What is a Training Bra?
What Does a Training Bra Train?
A girl's first training bra is, although small in physical size, a garment of monumental emotional and psychological proportions. No other scrap of cloth in modern man's wardrobe is known to bring giggles and gossip among schoolgirls as they check the names of who finally got their first bra. Those last on the list are labeled amid snickers and are likely to be damaged for life (ask me how I know).
Why does this debut garment in a young ladies lingerie drawer rate such a name? What exactly does a training bra train?
Since Eve's days in The Garden, the physical development of breasts has occurred naturally and there isn't a single case on record where something went awry because breasts weren't properly trained. Since a training bra is nothing more than a flat piece of cloth that wraps around the upper torso, held up with two straps, I don't see how it can train anything.
With the addition of hormones in so much of what we eat, the age at which girls start puberty has dropped dramatically from where it was just two generations past. Grandmothers who didn't need a bra until they entered high school look aghast at their granddaughters who are revealing all of Victoria's Secrets before their years number in double digits. If mom wakes up one day realizing that her pre-teen daughter developed breasts overnight and has gone straight from t-shirt to underwire, will she be adversely affected at having skipped the Teenform stage altogether?
At what point is a bra no longer considered a training bra? Does a cup size of AA label the wearer an apprentice? Does an A cup spring them from learner's permit to license? Does the leap into a B cup earn tenure?
And then there's gender bias. Girls get training bras, but is there a similar rite associated with a boy's journey into puberty? I have two sons and don't recall going through anything traumatic dealing with clothing (other than numerous battles over pants that hung off their butt, but that's another story). When they played sports they got a cup and jockstrap, but as far as I know there weren't any lists in the locker room nor whispered comments and high-fives when they acquired one.
I'd love to get insight from anyone whose breasts were actually trained by such a contraption.
Mine apparently flunked, since I'm still shopping in the teeny bopper department.
Published by Marie Anne St. Jean - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle
A Top 1000 Content Producer for the last three years, Marie Anne is a retired U.S. Marine MSgt whose weapons of choice are now crochet hook and pen. When not writing for Yahoo! sites such as YCN! Voice... View profile
- My Biggest SecretMy biggest secret is that I allowed three men to nearly destroy me as a human being.
- How to Deal with LVNV Funding Junk Debt Collectors and Others like ThemLVNV Funding is a company of many names, Resurgent Capital Services, LP, LVNV Funding Capital Management Services, Astra, Venta, among others; but they are all very much one in the same.
- Big Boobs - Are They Worth the Hype?A lot of people think that women with big tits have it made. That it is the most ridiculous belief EVER
- Going Nude on Berkeley Campus to Save the TreesTo try to save the oak grove near the street in Berkeley Campus from destruction, 78 of us took off our clothes and lay face down on the ground, with police and media and a hundred onlookers while Jack Gescheidt took...
- Is Your Daughter Ready for Her First Training Bra?Is it time to buy your daughter her first bra? How do you know? Which bra should you buy? How do you determine the correct size bra to buy?
- Tips for Women Training for a Marathon
- A Training Bra
- Guide to Getting a Bra That Fits
- Should Fathers Go Bra Shopping with Their Daughters?
- A Guide to Shopping with Your Daughter for the Right Bra
- Single Dads
- Bras and Health Problems
34 Comments
Post a CommentFunny Marie! I love it! I think training bras are a waste of money! Good article!
i have a bra its a kids training bra i wanna know if u wear it when do u have to wash it cause i wore it 3 days this is my 3rd day.
lol gone awry! love it
Haven't worn a bra since 1978. I was an A cup so it really didn't seem to make much sense unless I had on a sheer blouse. Now I just wear camisoles and tanks.
@Autumn. Its most likely because I'm only 15, but I don't have any interest in having sex ether.(although when im older I would like to have kids) I feel sad for girls my age (and younger!) who have had sex, its not right for people so young. Kids nowadays are growing up to fast (but they are are still immature) Like the article said, girls are hitting puberty when they are younger..
In my house, training bra is an alternate word for first bra. There isn't much reason to buying the flat peice of cloth, other than peer pressure. I guess they're meant to train girls beyond a certain age to get used to wearing one? I like how you mention the male side at the end. There was a Simpsons ep where Bart seemed excited to get his first cup :)
This is really, really funny!
>>They're pointless to me. Horrible, uncomfortable and pointless. Haha, I ranted so much I used up my text space. Win!
To the person who said they don't like their boobs, you're not weird...unless I am too! : If I had the money (and the nerve) I would have had my heavy, uncomfortable chest lumps removed many years ago. I've HATED them since they first appeared on my chest, the unwelcome alien intruders. I used to punch them and try to force them "back" when I was younger, haha. I also never worse a bra because to me, that was "fitting in", "accepting it"...I'd rather tape them up so I can pretend for a few wonderful hours that I have the beautiful flat chest I was born with, so that I could RUN freely again. I hate being a woman. It's such a hell. As for those who think boobs are "worth it" fo the sexual pleasure? I'm asexual. I have NO interest in sex and find the majority of society to be disgusting porn loving perverts. How are two flabs of lumpy chest fat sexy anyway? That's sick. They only serve one real purpose...to nurse babies. And I can assure you I'm NEVER having any of those! So, they're po
Nice article haha. I hated having to wear a bra for the first time. It's so much easier to just put on a tee-shirt and go. And bras are so uncomfortable! My older sister says she's jealous of my larger breasts (I'm 15 she is 17). Well I don't want them. They only get in the way. Yeah I guess I'm just weird. I don't see why some women want bigger chests --