No Bra Day is an annual observance on October 13 on which women are encouraged to go
braless as a means to encourage
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...
awareness. No Bra Day was initially observed on July 9, 2011, but within three years it had moved to the 13th day of the
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM), also referred to in the United States as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), is an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awaren ...
, October. Users on social media are encouraged to post using the hashtag #nobraday to promote awareness of breast cancer symptoms and to encourage
gender equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
. Some users on social media sites also encourage women to post pictures of themselves not wearing a bra. Some women embrace No Bra Day as a political statement while others prefer the comfort of discarding what they view as a restrictive, uncomfortable garment.
The observance has spread worldwide. The event was spun off a medical event in Toronto, Canada, that encourages breast cancer survivors to consider
reconstructive surgery
Reconstructive surgery is surgery performed to restore normal appearance and function to body parts malformed by a disease or medical condition.
Description
Reconstructive surgery is a term with training, clinical, and reimbursement implicat ...
. First held on October 19, 2011, the medical event was named BRA (Breast Reconstruction Awareness) Day. It was adapted by an anonymous individual who conceived of No Bra Day as a way to encourage women to enjoy being braless and to become knowledgeable about breast cancer symptoms. The day is controversial as some see it as sexualizing and exploiting women's bodies while at the same time belittling a serious disease.
History
Event origins
The original event known as "BRA Day" was started by Toronto plastic surgeon Dr. Mitchell Brown. The first BRA Day event, titled "Breast Reconstruction – An Evening of Learning and Sharing", was held in Toronto, Canada at
Women's College Hospital
Women's College Hospital is a teaching hospital in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the north end of Hospital Row, a section of University Avenue where several major hospitals are located. It currently functions as an indepen ...
and
Toronto General Hospital
The Toronto General Hospital (TGH) is a major teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the flagship campus of University Health Network (UHN). It is located in the Discovery District of Downtown Toronto along University Avenue's Hospital ...
on October 19, 2011. Brown found that many Canadian women who underwent a
mastectomy
Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer have the operat ...
due to breast cancer resisted undergoing
reconstructive surgery
Reconstructive surgery is surgery performed to restore normal appearance and function to body parts malformed by a disease or medical condition.
Description
Reconstructive surgery is a term with training, clinical, and reimbursement implicat ...
. He founded "Breast Reconstruction Awareness" (BRA) Day to increase women's awareness of the availability of
reconstructive breast surgery. BRA day is intended to raise awareness of
breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a r ...
screening, alert women to breast cancer symptoms, and to encourage women to conduct regular self examinations. The event was adopted in the U.S. in 2012.
, the BRA Day event devoted to educating women about reconstructive surgery, and hosted by the
Canadian Cancer Society
The Canadian Cancer Society (french: Société canadienne du cancer) is Canada's largest national cancer charity and the largest national charitable funder of cancer research in Canada.
History
The idea to form the Canadian Cancer Society origin ...
, continued to be held across Canada. BRA day is observed on different dates in different provinces of Canada during the month of October.
The origin of No Bra Day can be traced back to the first BRA Day held in Toronto, in 2011. In July that year, an anonymous individual using the name Anastasia Doughnuts conceived of No Bra Day and published the first website promoting the event.
[
]
Beginnings in social media
The first No Bra Day event was created by an anonymous internet user self-named "Anastasia Doughnuts" for July 9, 2011 and was observed on that date through 2013. In 2013 and 2014, social media posts announced both July 9 and October 13 as No Bra Day. Since 2015, the event has only been promoted on October 13. The event was initially described, in part, as:
The announcement was later reposted on a Facebook group named "No Bra, No Problem" which grew to over 1,200 members.[ The group was started by teenager Brooke Lanie of Montana. She was responding to her Helena, Montana high school principal's treatment of her friend Kaitlyn Juvik, who was summoned to the office because her bralessness had "disturbed" a male teacher.
October is ]National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM), also referred to in the United States as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), is an annual international health campaign organized by major breast cancer charities every October to increase awaren ...
, and by 2014 the official day of the event was moved to October 13, during which women are urged to forgo wearing a bra. An increasing number of women, especially millennials, have expressed opposition to and are giving up wearing bras.
Response
Participation
In 2012, about 400,000 individuals took part in No Bra Day, 250,000 of those on Facebook.[ As of 2017 the day was observed by women in countries including New Zealand, Romania, Malaysia, Scotland, India, Ghana and the Netherlands.] Women are urged after taking off their bra to give themselves a breast exam. On social media, women are encouraged to go braless and to post photos using the hashtag #nobraday. More than 82,000 women posted pictures on Twitter and Instagram in 2017. Women who choose not to go braless and men are encouraged to wear something purple on that day. Some sites suggest that participants donate to breast cancer charities. A Romanian photographer capitalized on the idea and published an album of photos depicting braless women.[
]
Feminist connection
Some feminists who support the idea of using No Bra Day to raise awareness of breast cancer are concerned with the sexualization of the #nobraday hashtag in social media. In the Philippines, the observance is seen as a day to advance the cause of gender equality
Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
. One journalist noted that No Bra Day "asserts femininity and our appreciation of who we are as a woman... The bra symbolizes how women are being held in bondage".
Criticism
No official sponsorship
The unofficial No Bra Day is not recognized by any cancer research organization and is not a formal part of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Some critics have described the event as being "purely sexual". The event does not directly raise money for cancer research or prevention, although individuals are in some cases encouraged to support such causes.
Sexualization
The association between going braless and breast cancer screening has drawn criticism.
The tabloid website TMZ
TMZ is a tabloid news website owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, originally as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. On September 13, 202 ...
posted an item about "Happy No Bra Day" with an image of Selena Gomez
Selena Marie Gomez ( ; born July 22, 1992) is an American singer, actress and producer. Gomez began her acting career on the children's television series ''Barney & Friends'' (2002–2004). As a teenager, she rose to prominence for starring a ...
wearing a see-through top. Another site featured a photo gallery titled "#NoBraDay: 15 Celebs Who Frolick About With Their Fun Bags Freed". One of the issues with the concept is that breast cancer survivors who use prosthetics
In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...
must wear a bra to conceal their disfigurement or wear prosthetics and inserts in their bra to make them appear "normal".[ Some critics have described the event as sexualizing and exploiting women's bodies while at the same time belittling a serious disease.]
Jean Sachs, CEO of Living Beyond Breast Cancer, thinks No Bra Day is offensive. "I mean breast cancer is a life-threatening illness. It has nothing to do with wearing a bra or not wearing a bra." Gayle Sulik, founder and executive director of the Breast Cancer Consortium, said, "But we don't really pay attention to what's going on with breast cancer. That's a hugely damaging impact of this sort of message".
In New Zealand, the New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation attempted to repeat the success of a Scottish television breast cancer awareness campaign that educated women about the appearance of their breasts. It featured comedienne Elaine C. Smith showing pictures of typical breasts displaying cancer symptoms. But New Zealand's Commercial Approval Bureau would have likely given the ad showing breasts and nipples for medical purposes an Adults Only classification, requiring it to be broadcast after 8:30 pm. The Breast Cancer Foundation opted to place objects strategically in front of the nipples instead.[
]
References
{{reflist
External links
Wessex Cancer Trust website
Breast cancer awareness
Health awareness days
International observances
Feminism and history
Brassieres
21st-century fashion