Breasts for 24 hours, would you want them?
Breasts are the most fetishised part of a woman’s body. They are highly sexualised and as a result their physical function for breastfeeding often appears secondary in public consciousness to their sexual appeal.
The physical difficulties of having large breasts however is rarely thought about by anyone other than those who experience them and now apparently RTÉ radio presenter Chris Greene.
The 2FM presenter took it upon himself to wear a size 32E breast weight simulator for 24hours. Greene’s grand intentions of understanding the female struggle aside, it is a decidedly odd looking contraption.
In a bet for glory with his co-presenter Ciara King, Greene went to the gym to experience the difficulties of exercising as a large-breasted woman.
Speaking after the flopping ordeal Greene took a definite stance saying “If I was a woman I would never exercise, I’d never do anything, I would be too debilitated by breasts”. His disbelief at the inconvenience of the weight continued “They were also really annoying, I don’t know how women do it”.
.@HateChrisGreene took his E-Cups to the gym. @iamCiaraKing on heckling duty.
"THAT'S WHY YOU NEED A BRA. THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT." pic.twitter.com/rAhRbDeMfL
— RTÉ 2FM (@RTE2fm) October 19, 2016
Chris Greene’s experience with his iron breasts however went beyond a new empathy for women. Speaking on his radio show, he said he’d never felt so uncomfortable and so aware of being different. To be fair wearing something as bizarre as that was never going to pass unnoticed on Dublin’s shrewd streets.
The idea of men wearing these breast simulators first originated at a Lingerie company where most of the bra engineers are men. The company made their workers wear the weights to properly understand the needs of the women they are designing for.
While there is comedic value in the gender bending of bodies and men experiencing the physical constrictions of boobs. It is unlikely that people wearing breast simulators will change anything for men or women, just as it is doubtful if the sexualisation of breasts will dissipate to the point where women no longer forgo breastfeeding because of aesthetics, or undergo cosmetic surgery to closer emulate the ‘ideal’ breast shape and size.
It is highly possible however that soon enough women seeking to understand the male experience will try on a scrotum for a day.
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