This column (and probably some of the cited research) is based on the misguided perception that D-cup is synonymous with “huge”. However, all D-cup means is that the woman’s bust measurement is four inches larger than her underbust measurement. On petite women, D-cup breasts are rather small. A person not familiar with correct bra fitting information would probably think such a woman was an A-cup.
However, many people (including many bra-wearing women) have never been taught how to properly fit a bra. To make it worse, there are bra companies and lingerie stores that are concerned more with selling bras than actually getting women into the right fit. To solve this problem, they come up with strange fitting methods that put the highest number of women into a small range of sizes. They’ll tell you to add 5 inches to your underbust measurement or measure your overbust instead. Each of those methods put women in bands that are much too big, and that results in way too much weight being put on the shoulders. 80% of a bra’s support comes from the band, and the band can’t support anything if it’s five inches too big. A poorly fitting bra leads to most of the symptoms Cecil described in this column.
Sadly, it’s pretty clear that Cecil doesn’t understand bra fitting either since he describes 48DD as “the pinnacle of female beauty”. I suspect that what he’s picturing is not what 48DD actually is. (In case you’re curious, 48DD would fit a woman who has an underbust of 48 inches or greater. Thin women wear band sizes in the 26-32 range.) This guide is a good starting place to learn about proper bra-fitting techniques.
MODERATOR NOTE: Please be aware that this thread is from Feb 2013, revived in May 2014 in Post #15. That’s OK under our rules, I just want y’all to be aware that most of these posts are over a year old. – CKDH
Perhaps it is not a case of Cecil not understanding but one of the schoolboys he mentions who in large part believe bigger is always better even though they don’t understand what is getting bigger.
Exapno Mapcase, Cecil is the one who chose to use 48DD in that sentence. I doubt he petitioned schoolboys and had them write the example. At any rate, his mistake is a common one that is believed by many adults, including women who wear bras. I’ve been fitted by multiple professional bra fitters who believe you have to increase the band size in order to accommodate larger breasts, and that’s simply not how bras work. Unfortunately, their bad teaching methods are pervasive and lead to entire generations of young people who believe that’s how to find a bra that fits.
Part of the problem stems from the way that measurements are typically stated, e.g. 36-24-36 (to cite a “standard”). The 36" dimension there refers to around the breasts. However, the “48DD” notation appears to be stating a different standard, where you list the underbreast ribcage dimension and then the cup size dimension. By that standard, the typical measurements notation is going to come out something like 52-24-36, if we assume the increased (fake) bustage on the same frame as before.
It’s questionable how “48DD” got selected. It is arguable it reflects confusion on the part of schoolboys on how the different notations work.
Or, it’s Ed’s fault.
But sixtyforty is correct that there is a pervasive misunderstanding about cup size notation, as if the letter scale is an absolute volumetric measurement scale. However, if everybody is using the same misunderstanding and roughly scaling the letters to similar sizes, I would suggest what we have is a de facto second scale that just confusingly sounds similar to the scale bra sizing uses.
Speaking as a 34F who has fitted bras professionally, I would call a D cup “oh what a conveniently small size I wish I was that”
However, notwithstanding the truth of all you write, still I think “over a D-cup” is probably not a bad proxy for “breasts causing strain on the shoulders leading to possible carpal tunnel”.
The D-plus group is going to include small-band Ds - say 28-32D - which are a group at very high likelihood of wearing ill-fitting bras with overlarge bands (you’d have to hunt long and hard to get a 28D anywhere on the high street, and even a 32D is dicey), and are also probably short and generally petite, making it more of a strain for them to carry any weight on their chest at all. Then you have medium-to-large bands, who are actually carrying a significant amount of breast volume. So it is possible that the designers of the actual studies had some idea of what they were talking about.
I do agree, however, that anyone who holds up 48DD as a standard of female beauty is talking like a loon.
High Street is the UK equivalent of Main Street in the US - the main street through town with all the storefronts. Not as applicable to the days of suburbia.
Actually, High Street is by some distance the most common street name in the UK. there are well over 5000 of them, so it’s fair to say that most decent-sized towns have a high street called High Street. Cite.
Another difference is that the high street is always referred to as “THE” high street. Main street is not called “the” main street.
(And now that we’ve settled this important issue, can we please get back to the boobies?
Some of us Dopers have limits to our geekiness.
I think it’s because big breasted women lean nearer to a desk to rest them there while typing on a keyboard, hence bending their wrists as well, as opposed to stretching the arms further which promotes a more neutral straight wrist position. Hope you got a picture of that.
Am I misunderstanding you, or are you saying that large-breasted women (sometimes) rest their breasts on their desks? Wouldn’t you have to hunch over uncomfortably for that? Though I guess maybe it’s less uncomfortable than having to support them via bra.
How much do breasts actually weigh? Cecil mentions “a couple of ten-pound water balloons” for his 48DD example; is that realistic? What about more average sizes?
