What prompted you to try your first bra?

[42CSurprise!]

I wonder at the reference to a soft body.  That describes my body as well.  Perhaps I've mused on another thread about this already, but it seems the hormonal mix that contributed to our developing and keeping breasts was working on the rest of our bodies as well.  I'm really coming to appreciate the profound impact shifts in hormones can have on bodies.  Reading about it helps, then witnessing what happens to men who have chosen to transition and who do things to block testosterone and supplement with estrogen and progesterone is remarkable.  Granted, those men who are intent on passing will do other things to change how their body looks, but even without going to such extremes, simply making hormonal changes softens bodies and gets breasts started.

We didn't choose what was given us.  I don't pretend to understand that, but perhaps we were simply doomed to live in an era when physical perfection is thrown in our face every time we look at a television or computer screen.  Doubtless men have been born with a wide variety of body shapes forever and nobody has criticized them for looking as they do.  Life simply goes on... but today it is suggested this IS a problem and it can be solved by lopping off those unsightly breasts.  I don't know whether a brassiere is essential but I understand it can be comfortable... and so we talk about such things.  No knife will come near my chest, no matter how large my breasts become.

No one suggested I try a brassiere but clever, horny person I am I found a way...

[aboywithgirls]

I think I can summon up real easily here. I went through a female puberty. My body reacted like anybody's body that would that was exposed to oestrogen. It was the logical move for me to begin to wear a bra. I have breasts like a woman, so I wear a bra like a woman. I don't apologise for it

[MarcoB]

MarcoB
Your justification just escalates your questions to a rather more creepy level.
You would not (I hope) try and start  such a conversation with a teenage girl. Don't even think about it with young boys

I didn't say anything about starting any conversation, and I would definitely not say anything to any teenage girl about her chest, and I did not like it when I was in high school and a few of the boys would talk about various girls' sizes even when there were no girls around.  It's just not appropriate.  I've never talked to any female about her chest except my wife of 36 years.  I just want my response to seeing a boy with severe gyne to be accommodating, encouraging, helpful.  Perhaps that means totally ignoring it except to jump to his defense if someone makes fun of it; but I don't know.  I haven't been there, since my problem started a couple years short of my 60th birthday.

[blad]

I think I can summon up real easily here. I went through a female puberty. My body reacted like anybody's body that would that was exposed to oestrogen. It was the logical move for me to begin to wear a bra. I have breasts like a woman, so I wear a bra like a woman. I don't apologise for it

I believe this sums up the situation for most of us who developed breasts during our puberty. We were exposed to an imbalance of female hormones and our bodies reacted accordingly. The degree of which would have varied as per how much of imbalance that we had. 

This imbalance led to breast growth and potentially other body or emotional changes. If the imbalance was later restored over time, the breast growth would be there to stay. 

A number of us during this transformative period came to the conclusion that it was logical to try a bra and ultimately accept that we were better off to wear one full time as a girl would in the same situation of growth and development.  I am sure comments or suggestions by others helped to propel these choices. How much home support or feeling safe would also be a factor.

[42CSurprise!]

Marco... clearly you're going somewhere none of us wants to go.  I'd encourage you to let the matter drop.  You're explaining your position isn't helping the situation.  The example of talking with girls about their breasts was used to help you understand the same is true for boys.  Neither one of them need or want a dirty old man talking to them about their breasts...  I say that as a person with grey in my beard who has to be very careful about the direction in which I point my camera.  Let it go Marco...

[boobs are normal]

Marco I sort of get your point. In the interest of harmony I accept your explanation. I too am of the grey hair/no hair age. Any conversation i had with a youngster about anything would likely get a two word answer - second word off.
Change of tack. Yet another potentially useful thread quickly got subverted be almost a  blog about ongoing experiences.
It was meant to be about how we came to consider wearing "the garment" and actually doing it. Nothing more nothing less

[MarcoB]

I don't know how everyone could be misunderstanding me so much.  ABWG volunteered some information as one who had gyne from his early teens, which was decades ago, so I was asking him how he would have wanted people to act regarding that, way back then, in case I ever meet someone like that myself.  How could you misinterpret that to mean I would start up a conversation with the teenager about it??  I already said I absolutely would not do that.  I can imagine various things the young gyne sufferer might wish for, but I haven't been there myself as a teenager to know.  It's different getting there when you're nearly 60.  For example I can imagine that I might have liked my friends to keep quiet about it but defend me if someone started bullying me.  I know an old blind woman and have a couple of times helped her find her way around, and then later saw a video of all the things people do while thinking they're helping the blind person but aren't a good way to do it, and I thought, "Uh-oh, I've already done some of those with Helen."  Same idea.  Please stop putting words in my mouth.

[boobs are normal]

MarcoB
It was meant to be an apology!

I think the phrase about wanting to come over as more understanding is what got you in deep water. It strongly implies the use of speech. Logic also says if you were not contemplating conversation you have no use for the answers ABWG gave and therefore needn't have asked intrusive questions at all. ABWG was not too bothered others might have been offended. You say you have been in contact with ABWG - Why then ask such questions in public?
Talking about encounters becoming more likely in future didn't help either

I am sorry. This is apology
I didn't put any words into your mouth.

Don't bother answering I am done with this thread which is now way way off original topic.

[Johndoe1]

As someone who had noticeable pubescent gynecomastia, who suffered through the "ritual" of breast growth in my teens, and no where to turn for help or understanding, who was groped by boys and teased and touched by girls, who, together, helped shatter all body image and self image of myself for decades, bras were an off again, on again kind of thing. In my late teens and early twenties, it was not unheard of that I would pilfer a bra here or there from a female friend or sister or mother of a male friend to try. In retrospect, to have had even a training bra that fit would have been of some benefit even though I suspect in my teen years I topped out around a B cup. Had I been born a girl, at that stage, my parents would have had me strapped in a bra so fast, it would have made my head spin. As was pointed out on numerous occasions at the time by others, I was as large if not larger than some girls my age. In general the bras I took were either too large or too small and never really fit but gave me the idea of what being supported could be and feel like. It didn't feel girly or sissy or feminine. It felt natural. It felt right. It felt good. They also hid my nipples, which seem to be a dead give away for me. It was years later before I gained enough courage to get my first properly fitted bra. 

It would have been nice to have had some understanding adults, but it was a time when things like that didn't happen. In those days, girls had boobs, guys didn't. Period. Full stop. Life wouldn't have been easy in a bra in those days, but I think it would have given me a better outlook on myself and my body. Due to my bosom, I stopped participating in sports, because not only of the teasing, but of the physical discomfort on my chest. Had I known better, even a regular soft cup bra would have been better than having them swing and sway freely. But again, there was no one, peers or adults I felt I could turn to. So, like many here, I suffered in silence, questioning what was I?

So now I wear a bra for comfort, and to some extent, appearance due to ptosis (saggy boobs). I have tried to take a more positive attitude towards my body and now dress according to what it demands. I still present male, I dress for comfort, not fetish or sexual. And with sizeable breasts (I am wearing 36DDD/F 38DD), men's shirts don't always work. Not only in fit, but comfort as well. Yes, dressing is more tricky and takes a little longer these days, but I am a happier person, because I have learned to love me and not hate my bosom. I actively deal with what I have, not wish to what I don't have. It's taken a lifetime to get to this point in life.