Lazy Reporting (or: Step Off My Breasts)

[rinue]

I'm tired of seeing news stories quote the statistic that 75% of women are wearing the wrong size bra. That's not a real statistic. You can tell it's made up, because what are the odds it would be a dead-on round number like that, and how would you collect the data. Answer: some bra-fitter somewhere estimated that around 3/4 of the women who ask for a fitting were wearing the wrong size -- so approximately 3/4 of the women who thought they were wearing the wrong size were in fact wearing the wrong size, because women are not idiots.

Comments

[rinue]

Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of women wearing the wrong size bra. Plenty. Or bras which are technically the right size, but very poorly engineered. I think there are plenty of women who would benefit from a better bra, which would make them more comfortable and more attractive. I have myself occasionally and for short intervals been a woman with a bra of the wrong size because my weight changed and I didn't want to start buying new stuff until it stabilized, and it is in no way as good as having a bra I like.

But 75% of women at any given time? I don't buy it.

However, to your point, I completely buy that 25% of women are mistaken. It's amazing to me the ideas non-artists have about proportions, it really is. Being able to look at a thing and not see the thing you're looking at - amazing.

It is also worth the reminder that I have carefully structured my life so as not to interact with "the public" and am not a man of the people, and largely preserve my faith in humanity by being kept away from most of them. But having not met them, I can freely tell you that I'm sure they're bright and winning and noble.