# Bra sizes. Please explain to this feeble male. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 16, 2017, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286 "2017-01-16T01:31:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/21 "2017-01-16T14:47:48Z")
And note that Japanese bra sizes run consecutive letters but a little smaller than their US/European counterparts. A Japanese “A” size would overlap an American AA and an A cup and a B would overlap an A and a B. Apparently my ex-wife found this out when we lived in the States. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/22 "2017-01-16T14:53:10Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > And note that Japanese bra sizes run consecutive letters but a little smaller than their US/European counterparts. A Japanese “A” size would overlap an American AA and an A cup and a B would overlap an A and a B. Apparently my ex-wife found this out when we lived in the States. Depending on the clothing supplier, in Korea it’s the same. Every time I went to Costco in Korea, it cracked me up to see two large tables set up with the same clothing for sale, but one table labeled “Asian Sizes” and the other “Western Sizes”. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/23 "2017-01-16T14:55:28Z")
… add one cup size for nursing mothers … learned that the hard way … ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/24 "2017-01-16T15:27:58Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > 48 OMG You win the thread! 🙂 Ref **bob++** : I’d bet most of the folks with pain are large-chested. Or just plain large. Who would tend to need bras bigger than commonly stocked at the local department store. Hence they’d buy what they could find, right fit or not. I also suspect nowadays with all the emphasis on boobs shoved well out into public, wearing one too small and so spilling bounteously out the top is a common fashion decision. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/25 "2017-01-16T15:35:48Z")
Actually they are quite simple: A = almost there B = Barely there C = Cant complain D = Damn! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/26 "2017-01-16T15:49:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Kimstu** : > > Personally, if I’m going to be stuffing the girls into cups to check the fit, I’d rather try on an actual fabric bra, where I can acquire the thing immediately if I like it, than fiddle with a plastic cup from a sizing kit that may or may not accurately represent how the actual garment as a whole will fit me. On the other hand, if you try on an actual fabric bra and it’s a really comfortable fit, then you can buy one bra. If there’s a standard that accurately reflects the variety of shapes and sizes, and you learn what your size is by that standard, then once you know you can buy as many bras as you want. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/27 "2017-01-16T15:52:49Z")
Like all women’s clothing sizes, they’re basically made up on the spot by the advertising department to fool consumers, they have no relation to anything else on the rack or in any other store or even by the same manufacturer, and you have to try every single thing on before you buy it because the idea that there are standard sizes is a cruel joke clothing manufacturers like to play on women. ---
**Author:** ![SigMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@SigMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SigMan)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/28 "2017-01-16T16:03:38Z")
I can’t wait for the metric measures. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/29 "2017-01-16T16:04:59Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Also, having spent a small amount of time selling bras, I’m completely sure that that survey is only an accurate way of gauging the sizes of the actual customers up to about a C. Above that, the D-stats are inflated by all the large chested women buying whatever the biggest thing on the shelf is, and large sizes downgraded appropriately. I had heard about bias on the other side. AAs and As are underrepresented in statistics derived from bra sales statistics because “just go without” is a more viable option. ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/30 "2017-01-16T16:19:37Z")
The theory that if you are, say, a 34C you can just wear a 36B by going ‘up a band size, down a cup size’ - is pretty misleading. The size 36 band would ride up from the size 34 ribcage, where it ought to be, onto lower front and sides of the breast tissue, leaving the elastic around a sensitive area. This is likely to be very uncomfortable. And the cups would be overflowing on all sides. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/31 "2017-01-16T16:26:38Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > … > because the idea that there are standard sizes is a cruel joke clothing manufacturers like to play on women. There’s no doubt women have it worse than men. But if you think men don’t also experience (some) meaningless marketing-driven sizing you haven’t shopped mens’ clothes all that much. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/32 "2017-01-16T16:42:51Z")
> [@SigMan](#): > > I can’t wait for the metric measures. 😃 There are three versions, of which the one with two numbers appears to be disappearing: 1. number and letter, where the number is the band in cm. 2. number and letter, where the number is measured over the nipples and in cm. AKA French sizing. The letters are for cup size and are the same as for people who use inches. 3. numbers for great perimeter and band. So, for example, someone with a 90/75 would have a 75C (cm) or 30C (inches) in bra+cup, and a 90C in great perimeter+cup. ---
**Author:** ![Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shinna_Minna_Ma)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/33 "2017-01-16T17:20:17Z")
Shocked - I am shocked that nobody has posted [one of my favorite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3AMRHXMfjs) Seinfeld episodes regarding this topic. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/34 "2017-01-16T17:20:40Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > There’s no doubt women have it worse than men. But if you think men don’t also experience (some) meaningless marketing-driven sizing you haven’t shopped mens’ clothes all that much. Well, I buy pants sized in inches for both inseam and waist. I buy shirts sized in inches for the neck and the sleeve. I understand they’re only accurate to within two inches and there’s plenty of other fit problems I can run into that those numbers don’t clarify, but that’s all far better than having an entire outfit called “size 10”, whatever that means. Bras are supposed to be more objectively sized, but every woman I have spoken to tells me that is emphatically _not_ the case. I routinely buy clothes online. I’ve never met a woman who would buy anything more important than socks that way, at least not without a solid free-return guarantee and a month or two in advance of whatever event they needed those clothes for. ---
**Author:** ![paulmarkj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9e8a1a/32.png) [@paulmarkj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulmarkj)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/35 "2017-01-16T17:45:31Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Wow. What a complicated way of doing things. No wonder I hadn’t a clue. Not as complicated as shoe size, which are based on the barleycorn, which is 1/3rd inch. A size 12 is 12 inches and then count back in barleycorns. eg: size 11 is 12 inches - 1 barleycorn - 11.66 inches. Children size zero is 12 barleycorns = 4 inches and then add a barleycorn for each size, eg: size 1 = 4.33 inches. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/36 "2017-01-16T19:44:54Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > There’s no doubt women have it worse than men. But if you think men don’t also experience (some) meaningless marketing-driven sizing you haven’t shopped mens’ clothes all that much. I’m having a hard time to think of any marketing-drive pressure that would affect mens’ clothing sizes. It’s not like anyone is ever going to brag about wearing a size L t-shirt or pants with a 36-inch waistband. I suppose there’s some marketing pishposh about whether a dress shirt is “slim-fit” or other subjective description. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/37 "2017-01-16T20:15:04Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > There’s no doubt women have it worse than men. But if you think men don’t also experience (some) meaningless marketing-driven sizing you haven’t shopped mens’ clothes all that much. So what are you saying; size matters? ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/38 "2017-01-16T20:40:08Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’m having a hard time to think of any marketing-drive pressure that would affect mens’ clothing sizes. It’s not like anyone is ever going to brag about wearing a size L t-shirt or pants with a 36-inch waistband. I suppose there’s some marketing pishposh about whether a dress shirt is “slim-fit” or other subjective description. You’re both right. “Slim fit” is one current scourge of men’s fashion. I don’t know if you remember the Seinfeld episode where Jerry wears jeans with the waist size printed on the visible label (Levi’s do this in real life, I think), and is caught altering the label to make it look like he still wears the same size as he did in high school, but that’s another example. Still, pretty slim pickens when compared with the constant deluge of bullshit women have to put up with in the world of fashion. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/39 "2017-01-16T22:28:39Z")
> [@Shinna\_Minna\_Ma](#): > > Shocked - I am shocked that nobody has posted [one of my favorite](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3AMRHXMfjs) Seinfeld episodes regarding this topic. I referenced it in post #15 ---
**Author:** ![Pheline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pheline/32/5483_2.png) [@Pheline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pheline)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2017, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286/40 "2017-01-16T23:49:33Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > So now we can move on to the next complication which is that the cup size does not actually tell you how much boob you’ve got ( volumetrically) because it’s based on a linear measurement, not a volume measurement. So a 10D bra holds breasts the same size as a 16A bra … only on a slimmer-framed woman. > > The rule of thumb is, up a band size, down a cup size. I think we all agree they’re pretty amazing- men think so for some reason, babies for milk and women for one of their superpowers (growing humans, making milk… whether you do it personally). “Boobs” is so… denigrating. Breasts are pretty nice and we wouldn’t have survived as a big brained species without an extended period of intense brain growth fueled by mother’s milk. Anyway… bra fitting is further messed up by complementary sizes. I don’t understand it, frankly so I ignore it. I have a great bra fitter at Nordstrom, she finds a brand that fits (Calvin Klein right now), I buy one or two full price. Then I keep an eye out for them at Marshall’s/TJ Maxx etc since full price is a lot. I wander into other brands but it’s iffier. Good bra fitting. That’s important. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bra-sizes-please-explain-to-this-feeble-male/777286.md?page=3)