For American women, the average bra size is way up, but actual breast sizes are relatively stable (or flat) to what they’ve always been, new boobs research reveals.
It’s long been said bra sizes are increasing, and that the average bra size in America was steadily climbing upward — but anecdotally, this has been summarily dismissed as due to a general rise in obesity and the larger breast sizes that come with it.
But now, a look at the average bra size issue reveals that women’s breasts aren’t getting much bigger, they’re just figuring out that the A/B/C/D stock options aren’t the most commonly seen bra sizes in actuality.
Options are changing, and along with it, women are being exposed to a wider array of retailers via the internet — ones that aren’t constrained by physical stock limitations to commit only to a small range of sizes, sizes that don’t fit most women. To wit, breasts aren’t getting bigger, but women are getting educated about how to really get a properly fitted bra. (Protip: mall measurements generally are not the way.)
The Inquisitr previously covered a bra revolution of sorts, spearheaded in many ways by Reddit’s A Bra That Fits ( click here to open reddit.com/r/ABraThatFits ) and spreading in a viral way among women on the web. The subreddit and other discussion groups like it counter the “plus four” method of fitting favored by cookie cutter bra retailers which often places women in a larger band size to fit the A/B/C/D varieties of bras sold in bricks and mortar non-specialty shops.
Racked , which is not actually a blog that deals with boobs, but shopping in general, spoke with a rep from the retailer Intimacy, who said:
“Instead of forcing D+ breasts into A to D cup bras, women are beginning to purchase larger cup sizes (G cup, for example) that actually fit properly… [Twenty years ago] the American market carried less than 20 sizes, so women with bigger breasts squeezed into bras that were two or more cup sizes too small. Therefore, the idea that breast size is increasing is perhaps slightly inflated due to women actually purchasing larger (and more accurate) bras for themselves.”
While a G cup sounds ridiculous and far off the American average bra size, taking into account the lack of “plus four” measuring, it makes a lot of sense. A woman wearing a C cup in a “plus four” size would probably find herself in a far smaller band and an F cup — which has a similar cup volume, but fits better overall.
Are you one of the growing number of women who’ve discovered their “average bra size” wasn’t average at all? Did it make a difference?