Amish Cape Dress

[maybeizfundie]

Those videos were fascinating. So very different from the Mennonites and Beachy Amish that we know. The clothing requirements are so complicated that it kind of defeats the purpose of "simplicity".

Being raised in that community, I wonder if they were fully aware of the creep factor with the bed courtship video. Obviously they disagree with it but more as a temptation thing than just being weird. Many other groups hold that type of courtship in serious disdain.

[bananacat]

I asked one of my Amish friends - they live in Lancaster - and she says that women in their community who suffer from severe back pain due to the size of their breasts can wear bras, but nobody else does. Their community allows this under their interpretation of a rule covering use of technology for necessary medical treatment.

This kind of raised more questions for me than it answered, since I know other people with medical conditions that go untreated and it seems to me, as an outsider, that correcting these issues would also be an appropriate use of medical technology.

And I know what women in this community use for menstrual products, since I had to borrow a rag from a friend. It is an absorbent cloth kind of like a cloth diaper, and you fold it and pin it to your undergarments. If you are wearing loose undergarments, you can pin the rag near the waist so it sits close to your body, rather than down at the crotch of your underwear. As someone who uses cloth pads, this seemed like a pretty good system, only apparently you have to be very careful how you pin it in at night so the pins don't poke you.

This just doesn't make any sense to me. For any size over DDD, it's nearly impossible to find a well-fitting bra in the first place, and even then the weight is shifted to other parts of your body, and not well distributed. Bras were never meant to relieve pain or be comfortable; they were made to make the breasts look a certain way. In fact, the only time I ever had back pain is when I wore a bra, so I wear one as little as possible (which is still anytime I go out in public). Bras have caused me far more pain than going free.

[helloemi]

This just doesn't make any sense to me. For any size over DDD, it's nearly impossible to find a well-fitting bra in the first place, and even then the weight is shifted to other parts of your body, and not well distributed. Bras were never meant to relieve pain or be comfortable; they were made to make the breasts look a certain way. In fact, the only time I ever had back pain is when I wore a bra, so I wear one as little as possible (which is still anytime I go out in public). Bras have caused me far more pain than going free.

I don't mean to go off topic, but I discovered Soma's minimizer bras and mine have never been happier. I can't do victoria secret (anything from there is like a torture device). Ouch!

I personally can't stand to be out of a bra due to the pain I get from the weight of them. This makes me want to start a charity that smuggles in supportive/comfy minimizer bras to these groups.