No Bra Day: a reminder to women to celebrate their breasts, get a cancer screening and practise self-examination
- Every October 13 women are encouraged to go braless on No Bra Day, launched by a Canadian doctor 10 years ago to promote awareness of breast cancer
- The bra has a long history as a fashion accessory and a supportive garment, but studies of its value are inconclusive
No Bra Day, celebrated each year on October 13, was launched in 2011 by plastic surgeon Dr Mitchell Brown of Toronto, Canada, to promote breast cancer awareness.
From breast-compressing ribbons used in ancient Greece to tight figure-moulding metal corsets in the 19th century, the journey to the bra as we know it today has been long.
Author and journalist Lijia Zhang, a founding member of China’s first feminist group East Meets West, says that before the bra was invented Chinese women were forced to wear a shu xiong – an old-fashioned girdle for flattening the breasts. Zhang is writing a historical novel inspired by Qiu Jin, China’s first feminist, who unbound her lotus feet in 1903.
“That was a daring and drastic action at the time – going braless is perhaps less so, but the bottom line is that women should have the freedom to choose when and where to wear a bra – and whether to wear one at all,” says Zhang.
