Beneath the Fabric: An Ethnographic Exploration of the Meanings Behind Bras

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2024-04-01

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I set out to meet with people who are close to me and talk to them about their feelings and their relationships with their bras. My interviews took place as casual conversations and my participants freely shared their experiences and feelings with little to no hesitation. I interviewed my mom and my sister (Hope), a close family friend (Arden), and a friend of mine who has recently graduated from IU (Lyn). Everyone’s name has been anonymized, though I acknowledge that my mom and sister are participants. A lot of ideas and factors related to bras and breasts came to light during my interviews and research into how people choose to wear bras or not. These topics include the inherent sexualization and objectifaction of breasts, wearing a bra as a significant life marker, religious perspectives, queer perspectives, breastfeeding, performative aspects of wearing a bra, bra industries, and the cultural and global influences of bras and breasts. Conversations about bras and their significance revealed quite a lot about my participants’ experiences. A diverse range of factors that influence people’s decisions to wear a bra is clear, whether it’s influenced by our culture, personal circumstances, or societal expectations. Throughout this sort of ethnography, I aim to discover the connection between people and their bras and provide a more nuanced understanding of this relationship with a very common and mundane garment that also has deep symbolism.

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Christina's research was one of the 2024 Burgess Award winners. It was written for Fall 2023 INTL-I 305 Global Beauty Regimes: the political economy and cultural politics of beauty.

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