Overview
No Bra Day is a novelty holiday celebrated by women who choose to go braless for a day on either July 9th or October 13th, with the latter date designated in observance of the National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Despite its mission to raise public awareness of breast cancer, the holiday has been also met with criticism of unintended objectification.
Background
On October 10th, 2010, 9gag[2] created and posted an image of a woman taking off her bra declaring October 13th, to be No Bra Day.
On October 12th, IGN[1] user ZIIIIING re-posted the image on IGN’s message board.
Notable Developments
On July 8th, 2011, The Stir[11] published a post titled “It’s National No Bra Day -- Who’s Joining Me?” which focused on liberation rather than breast cancer or health.
On October 13th, 2012, the blog Cancer in My Thirties[10]“National No Bra Day and Breast Cancer Awareness Month -- OR -- Please Put That Pink Can of Soup Down & Put Your Bra Back On.” The post gained over 130,000 within a year. In the post the author explains her problem with the day, saying:
“Are you kidding me? How on earth could a day where girls and women are encouraged to post and share photos of their braless breasts and to walk around with their nipples poking through their shirts be “supportive” for women who are living with or who have died from breast cancer, or who have managed to ‘complete’ the arduous treatments and disfiguring surgeries required to put them into remission?
I think the answer is simple. It is not."
On October 10th, 2013, Urban Dictionary[4] user StarrEmily submitted an entry for no bra day which defines it as:
“October 13, the day when girls are not supposed to wear bras”
On October 13th, UpRoxx[3] published a post titled “13 Busty Women Who Should Definitely Take Part In “No Bra Day” Today.”
Hashtag
On October 7th, 2014, Twitter user ShaunaElaine24[5] introduced the hashtag #NoBraDay referring to October 13th, and trying it together with National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Within a week the hashtag[6] was tweeted out over 200,000 times.
On October 13th, the hashtag trended on Twitter the same day The Daily Dot[7] published an article titled “Terrible hashtag campaign #NoBraDay is sexualizing breast cancer,” which featured tweets from Twitter users against the hashtag and day.
The day was covered by many other sites on October 13th, including Vibe[8] and Idolator.[9]
Search Interest
External References
[1]IGN– So October 13 is apparently NO BRA day
[2]9gag – 13th October “NO BRADAY” Spread the word O_o
[3]Uproxx – 13 Busty Women Who Should Definitely Take Part In “No Bra Day” Today “NO BRADAY” Spread the word O_o
[4]Urban Dictionary – no bra day
[5]Twitter – ShaunaElaine24
[7]The Daily Dot – Terrible hashtag campaign #NoBraDay is sexualizing breast cancer
[8]Vibe – #NoBraDay Sweeps The Internet
[9]Idolator – Chet Faker Took A Shirtless Selfie To Support ‘No Bra Day’
[10]Cancer in My Thirties – National No Bra Day and Breast Cancer Awareness Month -- OR -- Please Put That Pink Can of Soup Down & Put Your Bra Back On
[11]The Stir – It’s National No Bra Day -- Who’s Joining Me?
[12]Reddit – No Bra Day
[13]Facebook – National No Bra Day
[14]Yahoo News – Today is National No Bra Day. But Why?
[15]Huffington Post – No Bra Day: Women Tweet About The Merits Of Not Wearing Lingerie
[16]National No Bra Day – NATIONAL NO BRADAY
[17]LA Weekly – 6 Things You Shouldn’t Do While Going Bra-less For National No Bra Day