No, this is not a thread about fixing Thanksgiving dinner in your underwear. I was wondering how many women in the U.S., or anywhere for that matter, use unnatural means to enhance their breast size these days? Fake boobs, heavily-padded bras, inserts, ect. (Pus-up bras don’t count, they just move the breast to a singular location for cleavage, they don’t necessarily increase size, IMO.)
This is not a personal poll. I don’t expect the female Dopers to reveal their own booby secrets, but I know some of them are in a good position (as sorority members, or clerks at a store that sells padded bras and inserts or something like that) to answer this question with a good guesstimate.
Me personally, even being a guy, I can usually tell within a few degrees of freedom if a woman is enhancing herself. I would say most women these days use some form of trickery, at least in Central and South Florida. 60% is what I am going with. 60%+ for when at the beach in a bathing suit.
Now, let’s see how closely women guard this kind of info! To make sure this thread doesn’t crash and burn… for incentive, if you reply sincerely, you are eligible to win a free insert or padded bra of your choice!
I’ll answer, but I challenge you to find a padded bra that will fit me.
Actually, I think push-up bras do count, as they are heavily padded on the bottom to round things out, as it were. I don’t know if you’ve ever really looked at one, but they have enough padding to hold a stiff, firm boob shape, even when on a hanger. They’re really just a padded shelf, with enough fabric sticking above the shelf to cover the nipple.
If you count in all the women who wear such bras and bathing suits (it once took me and a friend 3 hours and 5 stores to find her one bikini top that wasn’t sticking out all on its own) I’d say the numbers are very, very high. I would wager the WAG that unenhanced women compose as little as 25% of the women in this country.
I wore a silicone-ish breast insert called Pals Raindrops for a Halloween costume (Playboy bunny). They were fleshy, came in my skintone and had a nipple on the front of them. I’d be hardpressed for anyone to be able to tell they were not my own.
I have no idea how many people stuff their bras. I am not one of them.
I’ve been accused of it since I was twelve becuase my breasts have always been a little bigger than looks natural, but my 36D’s are natural…and always a very hard size to find
Interesting subject. I wear padded bras so that I can wear thin t-shirts, but they don’t really add anything size-wise. IMO they tend to make the shape pretty unnatural, so I’d prefer to not have to wear them. But, it’s not polite to …umm… point.
President of the SDMB Itty Bitty Titty Committee checking in here just to put forth my two cents that women with small breasts, be proud of what you got! Small breasts are beautiful, and you shouldn’t feel the need to stuff.
My very first girlfriend had incredibly small breasts, yet she looked like a b cup most of the time. I tell you what, I prefered looking at her real breasts without the bra than to look at her fake breasts. It was just kinda funny the way she would have bigger boobs in a shirt, yet be flat chested in a dress. I would have loved it if she had the self-esteme to keep not use the padded bras ever, because her natural breasts were just so damn wonderful!
My last girlfriend was also about a size A, and I tell you, her breasts couldn’t be more perfect!
I’ve never noticed any of the women in the locker room stuffing their bras (tissues or inserts), though I wasn’t exactly watching closely. None of my friends and family stuff, either. I’ve noticed a lot of those lightly padded bras in stores lately, and they must be selling them to someone.
I don’t know any women who use enhancement in their bras - I include myself, of course. I tried wearing a push-up bra (I have large breasts but my regular bras don’t give much cleavage), but it was damned uncomfortable.
I can relate to the “itty bitty” part…and the not polite to point bit…when it’s cold, my bra size doubles!!!
My sister, who is 4 years older than I, is HUGE…like special made bra’s/back aches…ect… She used to tease me alot, I just singsonged “Yah, but I can sleep on my stomach!!”(got smacked for that one, I did)
A few years ago, I went to work on halloween looking like a nasty old bar bitch, makeup courtesy of Mimi (Drew Carey), ratted out blond wig, skanky leopard print skin tight pants, and a low cut red tshirt. I had two water balloons tucked in a lace bra, and you would not believe the attention I got (Not one guy looked me in the eye all day long) I jiggled and wiggled my way thru the day, a mother and daughter got in an argument over whether I was real or memorex…
The funniest part was when one of my male managers kept walking by and looking, and then turning beet red and walking off.
He finally got the nerve to ask what I had under my shirt…I told him water balloons. He said “Isn’t that rather cold?”, again turning beet red. I said “Oh no, they are nice and warm…here feel for yourself!” and pulled a “boob” and held it out to him.
His eyes bugged out, his mouth dropped to the floor and he literally RAN away from me!!!
Good times…
From the stories I read whenever I peruse my sister’s teen mags, apparently MANY females today stuff their bras. Not me, though. I’m nicely proportional right now, with an ample-but-not-grotesque rack. So I’m happy. Plus, if I stuffed my bra, it’d probably fall out at the most inopportune moment. At least, that’s if the stories in my sister’s magazines have any merit.
I wear “shaped” bras to prevent visible headlights, but they’re not padded…I’m a 36 B/C depending, so I don’t think I usually need lots of enhancement.
I do have a couple of push-up bras, though, for when I’m feeling froggy. I ain’t ashamed. Sometimes The Girls just wanna have fun.
Heavens, no. I am ample enough. Though I do remember, when I was being fitted with my first bra, my mom taught me that stuffing kleenex in my bra was standard practice—it was just to fill out the line of the bra, or something.
I tried it for a few days, but felt so silly (and was already something like a B cup in 7th grade) so I stopped. The funny thing is, no female, on either side of the family, is flat-chested. A C-cup is average. Including my mom. When she’s thinner she’s a C or D, when she gains a little weight (not a lot) she’s bigger. So I don’t understand why she even taught me the stuffing ritual to begin with. None of us in this family need it.
I also remember being accosted outside the gym class when I was in 8th grade or so. (Probably a C-cup by this time—I just kept growing and growing.) A group of girls that I did not know and really didn’t even recognize came up to me, en masse, and started yelling that I stuffed my bra. (If I recall correctly, these were slightly-built girls who I guess were flat-chested, not that I really thought to look.) I still remember the angry face of this one girl in particular, her angry face and yells—“You stuff! YOU STUFF!” I looked at her like she was from Mars. I didn’t know who she was, had never had a conversation with her before then (or since) but somehow she’d not only managed to notice me, but notice my boobs, come to the irate conclusion that I stuffed my bra, decided that I must be confronted in front of everyone (we were in a common area when this happened, not inside the girl’s gym).
I still can’t get over it. Apparently a group of girls that I did not know existed had noticed my boobs, were terribly offended and just had to confront me about it. What is it with teenaged girls?
yosemitebabe, I was a small B cup (not flat, not huge, about a handful) my freshman year of high school, and one of my tormentors (see the “Why do girls hate the attractive women” thread) came up behind me in the hall, dropped some tissue, and said “I think this fell out. You know where it fell out from, too.” For the record, I didn’t stuff and was angry that she would do that. Teenage girls are losers.
My bras have a thin layer of padding, but only to provide adequate coverage-meaning, to avoid nipples showing through. (Sorry boys, I think it looks tacky!)
At any rate, I’ve never really stuffed my bra-well, I tried once in fifth grade-but my mom caught me before I left for school and made me take it out-(Barbie clothes, of all things-I just grabbed some stuff!). LOL
I’m a C-cup, so I don’t really need to stuff, although I wouldn’t mind trying a Wonder Bra, just for the cleavage effect.
