I am a flat-chested woman. And let me tell you, that took me a long time to be comfortable with. Growing up I always thought, hmm maybe I’m just a late bloomer. I’ll get boobs in college. I’ll finally get my boobs in my twenties. Well, I turned twenty in February and I’m almost halfway done with college so I think it’s safe to say I’m stuck in the Itty Bitty Committee.
Typically the conversation around chest size is geared more towards women with larger breasts, but I don’t think the Itty Bitty Committee gets enough love and attention. I will say, the Itty Bitty Committee has been gaining more support when it comes to body types that are considered “beautiful” by the media or society, but while I was growing up that was not always the case.
For me, especially in middle school and early high school, the media and television shows I was surrounded with were full of beautiful women with full breasts and amazing, curvy figures. I, being the piece of plywood that I am, was honestly jealous. All I wanted was to wear a homecoming dress with a low-cut neckline and show off cleavage like all my friends.
Trust me, I understand the benefits of having smaller breasts. I get told all the time by my friends with larger breasts that I am so lucky to have small boobs and that it must be great to never have to wear bras. That is great, but coming from the other side of things, I was only not wearing bras because bras don’t fit me. In high school, especially, I wanted to be able to buy cute, lacy bras like all of my friends and have them actually fit me and make me feel pretty.
Look, I have the utmost sympathy for women with bigger cup sizes because that is a struggle on its own. The thing is, I feel as though many companies, such as Savage X, that make bras and lingerie make an effort to create options for these women. When I buy bras from those companies, unless they are bralettes or sports bras, they often don’t fit me. Bras on smaller women gap so much and it is really uncomfortable and awkward.
Usually, when I talk about this with other people they just tell me I am wearing the wrong bra size or I should just try wearing push-up bras. Well, I got measured at Victoria’s Secret so I know I’m wearing the correct size and I have tried push-up bras. The issue is, these companies don’t make bras for smaller women because smaller chest sizes just aren’t what the world focuses on. These bras are made in the same way larger sizes are made, which just makes no sense. When a size B bra is made with the same shape cup as a size DD, that bra is going to gap and have an awkward fit and not be shaped correctly at all.
I’ve found peace and tranquility through Pepper, a bra company that actually makes bras the correct way for smaller chested women. The cups are shaped differently to accommodate the smaller size, the bands are wider to be more comfortable and they even size a little differently. I have about five actual bras (not bralettes or sports bras), all of which are the same size. Only one of them doesn’t gap when I wear it and that is the bra from Pepper.
Now that we’ve covered bras, let’s talk about other clothes. Many of my friends think it is really easy for me to find cute clothes like dresses or fun tops that fit me, but that is not always the case. What I’ve found in my many years of buying clothes for myself is that while women with big breasts are falling out of certain dress types, I and other smaller chested women, don’t even fill out the dresses to begin with.
As a woman, I want to feel beautiful in the clothes I wear. When shopping for cute outfits or dresses I have a very difficult time finding a dress that fits my waist and hips but also isn’t too big in the chest area. I don’t feel cute in those dresses, I feel like a 12-year-old boy. For prom in high school, I sewed a bra into my dress just to make it appear as if it fit me. The bra didn’t even touch my chest when I put the dress on, but because it was a high neck dress, no one knew the difference.
Since beginning college, I’ve been on a journey of embracing my membership of the Itty Bitty Committee. While there are a lot of annoyances and a lot of insecurities that could come along with being flat-chested, once you figure out the best way to dress for your body type, it starts to become much easier to have that confidence.
Bralettes are my new best friend. Unlined bras are my new go-to when I’m shopping. I’ve learned to embrace going braless in certain dresses or tops. Looking back at how worried I was about not having big enough breasts to be beautiful or feminine, I laugh because all bodies are beautiful whether they are big, small or somewhere in between.
I am a flat-chested woman. And I want to encourage all flat-chested women to embrace that wholeheartedly and proud because I am beautiful, you are beautiful and the Itty Bitty Committee is beautiful.