# Bra-less older women - does this look good? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 2, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360 "2010-07-02T22:50:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/121 "2010-07-05T22:53:39Z")
I don’t understand your argument. The aim of the test is to not trap the pencil – you fail if you trap the pencil. I’m sure any woman with moderate size breasts could slouch or slump in some manner to trap the pencil if they want, but why would she want to induce extra sagginess? So a perky breasted woman could probably spoof the test and deliberately fail the test, but saggy breasted women would have a whole lot more difficulty spoofing the test and passing it. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/122 "2010-07-05T22:55:25Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > They still look mighty perky [today](http://www.helenaantonaccio.com/online.html). > > NSFW - old lady boobs. 😛 Humm - is it wrong that I find it sort of sad that this lady hasn’t managed to accomplish anything in the last 40 years that she’s still posing topless? Don’t get me wrong - lots of gals pose with no tops on - it’s just they usually go on to do some other things as well. She has the same dippy look on her fact as well, which while cute at 20 is pretty lame looking at 60. Or have I missed some amazing career that happened in the meantime? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/123 "2010-07-05T23:31:40Z")
Eh. What did you expect? She’s from Joisey! ---
**Author:** ![Lily\_Milliner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8edcca/32.png) [@Lily\_Milliner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lily_Milliner)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/124 "2010-07-06T00:50:02Z")
Thanks everyone for the pencil test clarifications–I’m not sure where in the thread I got my misunderstanding, but I don’t really feel like trying to go back and figure it out :). And as to the OP, which I feel I should address after the hijack, I think KC looks fine in the first pic boob-wise but I think the chartreuse is either an ugly color or that it’s not showing up well in that photograph. But the embroidery/beadwork is beautiful, and the color might be in real life. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/125 "2010-07-06T02:20:01Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Me, too. I thought it was cleavage related, not about the bottom of the boob. I thought it went between them. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/126 "2010-07-06T02:26:07Z")
I thought the pencil test was about another organ altogether, but never mind. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/127 "2010-07-06T16:48:33Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > She. My bad. > > These are the only two that are contenders. The first look fake; I don’t buy that just because it’s from 1958 it’s real. The second might be a small C, but it also might be able to hold a pencil. I’m looking at the background tit (the left one) and it looks like a pencil may drop from there, but it’s hard to tell. I’ll consider giving you the second one. How about half my hat and $250? > > I’ll join the “my browsing history is making me look like a perv” club now. I’ll take your $250, that would be a generous payment for an hour of perusing Playboy Centerfolds. PMing you my paypal address. I think you’re very wrong that any but 2 or three of all the centerfolds I posted are ‘B-cups’. Unless they are wearing 38 or 40Bs on small ribcages that should be in 28s, 30s, 32s at the most. Many factors go into this misjudgment: Extra-perky tits read as smaller to people. Lower boobs take up more space on the front of the body. People don’t often see naked boobs except in porn, much less naked boobs whose bra size they are aware of. Your average lady wearing a 36D does not have huge knockers. She looks smaller than many of the centerfolds I posted. Plastic surgery websites are a handy way to get some perspective as the reported statistics are much less likely to be totally falsified than most sources. **MORE NSFW** : Here are some examples of women who wore C and D cup bras pre-surgery: [These breasts](http://www.implantinfo.com/photocenter/Breast-Lift-for-34D-544.aspx)were 34D before the lift, and after. See how much smaller the perkier ones look from the front? [This woman](http://www.implantinfo.com/photocenter/Breast-Implants-Improve-Profile-1553.aspx) wore a ‘C-cup’. She was close to flat-chested before she got implants. [Another ‘C-cup’.](http://www.implantinfo.com/photocenter/Breast-Enlargement-1352.aspx) [URL=“[http://www.implantinfo.com/photocenter/Ptosis-Corrected-and-Breast-Augmentation-626.aspx](http://www.implantinfo.com/photocenter/Ptosis-Corrected-and-Breast-Augmentation-626.aspx)”]36D pre-op. [/URL} This is what many women with natural breasts, wearing the common bra sizes 34/36C and D, look like topless. Most importantly, people including yourself don’t understand the basics of bra-fitting (through no fault of your own, there is a lot of inaccurate information out there which is perpetuated by bra manufacturers). Saying someone is a ‘D-cup’ as a measure of total size is nearly meaningless. Someone wearing a 44D will have large boobs (along with a large body), someone in a 30D rather small ones. But proportionately, between their body size and their breast size, these two women are the same. Cup size is only important along with the band size, which should be close to the actual measurement of the ribcage in today’s highly elastic bras. The rule of thumb is that the difference in inches between your ribcage and full bust measurement will put you in the range of your cup size. Each cup size accommodates 1-2" additional bust circumference. Every single one of those centerfolds has a small ribcage with an large bust circumference compared. There’s a small chance any of them have a meager 2-4" between the two (‘B-cup’). There is a list of centerfold statistics that’s been used in scientific studies, none of the women have less than a 35" full bust measurement. Almost every woman can wear a ‘B-cup’ in a certain band size. Including alice\_in\_wonderland with her relatively large tatas - her 32Es could fit in the cups of most 42 or 44Bs, although the band would be enormous on her and the cups would probably be so wrong in shape it would be painful. The same volume of boob can fit in a 28G, 30F, 32E, 34DD, 36D, 38C, 40B, 42A. One of those (or two) will be your true size; the one that fits the _shape_ of your breast with no bulging or poking, fits snugly with the wires and center gore not pulling away from your body, and has a tight enough band that it provides most of the support. For god’s sake I’m a ‘C-cup’ - on a 28 band. I’m flat. I used to wear 32As (which hurt because the cups weren’t the right shape and rode up because the band was huge) before I got into bra fitting. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/128 "2010-07-06T17:00:45Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#): > > Almost every woman can wear a ‘B-cup’ in a certain band size. Including alice\_in\_wonderland with her relatively large tatas - her 32Es could fit in the cups of most 42 or 44Bs, although the band would be enormous on her and the cups would probably be so wrong in shape it would be painful. The same volume of boob can fit in a 28G, 30F, 32E, 34DD, 36D, 38C, 40B, 42A. I could never, ever, _ever_ wear a B cup. Ever. By the time you make the band big enough, the thing would be falling off me. The $250 comes after my vacation. I’m a woman of my word, but you don’t get to dip into the Fun Fund. ---
**Author:** ![Kaio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c68b51/32.png) [@Kaio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kaio)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/129 "2010-07-06T17:59:46Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#): > > I think you’re very wrong that any but 2 or three of all the centerfolds I posted are ‘B-cups’. Unless they are wearing 38 or 40Bs on small ribcages that should be in 28s, 30s, 32s at the most. I have to agree with this. I wear a 34C (the Victoria’s Secret Sales-kids insist I “should” wear a 36B, but on those the band doesn’t even _start_ to get snug and supportive until I’ve hooked it as small as it will go – so once the elastic stretches to any degree, the bra’s too loose). Every single one of those centerfolds has bigger boobies than I do. I can’t really judge relative height or body size from the photos, but if you assume a relatively average 34 band (and at least some are probably smaller around the ribs than that), those girls would be spilling out of a C-cup. Certainly some of them would be spilling out of a D. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/130 "2010-07-06T18:07:23Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > I could never, ever, _ever_ wear a B cup. Ever. By the time you make the band big enough, the thing would be falling off me. The $250 comes after my vacation. I’m a woman of my word, but you don’t get to dip into the Fun Fund. I did say ‘almost every woman’. Now I’m imagining a bra hanging from your shoulders with the band standing out around you like a hula hoop. Thanks, and have a good vacation. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/131 "2010-07-06T19:28:14Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#): > > Including alice\_in\_wonderland with her relatively large tatas - her 32Es could fit in the cups of most 42 or 44Bs, although the band would be enormous on her and the cups would probably be so wrong in shape it would be painful. This - I’ve had douchy sales women try to talk me into a 36 DD before because it’s a much easier size to find. Of course, the band rides up and my boobs poke out the bottom of the cups. Now, I’m not a professional bra-fitter, but I’m pretty sure that’s not correct. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/132 "2010-07-07T23:15:59Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Of course, the band rides up and my boobs poke out the bottom of the cups. Now, I’m not a professional bra-fitter, but I’m pretty sure that’s not correct. I’m not a professional bra-fitter, but I’m pretty sure that IS correct. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360/133 "2010-07-07T23:17:04Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I’m not a professional bra-fitter, but I’m pretty sure that IS correct. 😃 Seconded! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-less-older-women-does-this-look-good/545360.md?page=6)