After last week’s Modesty Panel (click through for up-to-date links to everyone who wrote on the subject), it’s time for something light this week.

I won two tickets to watch the Knicks beat the Pacers last Thursday for the NBA playoffs ($116 each for the second-to-last row of the highest section!). The game was great, but I was wowed by the cheerleaders, aka the Knicks City Dancers. This is one of the uniforms they wore to dance in that night. Can you see why it caught my eye?

That’s right. No backs = no bras. And these women did a lot of jumping jacks as part of their routine. As a D cup or higher, could you imagine doing Zumba in one of these dresses?

Here’s another uniform I saw that evening.

It was worn by the people who shot the tee shirts into the stands.

The jumbotron captured a closeup of one of the women shooters in mid-jump as her big boobs did an extra jump. At the time, I thought, “So I guess this is the busty woman’s uniform–a baggy tee shirt.” Later it dawned on me that no matter what she wore on top, that woman needed a supportive bra more than anything else. Of course there are limits to how much even a good sports bra can improve the look of a man’s tee shirt on a woman’s body.

Finally, my husband and I were introduced to the another time traveling television show called Continuum this weekend. I love the heroine, Keira Cameron, and I really love her protector uniform. It’s a uniform that both small and large-chested women could fit and look good in.

You can create a V-neck with the zipper to give yourself more neckline boob than waistline boob. For real life, a suit with princess seams and zippered closure is even better than being bullet-proof!

So far we’ve only watched the first four episodes of this Canadian show, but I really like how the focus is on Keira’s intelligence and fighting skills more than her looks. In one episode, a local policewoman tries to make nice with her by saying, “I really like what you’re doing with your hair.” Keira just stares at her, like “What does that have to do with anything?” The show also revolves around her devotion to the husband and son she left behind in 2077.

Sadly, according to TVLine’s interview with Rachel Nichols, the actress who plays Keira, it doesn’t look like her super suit is going to become a reality for the rest of us anytime soon:

On Twitter, everybody always says, “Oh, that’s suit’s so sexy,” and I always say, “Yes” — when I am zipped in it and sewed into it and pushed up and pulled out and tucked in, it is hot. It is sexy. Getting me into and out of that suit? Not so sexy. Also, the copper one is a two-piece suit, so there’s this huge sort of granny band sort of stretchy… It’s an elastic-waistband pant, actually. And I say to people, “And when it’s cold, that suit is freezing — it doesn’t retain any heat. And when it’s hot, you sweat to death.” “Form before function” as far as I’m concerned. As long as it looks good, I will tough it through!

I bet we all have some uniform stories in our past. Share some of the winners and losers that you’ve worn or seen!

In a nutshell, that’s how I feel about modesty, and it’s how I decide what to wear in public. Perhaps you can see why I’ve been avoiding this topic. For some, my approach is tantamount to claiming that breasts are bad, but they’re not.

After all, how can a simple body part be “bad”? On the other hand, they aren’t exactly a simple body part. Rightly or wrongly, they’ve been loaded with meaning, and the biggest one is sex. On a strictly biological level, it makes sense because developing breasts signify puberty, but there’s more to it than I can even begin to cover here. On a practical level, I just know that in the United States and many other countries, a lot of people draw a connection between boobs and sex.

I’m not going to sever that connection anytime soon. Whether I march onto the subway in a neckline that barely covers my areola or in an abaya that covers me from head to toe, people will maintain the connection between breasts and sexuality. What matters to me is how easy I make it for them to connect my breasts with sex, and they are more likely to do so if I’m wearing the plunging neckline than if I’m wearing the abaya.

But I don’t plan to wear an abaya. Being modest with breasts–especially big breasts–isn’t an all-or-nothing proposition. I see a spectrum of living with large breasts that falls between two extremes. At one extreme, a woman disguises her breasts with baggy clothing. At the other extreme, she highlights them with lowcut, tight and minimal clothing. Living at either extreme doesn’t require much thought, but living between them does.

I try to explore what it means to live between these extremes on Hourglassy. Although you can tell from the title of this post that I tend to err on the covered-up side, this blog gives me a way to think about and experiment with where I want to be on the spectrum of big bust dressing for any given situation. I hope it does the same for you.

——————

Here are the results of the Vavavoom poll that I posted several days ago. I asked, “In the time that you spend outside your home, what percentage of it is spent wearing clothing that intentionally emphasizes your large breasts as an asset?” One hundred twenty-five of you answered:

47 said 5% or less (37.6%)
22 said 10% (17.6%)
14 said 25% (11.2%)
23 said 50% (18.4%)
11 said 75% (8.8%)
7 said 90% (5.6%)
1 said 100% (.8%)

As proof that there’s nothing simple about this topic, check out the great comments to the poll. Also be sure to read the upcoming posts by the rest of The Modesty Panel!

Big Busts and Uniforms

Stares Bad. Breasts Private.

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