Blogpost 6: Pain for the Hour Glass

What is home? Home is where a female can comfortably take off her bra. Do you ever complain about bras being painful? The underwire is stabbing you, it becomes itchy and irritating? Well, I'm sure most females have experienced this. Isn't it funny how at the end of the day, we feel so relieved and relaxed once we take off our bras? It's one of those things that we really look forward to. I always wondered what the point of bras were, other than to make boobs look more perky. I have heard discussions like if one doesn't wear a bra, her boobs will sag or she will get breast cancer. So what is it really? Is it necessary?
I have related this to the past; bras to corsets. In the article by Ken L. Smith, The Purpose of the Bra; he stated that bras actually serve no benefit. It actually has more cons than pros. He stated that it is actually possible that bras can increase the chances of breast cancer because it results in swelling and pain. Just like corsets as compared to bras in this article, Ken mentioned that corsets were popular in the 19th century to create an "hourglass figure", to make the waist look as small as possible. This corset was actually harming the women because it would be so tight that it would restrict and contort their bodies. 

Like bras, it is not necessary; it merely projects a more sexual appearance for women. For a little while, bras serve as a basket to hold breasts to make them sexually stimulating for the opposite sex. Notice, we tend to wear plunging neck lines to show our chest area and with this, we wear bras that are padded or those that "push up". 
But why harm ourselves? 
If only we can mold our bodies to be exactly the way we want it to be, right?
A short clip made at the Australian Film Television and Radio School called "Plastic" is about a girl who is about to go on a date. Suddenly, everything goes wrong until she figures out that she can mold her body to any way she wanted; just like plastic. In this film, we see how excited she is when she realizes this. She tightens her butt, elongates her neck, pushes her boobs up and does anything she feels would make her look more appealing. Again, she did this for the opposite sex. A guy she's had a crush on for years. Like any other girl, she molded her body into the "ideal" body; the hourglass. But why is this the image in our minds when we think of the perfect female body? 

We are influenced mostly by what people believe is attractive. We try to achieve those things that celebrities and the media wants us to have. This pressures us to try to perfect our appearance even if it is impossible. Surely everyone knows that it is painful and disappointing to be able to not achieve something you strive for. Beauty like success is hard to obtain and this pains us naturally.