Women ditch their bras for breast cancer awareness
![Women are sharing their no bra pictures for breast cancer awareness. [Photo: Unsplash]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/AEXGFCY.0vg.b7CFZCvG2g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-/https://media-mbst-pub-ue1.s3.amazonaws.com/creatr-uploaded-images/2019-10/d94193b0-ee62-11e9-bece-7e0ae15ce982)
Women around the world went braless yesterday to support breast cancer awareness.
No Bra Day is an annual awareness day that takes place on October 13. Women are encouraged to go without a bra on this day. It is also traditional to wear something purple.
The event is celebrated in a number of countries, including the UK, US, Canada, France and New Zealand.
The date lands in the middle of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and also Breast Cancer Care’s national fundraising month, The Big Pink. However, it does not have any official affiliation with either of these initiatives.
READ MORE: Breast Cancer Awareness Month – 15 things survivors want you to know
This year, a large number of women raised awareness by sharing useful imagery and information about seeking out breast cancer signs and symptoms.
To all those ladies out there who have passed through this y’all are true heroes😍💯
For each and every one of you ladies please just yourself checked before it’s too late #NoBraDay pic.twitter.com/rCYVvjx2S3— Rasta_Wacho🇿🇼🇲🇿 (@bossmassy) October 13, 2019
Twitter user @bossmassy shared an important diagram to highlight breast cancer warning signs.
Another user, who goes by the handle @MovannaStreams, shared a guide to breast self-examination.
#NoBraDay is about breast cancer awareness. It's about educating women on the importance of self-breast examination. It's about showing empathy and solidarity to those women who have had a mastectomy. It is NOT about posting photos of your tits without a bra on. GTFOH. pic.twitter.com/Xq5jrzlkpi
— ♒ Movanna👻🎃 ➡️ Blizzcon19👻🎃 (@MovannaStreams) October 13, 2019
Others simply shared pictures of themselves wearing clothes without a bra underneath.
While for some #NoBraDay is a chance to share information online about spotting breast cancer symptoms, the day has received its fair share of controversy in recent years.
In 2015, writer Christina Cauterucci wrote an article for Slate titled: ‘No bra day is the latest way to do nothing about breast cancer’, accusing the awareness day of being “want[ing] us to care about breast cancer because it deprives the world of body parts that can offer sexual gratification to others.”
READ MORE: Beyoncé’s father Mathew Knowles reveals breast cancer diagnosis
“Encouraging women to show off their braless chests in the name of awareness won’t save anyone, but its message to breast cancer patients and survivors is clear: Your disease is about your secondary sex characteristics, not about you,” she wrote.
Yesterday, a number of Twitter users freshly took to the platform to share their frustrations with the “ridiculous” campaign, suggesting it has little to do with breast cancer awareness.
#NoBraDay - because we needed an extra day to focus even more on attention seekers who inundate the internet with their useless selfies.
Raise awareness. Don't raise idiots.— MariaBeatrice90 (@MariaBeatrice90) October 13, 2019
#nobraday is just one more ridiculous pink washing campaign that sexualizes breast cancer & does zero to actually help find a cure. We need research. Going braless for “awareness” does nothing for those needing a cure before their time runs out. #bcsm
— Shawn Jardine (@esalechick) October 13, 2019
Just a reminder that mammograms are much better than #NoBraDay . Stop playing silly games to bring awareness and go to the doctor.
— Miss Lelaina The Crazy Cat Lady (@misslelaina) October 13, 2019
Earlier this month, it was revealed two women with incurable breast cancer have set up a group to offer hope to others.
Nicky Newman, from Guildford, Surrey and Laura Middleton-Hughes, from Norwich, both 31, have stage four cancer that has spread around their bodies.
Both women have been robbed of their chance to have children and suffer fatigue and pain on a daily basis.
But, determined to live life to the full, the pair have founded an online community, called Secondary Sisters, which aims to change perceptions of people living with incurable cancer and offer support for those in the same position.
