Where Is the A-Cup Revolution?

It's a revolution out there, or so I hear. Women with small breasts are taking over the world. The New York Times told me so. Everything is changing.

Within a week or two, Christina Hendricks will be getting reduction surgery. She'll ask her surgeon, "How small can you make them? Can we go down to a double-A?"

"But Christina, your career..."

"Just do it!"

When I was fitted for a strapless bra to go under my wedding gown, the saleswoman was very impressed with my maid of honor's breasts. She measured me at a B, and, losing interest, left me to fend for myself. Sort of like how the runt gets abandoned sometimes while the healthy cubs gobble up all the resources. My tiny voice from the darkened corner of the cavernous dressing room shook a little when I cried, "Can anyone help me find a bra? A bra for my wedding? I'm so cold..."

I've gained some weight since I last went bra shopping. My breasts are a little bigger. They look huge to me. I stare at them all the time. I catch myself pushing them together with the sides of my arms. You know, just casually, while I'm talking with people. I'll be across the table at a nice restaurant, pushing my boobs together a little and glancing down to see if it's working, and then grinning triumphantly. It's all very subtle.

So naturally, I thought that when I finally bought a new bra, I'd get refitted, just for fun, and the saleswoman would say, "Oh my! Double-C! What excellent breasts you have!" Double C? I have no idea how big sizes work.

Instead, she said, "Well, let's try a B, but I'm thinking A will work better."

And, shockingly, A did work better. The A-cup bras I tried on looked like they fit. There were only four or five bras in the store in my size. Their massive wads of padding made it look like my breasts stuck out a lot farther than they do.

I bought one. I went home. I felt as though I'd been demoted. How had I been mistaken for a B-cup for so long? How were my breasts, at their plumpest, unable to break through to a mere B? I palmed them, doubtfully. I asked them, "What's the deal? I thought you were big now!" They were silent and mysterious.

I've never minded having small breasts. They are really only brought to my attention in a negative way when the world tells me just how small they are, and that small is bad. It makes its point with lots and lots of padding. "Because you need padding," it whispers. "You wish that your breasts were bigger. We can help you with that." It makes its point with the walls covered with other, bigger, sizes. "You're abnormal," it murmurs. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but there are only four other women in this city with breasts as small as yours. And no one loves them." Christina Hendricks feels sorry for me. I know she does. She's a curvy role model who the women Esquire keep in their basement voted "Sexiest Woman in the World." When is a woman ever called a role model for having little breasts? Breast augmentations, we're told constantly, are more and more popular. Because it needs to be fixed.

I don't want to be fixed. I don't even want to be A-cup size. I just want to be a woman with awesome, soft, interesting, and fun breasts. And I am.

So where's my revolution?

***

This article also appears on Eat the Damn Cake.

 

Follow Kate Fridkis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/eatthedamncake

Comments

[AABigHeart]

07:21 AM on 03/04/2011

You are right, there is a lot of stuffiness in lingerie departments and, when you have a small bust, a lot of dismissiveness. When you're an AA-cup, it can often feel like the un-uttered words are: "Why are you even here?". But, that could be because they have nothing to sell you... as many lingerie stores only stock teen bras, or the-world's-plainest-token-AA-cup-bra. I write a blog called Smallbustbigheart.com. Anyone's that's small-busted and wants a "revolution" is invited to join my Every Body Loves Lingerie Campaign.

[Melpomene42]

10:46 PM on 03/02/2011

God, I wish we could just turn off the media with their relentless bombardment of negative messaging about our bodies. Sometimes I really think seriously about "going off the grid" and joining some intentional community without television, limited internet access, and so forth, and leaving all the noise and photoshopped images of perfection far behind.

[mzrecycle]

07:25 AM on 02/27/2011

You don't mention what the other size measurement is--32? 34? I'm a former 32A (in my 20's). Now in... another decade, I'm a 32C. I'm very frustrated that due to the general trend for women to carry more weight, the store will carry 32A &B's, but not a C cup. I have to go to a specialty store and pay $$ for my size.
In my 20's, I fantasized about a boob job to enhance my "charms". Now I'm so glad I didn't. It would just be extra that would get in the way (not to mention all the complications).
Another reason to be glad: Gravity is a function of mass. While mine are lower than they were in my 20's, they are still doing ok. That's in spite of the fact that I breast fed babies for a total of 5 yrs.

[sunnybunny]

11:45 AM on 03/01/2011

I know what you mean I wear a 34D but can get a similar fit with a 36C just doesn't stay in place as well but if I want to go to walmart instead of victorias secret thats what I'm stuck with.

[belle27]

10:55 AM on 02/26/2011

Absolute best thing about being an A cup? Being in your mid-40s and still having breasts that look 20. I will never sag, they will never hang down to my belly button. My husband loves that about me. It's probably the single thing that will make my body look younger longer.

[Kelly Jade]

08:20 AM on 02/26/2011

I am 5 feet tall and naturally a D cup and a size 4. My friends tell me that is a a body type they would kill for--never have to worry about wearing heels around guys, thin with big boobs but you try and find clothes that are petite--5' is on the short end of short, big enough for my breasts and fit through the waist. Most girls my height are zeros and weigh under 100 pounds--I have hips and a bust like so I generally out weigh them by 15-20 pounds.
It is impossible. I end up going to friends that can sew to custom make me dresses because I can't find a dress.
I love my body but I wish fashion would design things that DON'T make me look like I'm on my way to a strip club or are so terribly fitted I might as well wear a mu-mu. Please?

[sadie and boo]

03:30 AM on 02/26/2011

A Cup revolution? I'm still waiting for a D Cup revolution! A cups have dominated the runways for decades, and a larger bust usually goes hand-in-hand with larger everything else. That's why Sophia Vergara and Christina Hendricks don't have designers flocking to dress them for big events. I always assumed breast enhancement was for the Playboy bunnies, the Jersey Shore girls and the housewives of wherever. The fashion industry prefers a minimal bust; it's easier to dress. Even the Victoria's Secret girls usually have a B or C cup squished into a tiny bra to make it look huge.

I say we embrace ALL bust sizes (not literally) and adopt a healthy attitude to natural sizes and shapes.

[JKinTwit]

01:37 AM on 02/26/2011

Personally, I like being a smaller size, and I hate that I can never find bras without padding. I don't want padding!!

[Callah]

06:20 PM on 02/25/2011

Be happy your aren't carrying something that weigh about 7 lbs a piece on your chest. That is what the average size D weighs. Along with the back aches, and the ability to lose luggage under them. Be happy to be small.

[Veronica]

04:30 AM on 02/27/2011

7 pounds a piece?? As a D cup myself, this disturbs me. Ew.

[RedFlatShoe]

04:23 PM on 02/25/2011

Well my sister and I say "Be proud of your Rockin' As" (as in A-cups).

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

04:06 PM on 02/25/2011

Generally no matter the size, on the day you go bra shopping there will not be one bra in any store that will fit and feel comfotable.

[Exene]

04:06 PM on 02/25/2011

I buy my bras in France, where I'm an 85. That sounds WAY better than 32!

[detalumis]

10:13 AM on 02/25/2011

I was the same as you until I developed the typical middle age spread, when I went up to a C cup. Interestingly when I lost the excess body weight through diet and exercise, my chest never shrank back down. I think because I didnt grow a pair until so late in life I imagine they won't start to droop until 75 or 80.

[maattwo]

11:51 PM on 02/24/2011

I have always been small breasted, and that is just fine with me. Honestly, the most I ever aspired to was a B, and I got over it sometime in college. The big breasted women I knew had all kinds of problems, including back aches caused by carrying so much weight up top and deep dents in their shoulders from their bra straps. They also had to deal with men who liked them for their breasts, not for themselves. I went comfortably bra-less for thirty years, wearing only camisoles for nipple coverage if needed. Now that I'm post-menopausal, I wear an a-cup bra for support, but the girls are still high and tight, not saggy. Small breasts have a lot going for them. It's about time the rest of the world caught on.

[DrSnuggles]

04:12 PM on 02/24/2011

Breasts, like most body parts when we really think about it are judged by quality not quantity (except when in a fuzzy sweater). Obviously, I can't truly comment on your breasts but most likely a breast implant for you would be as big a tragedy as a breast reduction for Christina Hendricks.