On July 25th, 2021, the sixth season of the famous show Big Brother Naija (BBN) premiered. BBN is a live reality show that positions itself as a social experiment, where contestants are invited to live in total isolation from the much larger world, in a house outfitted with cameras and microphones that record and broadcast their every move for the 72 to 91 days they spend in isolation. Contestants must strike a delicate balance between being their authentic selves and appealing to a voting audience so they can amass a fanbase that votes for them to win the monetary cash prize at the end of the show.
That particular season had one contestant, Dorathy Bachor, a 24 year old lady at the time, who ran a small shopping business on the outside before auditioning for the show. From the very first day Dorathy entered the Big Brother House, one thing seemed to dominate the discourse around her character and her time in the house: the size of her breasts.
It wasn’t the people on social media who were commenting on her bust, she had to endure constant commentary on her breasts from the other housemates. For some reason, everyone obsessed over the size of her breasts so much that Dorathy herself had to issue a verbal deterrent, requesting that no one should comment on her breasts when she began her introduction. But she experienced even more attention that occasionally crossed into harassment as the show progressed, continuing until the final day.
Dorathy isn’t alone. Most Nigerian women who have breasts bigger than a C-cup are objectified online and in person. They have to endure remarks that sexualise their bodies or cast aspersions on their persons simply because of their biology. It begs the question; Why do we have such a fixation on breasts?
“The stares. I don’t think it’s a great feeling,” says Stella, a 21-year old busty woman living in Lagos. “Everyone always has something to say, if they’re not speaking, they’re looking directly at your boobs.”
While not every busty woman is a subject of public opinion, many are, at different levels. Like Stella who recalled getting weird reactions and responses from pupils in her primary school when she started developing breasts. “When I was in primary 5, yes, at that young age, boys in my class would make snarky comments about my boobs. They gave me a name which circulated the school and I became popular for the wrong reason. With all that unwanted attention the girls didn’t like me.” she recalled.
Anyone who grew up or spent time with Stella would often hear her talk about her breasts. Puberty affects everyone differently. For Stella, puberty meant she went from being flat-chested to having 36F breasts. It was so sudden, her relatives believed she was ‘developing’ too fast and took it upon themselves to delay the growth of her breasts. She was subjected to ‘breast ironing’ an archaic and abusive practice where the breasts of teenage girls are ‘ironed’ using a grinding stone with hot palm kernels. They did this believing that the heat would “melt the seed” of the breasts and prevent it from growing too big, too early. Though tragic, it’s a memory she laughs back at, at the time, she couldn’t understand why it was happening to her. Her period started around the same time but she never received the same reaction.
She has had a number of weird interactions with people because of her breasts. Some that she doesn’t even bother to remember any more. If it wasn’t at home, it was at school or casual events where people thought it a compliment to compare her to an anime or pornography character thereby sexualizing and stereotyping her.
The constant objectification wreaked havoc on her self image. As she grew older, she became more conscious and insecure about her body. “Every time I look in the mirror, I’m affected. I’m always very conscious of how they look. It has altered how I dress,” she says. “I normally like oversized clothing but my breasts have heightened my need to want to wear them [and the worst part is that] I then over compensate for wearing big tops by wearing big bottoms [for some symmetry].”
What started as a natural part of transitioning into adolescence became a nightmare. . From privacy intrusion to the expenses that come with having to fit for bigger bras to backaches – which she believes is an entire story on its own – it seems like there’s no upside to having big boobs. At least, not to her. She doesn’t think she’ll ever appreciate having big breasts and strongly considers a breast reduction. A process she’s actively working towards. After all, “backaches all throughout my life? Nah. Who would sign up for that?”
FASHION AS ARMOUR
One of Stella’s biggest difficulties is shopping and styling. Her 36F breasts have made her self-conscious and unwilling to experiment with fashion. Finding bras that suit her is an issue. Finding clothes for her body type is an even bigger issue. There are certain things she wants to wear but can’t because she feels uncomfortable in them and it’s quite obvious.
Recognizing that having bigger breasts bring unwanted attention, women often try to shield themselves from unwanted scrutiny through their choice of clothing. Fashion has always been a shelter as it can be self assuring. It is also one thing they can control about their looks. Although women who do not fit into the narrow sample sizes, are often considered when designers make clothing, the options that are available to women with bigger breasts are still a refuge from unwanted scrutiny and a way to reinstate some of the boundaries that are eroded when a woman is objectified and reduced to her body parts. More brands are offering plus size options (ASOS and Zara now have exclusive plus size offerings on their retail store fronts) but the local Nigerian market is yet to catch up to the progress made. As a result top heavy women are forced to default to shapeless or oversize clothing to compensate for their busts. But a few brands are trying to change that.
Dorathy was inspired to launch a lingerie brand, My Full Chest (MFC) Lingerie, a personal attempt to address the challenges she had finding the right bras for her boobs. She added in an interview that she wanted to run a business she could relate to. She wasn’t the only one to strike up a business venture from her experience.
Artist and illustrator, Morenike Olusanya, in her twenties, has been busty since she was a teenager. Like Dorathy and Stella, she has first hand experience trying to shop for flattering and comfortable clothes as a busty person. It’s been a lifetime struggle and also played a huge role in the degree to which she accepted her body.
When she realised traditional brands had no incentive to prioritise her needs as a top heavy woman, she decided to launch Bawsty, a clothing and retail brand with her very good friend. Morenike’s friend came up with the idea and reached out to her asking if she was interested in co-owning and she said yes. Now, she operates as the CMO of the brand.
As a brand catering to fashion problems and solutions for busty women, Morenike was very excited about she could relate 100 percent to the problems they were trying to solve.
When Bawsty launched, it quickly became a social media shopper’s favourite. Many women applauded their decision to create a fashionable solution for busty women. Morenike noticed that many of her customers felt extra confident trusting Bawsty with their money because they could see that the brand was running by a woman who understood their needs and was learning, like them, to appreciate and even love the body she is in.
This was a real triumph for Morenike, who like many top heavy women, had wasted a lot of time disliking the negative attention her body received and internalising that as some kind of personal failing. There was a time where she disliked her body and was so hard on herself because of how her body looked. But she has come to understand that body positivity means accepting her body the way it is and feeling confident in her skin. Accepting the things people consider flaws as only natural and part of what makes her beautiful and her.
“Body positivity is being kind to parts of my body that I don’t really like. It is not speaking negatively about my body. It is also keeping my opinions about other people’s bodies to myself and respecting their body choices. I think all of us should do the same.” she says.
This positivity contributes to the drive behind her brand. Launching in a currently unstable economy demands passion and more attention to detail. All Bawsty outfits are made in Nigeria from sourcing to sewing. When the market fluctuates, it affects their consistency in releasing certain styles in particular fabrics and the cost. But they try. They always look for the best quality of a certain type of fabric they can find within a grade. If it’s not a style they can be consistent with based on the unavailability of the same fabric, they put production on hold or discontinue it till they can get it again.
They are quite intentional about their designs, execution and presentation. If it doesn’t look good on them [she and her co founder] as busty women, then it will most likely not look good on their target audience.
The effort they put in is for the busty women. It is so important to her that people with body types that are not the societal standard, feel seen and properly catered for. For people who think it’s just clothes or fashion, they’re wrong. Morenike understands that clothes you wear and how you feel in them affect the innermost parts of yourself. “It affects your confidence as a person and how you feel about your body.” In the end, they are only trying their best to create solutions for busty women in Nigeria, Africa and all over the world.
Morenike believes Bawsty addresses a real challenge women face, but it is only a small part of the solution. She hopes to inspire more women to accept their bodies and impress on everyone else the importance of affirming busty women in a way that is not objectifying or fetishizing.
“this is the best time to start to love your boobs (no matter the shape or size), how you’re built and generally everything about your body. If there is something you don’t like about your body, change it. Your body is your own. Don’t talk negatively about your body even if it’s a” joke” & and don’t tolerate people giving negative comments about your body.”
