Why Did Women Burn Their Bras?

Why Did Women Burn Their Bras?

Women supposedly burned their bras in the 1960s. This happened during the years when I was a young child since I was born in 1958 and I sure remember hearing about it. In discussing the topic of openly breastfeeding in public last week (women unashamedly showing their breasts while breastfeeding), it was shocking how many women, even Christian women, believe this is okay. In pondering this, I remembered the time when women burned their bras and wondered if there was any correlation so I looked it up.

“During the 1960’s, women started protesting for equal rights. Women before the 1960’s were known as housewives and mothers and nothing but those two things. This aggravated many women and made them feel the need to reform this stereotype. The 1960’s was the time to do this.

Women burned their bras because they felt that it proved a statement or made a stand for Women’s Rights. Another reason they burned their bras was because it was a symbol that showed independence of men at the time. The women that didn’t burn their bras often walked around wearing no bra at all. This was also meant to show independence of men.” (source)

The truth is that these women were not trying to show their independence from men by burning their bras and fighting against the concept of being housewives and mothers. They were fighting and rebelling against God’s will for them since He greatly values wives, mothers, homemakers, and modesty. He is the One who made women the weaker vessel, thus depending upon men for many things. Women were not created to be independent from men. They were created to be their husband’s help meet if they are married.

One woman in the chat room wrote about openly breastfeeding in public. “Covering up used to be the norm. No God-fearing woman would have ever even thought of revealing herself because she was exemplifying modesty, dignity and shamefacedness. I asked my grandmother some time back about women breastfeeding in public and she said no one would even do it in the presence of men; they would excuse themselves and go to a private place. That’s the respectful thing to do…for yourself, baby and others.”

Her grandmother was raised in America before the 60s when women were taught to be wives, mothers, homemakers, discreet, chaste, modest, and shamefaced (not drawing attention to themselves). I nursed four babies for a year each and never once did a man who wasn’t my husband see my breasts. I knew that would be wrong and embarrassing for both of us. Too many younger women today have no sense of shame and decency when it comes to nakedness.

Has our culture somehow “sexualized” breasts as some believe? No! God is the One who sexualized them. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love (Proverbs 5:19). No matter how much women falsely believe they should be able to openly show their breasts and not have men lust after them, it’s NOT going to happen just because they want it to happen. God created men to be attracted to the female body. “If a woman wants to understand male sexuality, the first thing she needs to understand is the power of the visual” (Dennis Prager).

One woman responded on one of my handwritten posts about thong bathing suits and breastfeeding openly, “You are equating breastfeeding with wearing thongs?” No, I am equating bare breasts with bare bottoms. The Women’s Rights Movement was and is against God and His will for women. It is against being godly wives, motherhood, modesty, and everything feminine that defines a woman. No, feminists weren’t and aren’t fighting men. They were and are fighting God. Try to remember this the next time you find yourself supporting something that feminists or our culture supports.

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety.
1 Timothy 2:9

9 thoughts on “Why Did Women Burn Their Bras?

  1. What a fantastic post! You took my thoughts right out of my head and put them into words like I never could. I’ll be sharing this a lot 🙂

  2. Another great post, Lori. Thanks. I was a young child growing up in the 60’s as well. I remember my dad wanting me to wear dresses when I was in grade school. I inwardly and outwardly rebelled against the whole idea. The feminist movement was influential in depicting liberated women in more pants as much as burning their bras. Thankfully, the Lord gently removed the scales from my eyes so I could see it for what it represented: rebellion against God and His calling on women. I now live in Christian liberty, being free to do what’s right and pleasing to Him. I now prefer to wear dresses and skirts, since I feel so much more lovely and feminine in them.

  3. I had a couple of embarrassing mishaps where i forgot my nursing cover and i tried to cover up and unexpectedly my blouse fell open. I was mortified and apologised repeatedly, but i was surprised and stunned when the men around me tell me it was nothing to worry about!

    Another time i was using a small blanket to cover up and two male relatives told me i was being silly for covering up! Mind you they werent saved. But in the first scenario they were. The nursing cover i had first really was quite small, but i found one at aldi that was a good size and also doubled as a scarf when it wasnt in use! Brilliant. So of course i snapped it up.

    I find it shocking that women think its ok to expose themselves when breastfeeding. Yet if a man walked in on them by accident in a state of undress they would call the male a pervert and scream in horror. Talk about your double standards.

  4. I’m far too young to remember much about burning bras (I was born in the 80s) but I seem to remember my Dad telling me something about it being because bras were invented by men?? And these women refused to wear them because men made bras so women would look better??
    I can’t remember.

    I know a lot of small-busted women who don’t wear bras because they find them uncomfortable (and underwire bras have been linked to breast cancer) yet they still manage to dress modestly and keep covered up. Not wearing a bra isn’t necessarily anything to do with being a feminist. But being immodest, whether wearing a bra or not, is certainly a heart/sin issue.

  5. So do I! (wear dresses). I wear pants when it’s practical to wear pants (physical work etc.) but mostly I wear longer, flowing dresses and skirts because I feel more feminine in them, so I act more feminine, and my husband prefers it.

  6. I agree with the whole premise of your post but I don’t agree with this quote referring to breastfeeding: “she said no one would even do it in the presence of men; they would excuse themselves and go to a private place. That’s the respectful thing to do…for yourself, baby and others.”

    I nursed 4 children and never did I expose myself to others (I was extremely careful) but I did do it in church or wherever else I was. I did seek to stay in tune to any reactions around me and was also generally able to do it in a very discreet way so that most people had no idea what I was doing. They simply thought I was holding a sleeping baby that had a blanket over it. There were a couple of awkward times when somebody wanted to see the baby while I was nursing which made me realize again that they had no idea what was going on. Anyway – I believe that God created breasts for the pleasure of our husbands and also for feeding our children. Feeding our children is not an abnormal thing that needs to be taken to a back room (or perhaps a bathroom stall). Yes, keep modest and discreet but that doesn’t mean you need to leave the room and miss out on life. That is my opinion anyway. People also used to try to dress in such a way that nobody knew they were pregnant. Because how we got pregnant was improper to talk about. I think a little more open honesty than happened in Victorian times is good and wholesome.

  7. I understand what you mean. I think when God blesses me with children I will take a nursing cover with me at all times, but because I don’t think a baby would particularly like that, I would try to stay home a lot or find a private place somewhere, where I wouldn’t need to cover up. But it’s good to think about these things ahead of time. If I hadn’t read your post now, who knows if I would even have thought about it in years to come.

  8. The modern bra was invented by a woman , and l see them as a way of keeping everything comfortable and decent. There are plenty of non wired , comfy bras about anyway, unlike the 60s styles which were stiff and horrible to wear. Some women did attempt it, once , but for various reasons, it never actually happened. I believe a wooden boardwalk might have been part of it , but the press got the story and ran with it

  9. AMEN. I love this article and truly wish more females could understand the importance of Gods will for women.

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