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What Is Average?
Does it really make any sense to say the average bra size is such or such? I don’t think so at all, for the reasons I am about to expose.
Mathematical average
In the pure mathematical sense, an average is a calculated value, obtained by adding values and dividing the sum by the number of values. In English, this value is called the mean. If you throw four times a ball and have four lengths of, say, 33, 29, 35 and 25 meters, the average of the throws is 29.5 m, which was never actually performed. But it is not always feasible to proceed likewise. Let’s consider four bras: one 32C, one 36A, one 38B and one 34DD. What is their average size? Obviously, it can’t be calculated, because you can’t add the values. One could calculate the average of the four bust measurements, which would be, respectively something like 35, 37, 40 and 39 inches. The mean would be 37.75 inches. This measurement could, in turn, correspond to a 34D or a 36B or a 32F. So, what is the average of the four bra size? We are not any further. The mathematical average, the mean, is a nonsense in this case.
There is, however, a mean of mathematically solving the problem of discrete values, i.e. of values which cannot be added — like colours, nationalities or professions. The solution is to make a large sample and simply count the number of items in each category. Then, the category in which lies the greatest number is called the "modal class". And, if the categories can be ordered — as would be the case if we consider just the cup sizes (A, B, C, …) — one can also determine which category is the «middle» one, that is to say «the category where half the samples are either lower or equal and half the samples are either higher or equal». In the case of the cup sizes, it is undoubtedly the size B: half the women wear size A or B and half the women wear size B or more. That’s for sure. There are some people saying it is becoming size C in certain countries; there may be indeed a certain shift from size B towards size C due to three factors: 1. the birth control pill, 2. the people becoming heavier — I don’t dare writing "fatter" 3. the fact that some women who where supposed to take size C or D where "concealing" into size B and do now dare to wear their true size. In my opinion, factor 1 may be relevant in the group of ages 18 — 26, but less in the group of 26 plus. Factor 2 is probably the most generally contributing, considering that true obesity is becoming a problem for around one person out of 3 in some industrial countries. That is further attested by the fact that the most commonly sold bra size, which used to be the 34B, is becoming the 36C.
Biological average
The second accepted meaning of the word average is, according to the Oxford dictionary of current English: "standard or level regarded as ordinary or usual". This agrees to the biological meaning: one considers a particular value as "normal" when it lies between boundaries which encompass 95% of the healthy individuals. Let’s take the hematocrit, for example: the boundaries, for the male, are 41 – 50 % (35 – 46 for the female). It means that, for a woman, a value of 36 or a value of 46 are both considered perfectly "normal", i.e. non pathological. And I do stress the point that the remaining 5% — 1 out of 20 — persons may lie just outside the so called normal range without being ill or genetically aberrant in any way. If we transpose the reasoning to bra cup sizes, we should ask ourselves: "which cup sizes do include 95% of the healthy women?" The answer may lie in a statistic I found. I know neither how it was obtained nor its true source, but it seems both relevant and consistent with the common everyday observation. This statistic says:
- 15% wear size A
- 44% wear size B
- 28% wear size C
- 10% wear size D
If you make the total, this amounts to 97%. So, here we are: from a strictly medical or biological point of view, the sizes A, B, C and D should all be considered normal. They are both ordinary and usual, and thus, should be considered "average". Strange as it may seem.
Psychological considerations
There is a "catch", something very peculiar with the female breast: of the whole human body, it is the organ whose variations are the widest among different persons. Should the length of the fingers vary in the same proportions, some individuals would have 1 centimetre long fingers while others would have fingers as long as 20 centimetres (an A cup is around 50 millilitres, a D around 600). We are not used at all to such variations. I am pretty certain that what we generally consider "usual" does indeed not go so far as to include 95 percents of the possibilities. My guess would rather be that we include 50 or 60 percents; think of what you consider an "average" length for a car or the "average" surface area for a flat. This could explain why most people do consider "average" the sizes A and B (59 percent of the women), while some others do consider "average" just the size B (44 percent) and still others include B and C (72 percent), according to their personal tastes. No matter how you put it, a size D is quite inevitably perceived as "over the average" and a size DD or beyond is perceived as "exceptionally large". This perceptual phenomenon is further accentuated by the fact I mentioned before: in terms of volume, a D cup is about 50 percent bigger than, sometimes twice a C, two to four times a B and four to twenty times an A! No wonder a girl growing this far at an age when all his schoolmates are A or B begins to feel "different" — to say the least...
Practical considerations
One of the most heard complains of women well endowed in the bosom area — and it is all too often an argument presented in favour of the reduction surgery — is the fact that it is so difficult to find a properly fitting bra once you need anything more than a D. In fact, it is quite "normal", "understandable", "inevitable" — put it as you like — from what we have just said. Suppose you are working in a lingerie store or the lingerie department of a department store. You sell about 300 bras in a month (that is many: 15 a day). Statistically, you would sell 45 size A bras, 132 size B, 84 size C, 30 size D and only 6 or 7 size DD; you would sell one size F or bigger bra every three or four month. Would you then stock many double-D bras? in which band sizes, from which brand? When you would have sold 10 of your stocks, the remaining 20 or 30 would be out of fashion (fashion changes every 6 to 12 months). There is no wonder there are only three "practical" solutions:
- shop at a store specialised in the larger cup sizes; such a shop would sell a sufficient amount of DD-plus bras as to be able to offer some choice
- mail order (thank you, Internet)
- have an arrangement with a friendly shop assistant or shop owner who would be kind enough to custom order some items especially for you.
The same could be said of the prêt-à-porter clothes. It would be quite understandable if they where tailored to suit the "most frequent" bodies. After all, it is quite common, and no big matter, to have to shorten or lengthen the sleeves of a shirt you buy off the rack. But I used the conditional because in practice, it is not so simple: even with D cup breasts, and sometimes with C cup, it is really difficult to find well fitting, elegant clothes, at least when you are otherwise slender. It is indeed true that the designers have a tendency to consider that if your bust measurement is over 36 inches you must be either overweight or not interested in buying fashionable pretty clothes. This is something we will have to discuss in another article.
Conclusion
I do hope those few words have at least taught you that a woman taking a size C is not in every sense of the word "bigger than average", that a woman with a bountiful D cup is not "huge chested" and that a woman with a voluptuous DD cup is not a freak.
One last challenge for your mind: suppose you where at a nearby swimming pool and you met there 14 women with the following sizes: 32A, 34A, 32B, 34B, 32C, 34C, 32D, 34D, 32DD, 34DD, 32F, 34F, 32G and 34G. Which one would you consider "average"?
By Dr O. S.