Having spent more than 20 years in a bra, it was an intrinsic part of her daily routine. Then, in March 2020, she herself contracted Covid-19, which kicked off a major transformation in her life. Unfortunately, this illness developed into long Covid which changed her life completely. This shift would eventually make her question the tradition and stigma surrounding the cotton piece.
At first, she was all in on wearing bras, connecting them to ideas of femininity, glamour, and sophistication. At age 12, she bravely stepped into the excitement of first bra fitting. As she danced with outstretched arms in front of the mirror, full of light and happiness, she remembers that moment extremely well. She thought that with the right bra she would look like Madonna, and become that thing itself, stylized womanhood that she worshipped.
For all the fantasy promise, bras’ tactile functionality got to her too. She liked how light they felt and how well they performed in all-weather conditions, especially how they held up all day long. Changing to this new accessory only took a few days, and for decades, putting on a bra became as instinctual as breathing.
When her life was thrown off balance by the sudden onset of long Covid, that all shifted. The disease left her with such severe pain in her sternum. For three and half years, she had the sense that life had frozen in place. Throughout this time, Christie experienced a host of challenges that made her rethink her relationship with bras.
One day, while fitting on a bra, she poured her frustrations out to her husband. She shouted that she was living the life of a Barbie doll. Yet his unimpressed response revealed how far her understanding of femininity had diverged from common sense. She really tried not to let this label—the “bra-less wonder”—get to her, but this started to get in her head.
As activist movements calling for body positivity and freedom grew stronger, people started to embrace the idea behind the movement “free the nipple.” This phrase stuck with her as she found her way through what is increasingly a larger culture to challenge evolving ideas of femininity and self-acceptance.
She started by reminding us about the legacy of bras as tools of feminist movements. Society—as second-wave feminists famously burned them to protest—described as a mark of oppression and subjection. This reflection led her to re-evaluate her own attachment to bras.
Despite the lingering pain from long Covid, she experienced an unexpected sense of liberation when she decided to stop wearing bras altogether.
“I’m lucky that my breasts are small and humble.” – Author referencing Shakira’s song “Whenever, Wherever”