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HEALTH

Why French women are abandoning their bras

French women are abandoning their bras in record numbers, according to researching carried out by polling organisation Ifop for Xcams.

Published: 23 July 2020 12:03 CEST
Why French women are abandoning their bras
The bras are coming off in France. Photo: AFP

The trend is particularly pronounced in younger women, with one in six women under the age of 25 telling pollsters that they never wear a bra.

And it seems this is an indirect consequence of the pandemic – with many women getting used to the comfort of not wearing a bra when they were confined to their homes during lockdown and now deciding to ditch the trend for good.

 

A similar study done pre-lockdown showed that just four percent of French women under 25 regularly went bra-less.

Across all age groups surveyed in the poll of 3,108 people for Ifop's Gender, Sexualities and Sexual Health study, seven percent of French women say they never wear a bra, compared to three percent before lockdown.

One of the main reasons given for continuing to wear a bra was a fear of street harassment or attack, although among younger respondents many felt that their rejection of the bra was itself a feminist act, with 32 percent agreeing that their choice was motivated in part by “the desire to fight against the sexualisation of the female breast, which requires hiding them from others”.

Françoise Krause from the Ifop institute said that the trend – known as 'no bra' (in English) in France – had been “boosted by the isolation imposed by the lockdown”.

“An exceptional situation has caused women to go from 'what's the point of wearing a bra during lockdown' to 'what's the point of continuing to wear one'.

READ ALSO Why French farmers are burying their underpants

 

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HEALTH

Are Danes cutting back on cigarettes and alcohol?

Danish stores sold a significantly lower quantity of alcohol and cigarettes over the counter last year, new data from Statistics Denmark show.

Published: 14 June 2024 07:42 CEST
Are Danes cutting back on cigarettes and alcohol?

Some 3,852 cigarettes were sold year, which amounts to 804 per person over the age of 18. But that compares to a figures of 854 per person on 2022.

Cigarette sales in Denmark have been declining since 2018.

Sales of sprits, beer and wine fell by 7.8 percent, 5.3 percent and 0.9 percent respectively.

Danish business sold the equivalent of 44.4 million litres of pure alcohol, which works out at 11.9 units per week on average for each person over the age of 18.

Although that is a lower value than in 2022, it still exceeds the amount recommended by the Danish Health Authority (Sundhedsstyrelsen).

The Health Authority recommends that adults over 18 drink no more than 10 units per week and no more than four in a single day.

READ ALSO: Should Denmark raise the minimum age for buying alcohol?

“The numbers are still too high and it’s an average that could have a skewed distribution,” University of Southern Denmark professor, Janne Tholstrup, said in relation to the alcohol sales figures. Tholstrup has published research on Denmark’s alcohol culture.

That is in spite of a 30-year-trend of falling alcohol consumption, according to the professor.

“The majority of Danes stay under the recommended 10 unite per week. That means there is a large group with a persistently excessive consumption of alcohol,” she said.

The Statistics Denmark figures also show that sales of loose tobacco – such as the type used in roll-up cigarettes and pipes – also fell last year. Some 58 tonnes less were sold compared to 2022.

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