It is for pre-pubescent girls who feel they are being surpassed in development by other girls who develop earlier. A “training bra” has no cup size, but is otherwise like any other bra. A girl can get used to wearing another piece of underwear, and can be less self conscious when taking a shirt off because she has a “bra” covering her (undeveloped) breasts.

Puberty is a tough stage for most people and anything that eases the transition for anyone is okay.

The term training bra was coined for young girls getting their first bra. The ‘training’ idea comes from girls getting used to wearing a bra. A fashion and cultural thing.

In actuality it’s training young girls how not to get unwanted attention from men as they develop. Either way, it’s preparing them to conform to societal standards.

@KNOWITALL I don’t consider it as conforming to societal standards. I consider it trapping them inside a bra so I don’t have to tuck them in my pants waist band.

At the time I thought it was
so guys could practice taking it off.

That’s how it turned out anyway… ;)

@chyna – We need more options ;D

@chyna haha, actually going braless MAY help with that more so than wearing a bra. Hey, I was raised by hippies, I can’t help but hate them.

Sports medicine specialist Prof. Jean-Denis Rouillon carried out a 15-year study to assess whether bras cause sagging. The study involved 330 females aged 15–35 years.

Rouillon’s findings suggested that wearing a bra can weaken the chest muscles, thereby promoting sagging. Rouillon concluded that going braless encourages the chest muscles to work harder to elevate the breasts.

There is no official published study of Rouillon’s findings and no peer review. As such, it is not possible to evaluate the validity of the research.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/are-bras-bad-for-you#sagging

I wondered the same thing when I got my first “training bra” when I was 12.
Probably they’re for training the girls the intricacies of putting one on and taking them off.
Also so we can get used to the discomfort of wearing one.

@KNOWITALL I have heard that most women do not wear the right size bra. Maybe that has something to do with sagging/non-sagging breasts.

I don’t remember if I had a training bra. I think the training bras had no underwire and help to cover nipples or if the breasts are pointy. Thin girls especially can have pointy rather than rounded breasts initially.

I remember not wearing my first bra daily. I think most likely the tradition is from some sort of Puritan like view that ladies wear proper undergarments. Just look how some religions are very specific about what undergarments a woman should wear or something cultural norms.

The girls are being trained to prepare for a life of being objectified and sexualized.

I think the girls are being trained to think of bras as necessary. Without this exposure at a young age and all the celebration around it, many women would probably just opt out completely. So ultimately, it’s about money. I feel grateful that in my peer group, bras weren’t discussed until we were solidly teenagers (14 or so). At eight, I worried mostly about how to get my hands on all the stuffed animals.

This article is really interesting, and it comes with old ads (always funny).

In so, so many ways @filmfann.

The more I think about it the more I think it was a way to make money. Girls wearing bras who didn’t really need them. I guess it also helped girls who were developing late to be able to wear similar garments to the girls who were already busty.

It seems like for a lot of young girls now, the training bra is like a sports bra, also known as a “bralette.” They wear that, maybe combined with a tank top, under clothes.

Its an attempt to de-sexualize. Which continues onwards into adulthood.

Other way around @omtatsat. I lived through it. In elementary school girls weren’t allowed to wear dresses. We had to constantly fight against boys looking up our dress.
I remember feel so secure on those few, cold days I wore leotards.
A friend of mine had the same problem. The boys at her Catholic school started a game of running around the playground flipping up as many girl’s dress as they could.
The girl’s got together and agreed to start wearing shorts under their dresses.
Flip away boys.
2 days later the principal came on the intercom to make an announcement.
Was it to denounce the boys and make them stop?
No. It was to tell the girls they couldn’t wear shorts under their dresses.
And the sexual harassment went on and on through the years, getting progressively worse.
And then the attacks started.
So, you are obviously a male to say such an absurd thing @omtatsat.

^Dont forget the jerk wads that put little mirrors on their shoes to see up girls dresses.

Fix that. We weren’t allowed to wear pants or shorts. We were required to wear dresses. Hmm. I wonder why?

@Dutchess_III What I was meaning to say was that a trainer bra covers the naturalness of the breast. I was meaning that a bra,because it covers up,is an attempt to de-sexualize. ( assuming breasts are seen in a sexual nature.) So a bra is really taking away from a womans sexuality.

A child’s sexuality. They’re attempting to deflect from a child’s “sexuality,” which is a male problem.
Full grown women don’t wear “training bras.”
Female children spend their childhood trying to deflect male harassment.

@ Whether it’s a trainer or a normal adult bra the principal is the same. It’s still taking from the sexuality of the woman by covering up. Hence why I say it’s de-sexualizing.

For me it’s a question of comfort. I’d look like a slob without a bra. Plus it hurts.

Newsflash: guys still fixate on breasts even if they have a bra on them.
They fixate on butts even when they’re covered.

So if the purpose of wearing a wearing a “training bra” was to “desexualize” that part of a girl’s anatomy, it failed miserably.

I wish it hadn’t.

Because it trains the girl that she must wear that uncomfortable band around her body everyday from now on. And you thought it was for training boobs. Nah!

It’s traning the youngies to be good consumers.