I sure hope not.
Yeah, White Ink why do people care so much? And yes, it is mostly women who will tell you they think you are badly dressed. if I do or don’t want to wear something like makeup, a bra, high heels, a short skirt, whatever, why should anyone else care?
I’m iffy with bras. For exercise, always. At home, never unless I’m dressed up to host a party. Going out, it depends on the top I’m wearing and the reason I’m going out. A quick run to the supermarket - no way is that something to dress up for! i can do that in tracky daks and ugg boots. Also, never ever on long distance travel, for comfort reasons. I have not yet found a bra that is more comfortable than not wearing one - and believe me, I’ve tried.
If your boobs are up approximately where they’re supposed to be, and the nips are not so far out as to poke my eye out, I could give a rat’s ass whether they’re in a bra or not. But I agree that the over-nipped look in public is tacky with a capital Tack, and women who go out braless with their boobs around their waist just strike me as sad – what are they thinking? Don’t they know they look like refugees from the Home For Old Grandmas?
Personally, the girls are too big to be out in public without restraints. I’m not sayin’ I’m saggy , but neither would I say any part of me is perky, except my personality. I’d try the pencil test with just one pencil, but I’m afraid I’d lose it. 
I can’t get to the second page, but I’ll jump in anyway.
I prefer the cami top with built-in shelf bra these days–no nasty binding straps to deal with. I’ve tried the strapless variety but they’re too tight. Same with the ones that push up and give cleavage. It’s not worth cleaving if I’m gonna be in pain and have red welts around my torso by the end of the day.
Yeah, sometimes I even go out without one. I’ve gotten to an age/point where I don’t care much anymore if I forget to put one on or just don’t feel like it.
Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. 
I don’t usually wear bras unless I absolutely have to. Usually when I go out for the day, job hunting, to work, to the club… okay well it would be better to say I go braless whenever possible. In the comfort of my own home, yeah, if I’m just running to the store or around the neighborhood yeah. I find I get stared at even if I AM wearing a bra so it doesn’t matter much. Same with nipplies I know they show when I wear a bra and anything lighter than a sweater, not a lot I can do about it. It doesn’t help that most bras made for my size are underwire and that makes it even more uncomfortable. Even going in and being fitted properly they don’t feel right and dig in. I get a rash from the wires rubbing, or they dig in too tight.
In general I find bras uncomfortable and even the most comfy bra I own (my newest, a nursing bra) drives me nuts after awhile. It doesn’t really bother me when guys look, as long as they don’t stare and drool completely (I had that happen. I was at home all casual and roomie brought over our neighbor. He watched me like a hawk and every time I moved he would get this grin on his face and comment on them moving. So whenever he is invited over I always put on a bra because they move at least a little less when I wear one. Not a lot of difference that I’ve noticed though.) I’m a decently perky girl despite knowing I would fail the ‘pencil test’ without even trying it and I don’t see the need unless I want to look ‘proper’ but it comes off the instant I get home.
I don’t know about required, but I certainly consider it a fashion faux pas if a woman obviously is not wearing one and they’re sloshing around at waist level, nipples pointed at the ground. It simply offends me aesthetically, especially since that usually ruins the effect that the clothing designer had in mind for the piece.
That extremely pretentious-sounding statement aside, if you’re wearing a sweatshirt or something else baggy (like the aforementioned lab coat), have at it!
Release the twins! They need to breathe the air. They crave sunlight! Keeping them penned up is just so–cruel!
I will wear a bra to work but just about everywhere else is optional. I don’t really care what Ann Landers or Miss Manners has to say on the matter.
I pretty much restrict my bralessness to evenings when my chores are done and I’m ready for bed. I’m nearly 50 and gravity has not been kind. Personal preference - I’m more comfortable when constrained.
What is this “perky” of which you speak?? 
Perky is long gone for me Fairy Chat Mom I think gravity hits at 30 and then its all downhill from there! But that doesn’t stop me from going braless at times.
When I did the pencil test…the pencil stuck. So I tried a magic marker…that stuck too. I was going to try the roll of scotch tape but didn’t want to depress myself <eg>
I always wear a bra over my 32B’s. I just can’t understand a man with 38DD breasts can go topless in public when I can’t.
And I love Miss Manners. The combination of Victoria hautiness and just plain common sense is a hoot ("What do you say when introduced to a homosexual “couple”? “How do you do?” “How do you do?”)
I wonder, is it tacky to not wear underwear when in public? Even when you are wearing clothing (pants for example) that give away no suggestion that you are going commando?
Sometimes I go commando after I go swimming. After I’m dried off and fully dressed, its a nice, cool sensation. Nobody knows I’m not wearing any underwear, and I’m far more comfortable without them.
I think its unfair that women are so pressured to wear bras. Frankly, I would rather a woman not wear a bra at all than have some exposed strap/cup showing. If bras were intended solely for functionaility, then some men (who could use them) would be just as obligated as women to wear them in the same circumstances. However, because they aren’t, it makes me think that a bra is some sort of sexual veil, a western equivalent of the burkha. Why are nipples considered tacky? Why any more tacky than a woman’s nose, or her elbows, or her hair? (since I know that some culture have their women cover their hair in public). Men have nipples too, you know. But nobody’s gasping or muttering about how crass I am if I’m wearing a tight shirt and my nipples stick out. And yes, they do stick out. So do a lot of guys I know. There seem to be this huge differentiation between man nipples and woman nipples- I’m surprised we don’t call them by different names since we treat each gender’s nipples completely different.
You go to the beach, you’re gonna see man breasts. You’re also going to see some guys with some scary lookin nipples. I’m talking they should be on a woman but the guy wound up being born with them. But they don’t have to hide them. I know a guy who has a condition called gynecomastia- a hormone imbalance caused him to grow breasts. And yeah, that’s exactly what they are. He doesn’t have flap jacks nailed to his chest, he’s got 38C’s, big round tits and everything. Which in context isn’t sexy at all because they’re attached to a gay man who has chest hair. Nobody’s bugging him to wear a bra, why torture someone else just for being born with two X chromisomes?
Standing by with a supply of unsharpened #2s, ready to lend a hand.
Please form an orderly line.
Tacky? Probably.
Do I care? Hell NO!
So what say you Incubus–care to join the revolution?
I don’t think the pencil test is fair in most cases… no you girls need a thorough inspection and physical exam. Listen, ladies… I would be more than happy to perform said exams…
By and large, bi and large… hmmm… where was I not only should women not be required to wear bras… they shouldn’t even be required to wear tops… hell, as far as I am concerned clothes themselves can be optional in a great many cases.
The Official Booby Inspector is:
In
And some of them who didn’t go braless also ended up 30 years later with boobs sagging down to their waistlines. Um, but some people are more short-waisted than others.
I used to alternate between having short hair, then growing it long again. I arbitrarily defined “long” as reaching to my nipples and “really long” as reaching my waist. In my mid-30s I suddenly noticed that my hair seemed to be growing much more slowly. Several more years passed before I realized my hair was actually growing as fast as ever . . . that is to say, it took it longer to get “long” but it got “really long” in the same amount of time it always took, and much less time between “long” and “really long” . . . hardly any time.
Joke: Bandits come and ransack the home of a family. When the bandits leave, the eldest daughter shyly tells her father that she saved a couple of silver spoons by concealing them in her bosom. The father strikes his forehead and says “Ah, if only your mother had been here–we could have saved the tea service!”
I think it would be ridiculous to adopt a law against bralessness. However, I think it’s in really poor taste, particularly for those of us who are amply endowed, if it is painfully obvious that we are braless. For example, yesterday I saw this girl in a spaghetti strap tank top walking around. She must have been a DD at least, and didn’t have a bra on. I was sort of grossed out because her boobs were flopping everywhere. It looked really sloppy. Not to mention it made my back ache in sympathy.
The comments about the pencil test cracked me up, too. I had heard a version of that somewhere. Basically, you were supposed to see how many pencils you could put under your boobs to determine whether or not you were large busted. I think more than 2 pencils was considered big. I thought it was funny because that’s not exactly something you can hide. I mean, if my boobs enter a room before I do, I don’t need a couple of pencils to tell me that they’re larger than average!
Well? Don’t just leave us in the dark here. Where are the pictures?
True, but back before bras, women wore camisols, chemises, and over-the-bust corsets (not all corsets covered one’s breasts, though, depending on the fashions).
Oh, and Palewriter, bra-burning is a myth.