Crossdressers-Haven.com

What is a bra to you? This question is for both CD and GG as I would love their input also. This is something I have thought of often throughout my life and my CDing. A bra was the first feminine clothing item I remember wearing. While it is an part of my CDing that has emphisis at times, there has also been times where it was not part of my CDing. The guy parts of me loves to look and stare. The femme parts of me checks out if the bra fits her right, wonders if it is comfortable, what type and brand is the bra and where she got it.

Laccey's post on "Longline bra" http://crossdressers-haven.com/forums/v ... hp?t=13598 and some of the comments has renewed my thought process along with added thought material from a day in the park at an outdoor concert.

When I first found information on the Internet on cding for many CDers bras were very sexual. But look at the media for women and bras, that is very sexual also. I grew up in the 60's and bra burnings, then seen Madonna where the bra became outer wear and now the VS is a yearly tv event. In my life time bras have gone from where the normal was the basic white bra to the where the basic white bra is not the normal. Most bras have a bit of fashion to them, nicer looking fabric often with designs and textures, multitude of colors, some designed to smooth and reduce show through, others with features to enhance and pushup, different cup designs and cuts and lots of strap options. So I would say the bra is no longer just your basic under garment clothing item.

Growing up the bra was just an undergarment like underwear. It belonged under your clothes. It was made well known that bra straps were not to show from under peoples clothes as if they did mom would make some comment. The outline of the bra and straps could be seen from under the clothes but should not come out from under the clothing. And it was the same for underwear. Pants should be pulled up with a belt on so the underwear did not show. Now seeing a bra seems like not a big deal. In fact seeing a bra seems more like the norm. Example, yesterday at a concert in the part I would say more than 3/4 of the GG's there had some part of their bra showing. More younger gals than older gals. Just the older GG's were not usually as showing as the younger ones. Lots of bra straps with cami straps. Many also had on some type of top that did not fully cover the bra because being sleeveless and bra showed through the arm hole or low cut in the front. And these sundresses many just plain do not cover much at all. One gal had on a strapless sun dress and the only part of the hot pink bra with straps covered was the cups as the dress sagged below the bra for the rest of it. At least the color matched the dress. There was even many wearing thin tops that did cover up the bra, but being that thin showed their pretty bras under. So much for needing to go to a wet teeshirt contest to get that view.

Well I rambled on. For me a bra is something that just feels right for me to wear. There is a mental comfort in wearing one like it should be worn. Without it sometimes it is like there is something missing. It is like I have been taught to wear a bra and it has become instinct to just wear it and without it something is not right. A well fitting comfortable bra just becomes a part of me. An uncomfortable bra becomes an irritant but the need to keep it on usually out ways the uncomfortable need to rip it off.

So what is a bra to you?

Society says I have to wear one
A needed undergarment
Supports my breasts
Supports my sagging breast so they are not by my waist
Something to cover my breasts
I just hate wearing them
I just hate them
Uncomfortable piece of clothing
Keeps my breast from bouncing all over

Fashion statement
Something to be shown off
Shows off my breasts
Enhances my breasts
Pushes up my breasts to show them off more

Part of overall feminine clothing attire
Supports and gives shape to my breasts
Enjoy the feel of a bra and the way it feels when on
Bra holds my forms
Like the tug of the band and pull of the straps
Feels like being hugged
Just feels right wearing and good wearing one

Strictly sexual item
Bondage device
Humiliation device

Other?

kimberlys-cd
joe in a skirt

A needed accessory to complete my presentation. I wil not get dressed fem without one. Besides something has to hold up my falsies!

It is both a needed item for support, a item of modesty (I have overly perky nipples and a bit of padding helps prevent embarrassment), and simultaneously it is an iten that enhances a feminine protrayal by lifting and separating.

I remember in high school when I went quickly down some stairs, and felt the jiggle that warned me I needed some support, though then it was tight undershirts to flatten them out and hold them. Then years later, I was riding a 4 wheeler as a passenger over rough country and the driver liked to go fast, and I was without a bra. The next day, my chest was soooo sore you wouldn't believe. Even if you are the chair of the Itty-Bitty-Titty Club, circumstances can still demonstrate why a bra is good!

Carolynn

I agree with Wendae.

I need a bra to hold my forms. I doubt there is any more feminine garment than a bra. For that reason its the one thing that is crucial to how Susan presents herself to the world.

For me, the bra is needed for the forms. In addition, it's a pain in the tushy if worn too long. Depending on what I'm wearing over it, it can be part of my fashion statement, abate modestly since I don't flash it.

I support all these views..support, feminity.etc.... and that is why I need tio and do wear one. Indeed my mascuiline figure is better with a braas well!

I to with Wendae, A bra is needed to complete the picture.

I think for me it is part comfort, I love the way it feels when it is on. The way the straps feel, hugging my chest and supporting my forms. I do love the way a bra feels when it is on. Fancy or plain a bra is important part when I wish to feel feminine. There is nothing else that can say the same thing, IMHO.

Erica

It makes me feel womanly, or womanish, if you prefer. A bra is something that only a woman really has a need for, and for that reason I find it psychologically comforting to be in one, even on a hot day, like today. Given the choice between being in a relationship with a woman, or an effeminate man in a dress, my wife prefers the effeminate man in a dress. But she seems perfectly comfortable with bras as an expression of that, so I'm in one just about every day that I am at home.

I've found it hard to get a bra that fits, so perhaps this question is not for me. But...I have always felt kind of weird when I put on a bra. It's so obviously a transgression, in that I don't have boobs really, so that when I'm putting it on it's like I'm going to some other place than the one of my actual gender.

I know when I feel the straps on my corselette (which is what usually wear instead) it has the effect people mention from bra straps - like a womanly feeling of having breasts. But that's after it's been on for a while - and I stop feeling I'm a man in women's clothing and start feeling I'm a woman.

I mean, for bits of fabric and stuff, they have quite an effect, but I guess that's part of what crossdressing is - that emotional response. I would imagine GGs see it pretty differently.

When I take the corselette off and see the flat male chest in the mirror, that's kind of the moment when I start to come back to earth - sometimes with a bump.

If I had to guess, I'd say the "having" boobs" is the centre of the CDing experience for most people. So, to me, this question has ramifications of what does CDing "mean" to people.

It is one, feminine, then sexual, and something that holds your forms in place. For me, it is the only feminine item that my SO does not want to see me wearing. She knows that I wear them, and I do under a layer of other clothes, but forms and a bra are her only conditions she has about feminine clothing. She does not even want to discuss it, and she is pretty open about everything else. It is our compromise, and I live with it, as it is not that big a deal for me. The closest we ever got to talking about it, she said that a bra is the only item that women wears that is different from what a man wears.

My wife feels the same way. She won't even hug me when I'm wearing a bra, especially with forms in.She says it make her feel like a lesbian. She has bought me bras because she knows I like them but I seldom wear one around her. You're right, it's a compromise and respect for her feelings.

What does a bra mean to me?

I reckon I've had this desire for breasts, and wearing a bra, especially one that enhances my natural wannabe-breasts, fulfills that desire, without the need for BA.

Adding forms helps with the overall look, and can help with the mental image.

However, recently I've not bothered wearing one, since I've not been going out. It will leave lines in my fat infused skin, and that would be hard to explain away when swimming every day.

I like clothes with lace and/or ruffles, and so too, like more feminine looking bras. And they have to match my panties, color-wise.

My wife has never expressed any feelings about me wearing a bra. She isn't to keen about me dressing tho but puts up with it. I'm the one that feels uncomfortable at the thought of appearing before her while getting dressed and undressed where she would see me in a bra without a top to cover it.

I agree with you Gillian, my wife does not want me to wear one. Several months ago I had a bra on (no forms in ) and she gave me a hug or touched me on my back, I do not recall how she knew. She told me to take off the bra, I do not have breast so I do not need to wear one. that was the last time I have worn one around her, we did not talk about why nor did I tell her it was mine and not hers. I do not think she knows I even have my own. I still enjoy wearing bras when I can. it helps me feel feminine and good about myself. I enjoy dressing and it is definitely part of who I am and I want to expand that some day but is is not right now. Wearing a bra from time to time helps me feel good about myself.

Hugs,

Erica