running without a bra, part two: horseshoe theory

About a year and a half ago, I wrote about the bravest thing I’d ever done: running without wearing a bra. Not “without a sports bra,” but without any bra at all. I expected it to be desperately painful and uncomfortable, as someone with breasts of size. So even though hijinks ensued, the mechanics of my boobs themselves turned out to be the least of my problems.

Big Sports Bra had made me believe that any physical activity would turn my boobs into rabid animals desperate to escape my shirt that would whip the world around me into an uncontrollable sexual frenzy. When I actually tried it, they were definitely moving more than when they are strapped down by my most intense armor-like sports bra. But they were not out of control. Imagine my surprise when they mostly lolled back and forth. Most importantly, it didn’t hurt.

As I tried running more without sports bras, I became curious exactly why I thought running with no bra hurt. I knew from lifelong experience that running with an insufficiently supportive bra did hurt quite a lot; this had pushed me in the direction of more and more rigid bras, to the point that my needs could not be satisfied by anything but a virtually ironclad bra. Now, 18 months later, I’ve developed a theory.