cancer screening? Dear TL queens, why not push hashtags on the necessity of routine cancer screening for every woman out there? And those amazing photographers, what if you decided to do free photo shoots for those brave survivors? Don’t you think these would be the perfect models for a ‘no bra-day’ photo shoot? Imagine the gram awash with such beautiful pictures even just for a day!  I hope I make a valid point each time I let thoughts like these flow on paper. Correct me if I am wrong. 

Anyway, my heart has a few whispers for all the breast cancer survivors! Here goes nothing.

 Dear Mamacita, you are strong, brave and very beautiful. 

You are so many things this world will never be able to describe or even see. 

But I don’t care about the world; God will handle that for us.

I want you to know that your kind of beauty lies on the inside

Your kind of beauty is so many bright shades of bravery, strength and hope.

Embrace your scars and breathe in all the love you can get

Fix your crown and rock the world

Lots of love!

And don’t get me wrong. See this ‘No Bra Day’ could also have gone the other way around. It could have been that day that women get to go almost nude for a cause. Say for example, we as the women are going braless today to show you a few things. One of these things could be the cons of wearing the wrong bras. Also studies show that it’s healthy to take off that bra once in awhile. So this is where ladies going bra-less would work to show other ladies out there that even without a bra you can still look dashing and totally sexy!

I totally appreciate each woman or girl that embraced the No Bra-Day. I love that you are bold and daring. I love that you can embrace these days without fear or shame. Most of all I love that you are in love with your bodies. Because guess what your amazing bodies are a thousand middle fingers to all the body-shamers in the world!

And so hopefully the next No Bra Day will have a better agenda; it starts with me and you seeing these things differently. Also, I hope it could be pushed to a whole week with lots of awareness activities and bra-less boobies!

With love,

Paula