August 31, 2001

1:52 PM

Ladies beware! It appears that foul contraption, the brassiere, is not only constricting, but holds up women's natural defenses against toxins. Surely, this article will give feminists of the bra-buring ilk the support they need to lift and separate their message from the din.
posted by CRS (24 comments total)

Your link took me to an article about free-range chickens.
posted by Johannahh at 2:09 PM on August 31, 2001

As a resident of Eugene, I feel the need to comment on our hometown 'paper', The Eugene Weekly. It makes the Boston Phoenix look mainstream, heh. Basically, all the writers are middle-aged white people who think they're the hippest people because they talk about 'diversity' subjects like having a column specifically for a lesbian writer and all that, despite the fact that everyone on their staff is from the same ethnic group. They also hate all corporations (what do you expect from the city that Time calls 'the anarchist capital of the world'). Last year, when our school system took money from Coke and Pepsi to keep the soda machines in the high schools, there was a massive uproar. Although when my high school had an espresso and chai tea stand in the hallway 3 years ago (I kid you not, heh), not a peep about 'unhealthy caffeine' was said.

If you want to read some funny stuff, check out the Letters section. It's good times. On the subject of the article itself, just remember that Science content from the Eugene Weekly is like getting your Politics from 'Afghan Times'.
posted by Kevs at 2:09 PM on August 31, 2001

[I scrolled waaaaaay down the page and found the article.]

The Phoenix is now free, which partially makes up for its lack of newsworthy content.
posted by Johannahh at 2:14 PM on August 31, 2001

I have never been to Eurgene but am familiar with its outstanding track teams and indicual runners.
May well be the anarchist capital of the world, and I am glad that the people there bounced Coke and Pepsi. I live, though, in a very conservative town and it never even occurred to our school system to allow those two soda giants access to the schools.
As for coffee: stupid. This stuff is as addictive and harmful as soda.
Why not a healthier beverage--perhaps even Coke or Pepsi WATER, filtered tap waters at a buck peer bottle instead of a water fountain lacking a logo?
posted by Postroad at 2:18 PM on August 31, 2001

Off-topic: Chai tea is redundant :) Chai is Tea in Hindi...
posted by riffola at 2:21 PM on August 31, 2001

Ah, the article. There mayh be this connection: chickens and breasts should all be free roaming. As for breasts: tastes like chicken to me.
posted by Postroad at 2:21 PM on August 31, 2001

if i let my breasts roam free....i'd get arrested for indecent exposure.
posted by summer1971 at 2:30 PM on August 31, 2001

I'll be sure and tell every girl I see!
posted by kevspace at 2:31 PM on August 31, 2001

Postroad...we actually took the soda deal, despite the Eugene Weekly protests. My school alone got 300 grand for letting the kids buy soda at school rather than walk down the street and get it at the convenience store (since almost all the schools are open campus).

A little off the subject, but the Oregon school system is in *huge* trouble financially. A law called Measure 10 passed in 1990, and it basically makes it so that the amount of money to schools was slashed by the state and there's no real way for local districts to increase the amount schools get even if they wanted to. My school gets 40% of the money per student that we got in 1990, not even counting inflation. There are a significant number of classes in the 40-55 student range, which is ridiculous. Also, no new high schools have been built in the Eugene area since my school in 1967, despite a doubling of the population.

Unless the Eugene Weekly volunteers to pony up 300 grand from their hemp sales or whatever is it the people who read it do, our schools will have no choice whether to take this type of money. My school fees for this year are almost 300 dollars. The education system is turning into a student-pay system. It's nuts. And, as an aside, no one that wasn't drinking Coke is drinking it because there are machines in our school. You can buy juice or Gatorade or whatever as well. No one's health is going down because of deals like this. It's a win-win situation.
posted by Kevs at 2:36 PM on August 31, 2001

One woman told the team, "My tits will sag all the way to my navel without a bra."

99% of the US female population has just spoken.
posted by jennak at 2:50 PM on August 31, 2001

Kevs: I know well the argument in favor of taking the money from the Logo guys. Tadxpayers won't put up the needed money so that this is a way to get the schools their money. And next: since schools can find inventive ways to get the money, why not cut more into budgets and let them subsidize it on their own?
In fact, most schools sytems suffer becasue we simply don't give a hoot about education and protest any sort of tax money they might need or be given.
But schools aside, look too at places such as Denver who get new stadiums through corporate giving and then have to name the stadium after the corporation.
For those prone to addicition: just a little of this from time to time and then I will call it quits. Sure.
posted by Postroad at 2:59 PM on August 31, 2001

I was thrown off by the free-range chicken article too. I was almost disappointed that the bra story was actually there, I think that mis-link would have been amusing.

99%? Really? Are 99% of all women of such mass that sagging to that extent is actually a problem? I know I'm not. It's definitely one of the (admittedly few) benefits of not having large breasts, I go braless pretty much whenever I want, and the ones I do wear are hardly constrictive. Never wore a sports bra when I ran cross-country, and nothing bounces around. Sad for the boys, but just fine by me.
posted by jennaratrix at 3:00 PM on August 31, 2001

I'll 2nd Kev's opinions on the Oregon school system. I'd do everything here except raise children.
posted by SpecialK at 3:04 PM on August 31, 2001

That's the best freakin' link description I've read in ages. Nice job CRS. I've heard statistics that something like 3 out 4 women wear the wrong size bra. I wonder how much that contributes to restricting the lymph nodes.
posted by machaus at 3:22 PM on August 31, 2001

This is a horrifically ugly page design, but it is also rich with information about lymphedema.
posted by Skot at 3:28 PM on August 31, 2001

Are 99% of all women of such mass that sagging to that extent is actually a problem?

It was obviously a gross overgeneralization, but I do think that most American public buy into the idea that a) sagging breasts are ugly breasts or b) small breasts aren't sexy and therefore they must get as much clevage and padding as possible.
posted by jennak at 3:43 PM on August 31, 2001

Man, don't let a medical librarian near a question like this. The Eugene story directs one to www.nhne.com. I searched that site and found only a brief blurb that cited the August 1995 issue of New Age Journal. That "journal" does not have a significant web presence, so I couldn't go any further that way.

I went to search PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed). If the paper was published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, then PubMed will point us to the original research. First I searched for (bra OR brassiere) AND singer, s). Nothing. Not a damned article. So I searched for (breast cancer OR lymphedema AND singer, s). Seven papers. None of them had anything to do with bra-pressure on the lymph glands causing cancer.

So, I think that somebody needs to hunt down the appropriate issue of New Age to see if there's a more complete citation therein.

Geez.
posted by djfiander at 4:25 PM on August 31, 2001

Bouncing bosoms help clear the lymphatics.

Maybe the best line I've read this year. We need to spread the word. Let all bosoms bounce, bounce, bounce!
posted by kant breathe at 5:34 PM on August 31, 2001

Well, as a man I can't really comment on the whole bra thing, so I'll just say this: small breasts are keen. And as far as the "sad for the boys" thing goes -- well, when it gets cold out, all is forgiven ;-)
posted by aramaic at 5:35 PM on August 31, 2001

ah, but that's why the braless wear vests and sweaters in the winter. Ha ha! foiled again!
posted by meep at 5:50 PM on August 31, 2001

Curses!
posted by aramaic at 5:51 PM on August 31, 2001

one of my dear friends has told her husband that if she dies before he does he is NOT to bury her in her brassiere.
She then has told her close friends(me included) to make sure he follows thru........
posted by bunnyfire at 7:01 PM on August 31, 2001

For those looking for more references, I was able to find the book they published their results in:

Dressed to Kill : The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras
by Sydney Ross Singer, Soma Grismaijer
Avery Pub Group, ISBN: 0895296640

but it doesn't seem that they have published anything in a peer reviewed journal. The linked article also refutes some of the claims made in an made by the couple.

I'm also not so sure about this being a "new study"...
posted by Lionfire at 8:17 PM on September 2, 2001