Not the Same 2013-12-13

[Opus the Poet]

I don't think she remembered to get a new swimsuit. This one looks a little over strained.

[NOTDilbert]

It's school issue - same style for all, VERY limited range of sizes....

[Dave]

Oh dear. The challenging situations just keep on arriving!

It's school issue - same style for all, VERY limited range of sizes....

Like the Army, I suppose. Just two sizes available - too large, and too small.

And the drill sergeant hath no pity.

Nice to see her being referred to as Gilchrist, though!

[DilyV]

The look of utter terror on her face... duh duh dhunnnnnnnnn... SWIM CLASS!!!!!!

[NOTDilbert]

Us fat guys - excuse me, adiposialy blessed - in swim class came up with a better joke than any of the jocks (Naturally, being smarter....)

Our pool was outside. One day we showed up as usual, and one of the other AB guys was carrying binoculars. We all got in the pool except him - he started scanning the horizon with the binocs. One of the other students asked what he was doing - he said we had all chipped in for the binocs so one of us could always watch for whalers.....

Our self-deprecating zinger, of course, went right by without notice (well, We thought it was funny).

After that we were the weird fat guys.....

And thus, Greenpeace was born......NOT

NOTE: The above factual account may or may not be true.

[illiad]

LOL Better to be weird that *just* fat!!

[NOTDilbert]

absolutely!

[shadowinthelight]

"Atsali! Get those floatation devices out of your... oh... that's you."

[MerchManDan]

It's school issue - same style for all, VERY limited range of sizes....

Like the Army, I suppose. Just two sizes available - too large, and too small.

And they just ran out of "too large."

Nice to see her being referred to as Gilchrist, though!

I thought so too! Makes me wonder what her last name was before the adoption, though - or if she even had one.

[zachariah]

It's school issue - same style for all, VERY limited range of sizes....

Usually they are one size fits all, which they usually don't. I suspect she has looked at herself in a mirror and realized that the suit fabric gets thinner as it stretches. So it is very likely the suit is thin to the point of appearing like it isn't there except for the color. So the cold water reaction will be very noticeable along with any other details. She also must have concerns about the tensile strength of the suit fabric that thin as well. Thus creating another meme, the tight fitting swim suit bursting open and exposing everything at the worst moment. IE: The boys are watching and get caught so Sali knows they are looking. Monday is probably going to be after whatever suit malfunction has occurred.

[yuffiek]

Isn't this supposed to be a school for paranormals? Atsali's having a lot of body image issues for being in a class full of shapeshifters.

[Fairportfan]

It's school issue - same style for all, VERY limited range of sizes....

Usually they are one size fits all, which they usually don't. I suspect she has looked at herself in a mirror and realized that the suit fabric gets thinner as it stretches. So it is very likely the suit is thin to the point of appearing like it isn't there except for the color. So the cold water reaction will be very noticeable along with any other details.

Heh.

20040830_BaYi.jpg (69.47 KiB) Viewed 10165 times

(For anyone not familiar with Misfile, Ash is a seventeen-year-old boy who was transformed into a girl ... and everyone else thinks he's always been a girl.)

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There may be a link to TYTropes somewhere around...

[zachariah]

You beat me to it. I went looking for the same page from Misfile.

http://www.misfile.com/?date=2004-08-30

[CraigR]

"Mrs. Adler" That name sounds familiar. Have we met her before?

[My2Cents]

A Spandex suit can expand to fit around almost anyone, but in extreme cases the coverage may be less than complete because the fabric will naturally try to minimize stresses.

Looking at Atsali's neckline I'd guess she is afraid she is going to literally pop out. That's why she has her arms wrapped around her bust.

Wonder if Monday will feature Kathryn in the school office after one of Atsali's shoulder straps breaks from the tension. That would reignite all her body image/freak issues with a vengeance.

[moocow]

Much as I like Cheesecake, anyone else a little worried what happens when you get an adolescent Siren, in a pool with adolescent humans, with a kiloHughes of implied sexual tension? At a mundane school, things would probably get out of hand, but here? It will probably get out of hand here too.

"Mrs. Adler" That name sounds familiar. Have we met her before?

There is Irene Adler, from the Sherlock Holmes canon... Only one I can think of at the top of my head.

[CraigR]

Our busty youngling may discover that she has POWER in the water.

I'm not necessarily saying the water will give the power, but it will affect just about any boy that sees her...

[Ladyofthemasque]

First off, kudos to Paul Taylor for addressing this very personal, very gender-specific, yet very important topic in a way that covers the actual needs and the ongoing cultural concerns which many women (young and old!) struggle with on a daily basis. Thank you so very much for handling this so very well. Much appreciated. This is in a way a very personal storyline for me, as I didn't blossom "overnight", but I did go rapidly from a AA to a DD within 3 years when I hit puberty...and it hit back.

Second...I'm going to be equally up front and say, I wear a 39H. H. Yes, that letter. There are NO bras in any department store that will fit me. DDDs don't cut it. (They're only the equivalen to an F size bra, and I repeat, I'm an H.) I don't just get the "quad boob" look from the December 4, 2013 page, I get SIX of 'em, as they spill out of the armhole sides as well as over the top. I have very broad shoulders for a female as well, and while the straps themselves have to be shortened because of my torso length, the armholes have to be cut extra large, and the elastic rimming that edge has to be an inch longer than standard. I also require broad shoulder straps to prevent the weight literally digging permanent ruts in my trapezius (shoulder) muscles. How do I know all these measurements? I get custom fit bras.

I'm not going to directly link the URL here, but as a woman with a huge bust (and all the attendant back problems), and who cannot wear underwires whatsoever (they literally--literally--poke holes in my armpits and cut into my ribs, making me bleed)...I have to step forward and mention a company here in the Seattle area that has been making bras for over 25 years. Custom fit, underwire free, VERY reasonably priced (one of mine runs roughly $70 including tax, and these are CUSTOM FIT)...and this company can also make a swimsuit with a built-in custom fit bra to your size needs (or a swimsuit bra top with matching bottoms for a 2 piece).

I'm mentioning this because I hate standard store bought swimsuits. The "built in bra" is nothing more than a decorative shelf at best. In fact, I like to (no insult to the Jewish community intended) call them "boob yarmulkas" because they just sorta cover the tips of the curves, and you have to wonder how they cling without pasties glue. But not the ones I wear. In fact, I've been a very, very, very happy customer of this one particular company for nearly 10 years now. A friend told me about them, and she urged me to buy one bra and send it back and forth until it fit perfectly. My first bra ordered didn't fit right; I just consulted over the phone (I lived only an hour away, but didn't drive at the time), paid to ship it back...twice...until the company and I got the thing to fit perfectly. In fact, the company owner suggests doing this--buy one, consult after trying it on, and ship it back and forth until it's perfect. Then they'll have your unique-needs measurements on file and you can order a whole bunch at once.

The company is called Decent Exposures, and if you run that word together with a www. in front and a .com after the S (make sure there's an "s" on the end, or you'll get a PR firm), you'll get the right website. No, I'm not being paid to advertise them. No, I'm not going to link directly. No, I'm not getting any sort of perk. I just think every woman should be able to afford a comfortable, custom fit bra

One of the earlier pages mentioned Monica shelling out nearly a thousand dollars for a bra--admittedly a sports bra built strong enough to contain and constrain her cleavage, but still...that's more money than most people can afford to shell out on anything. Of course, it did come with carbon fibers and orb spider fabric for the outer covering (the most expensive fabric in the world, and the coolest ever from a scientific point of view), but most women cannot afford a bra like that. They can, however, afford one of these, AND get it tailored to fit their unique measurements. A 24L like what Atsali wears (and yes, you can get up to a size L at Decent Exposures!) would be considered "impossible to find" outside of custom-built...and in many cases, it would be ridiculously priced out of most bra-buying budgets.

So this is just a post to share with those women out there who may have had the same problems which I have suffered from since high school...long, long before I found this company in the early 2000s. I wish I'd found them many years earlier all the way back in the mid 80s...but as I said, happy customer for a decade now. They've been fitting over the phone and over the internet for those 25+ years, too, so you don't have to spend $$$ on a plane ticket just to go be fitted in their workshop. 100% Made In America, with workers who are paid an actual decent living wage...and they make other things, too. (I love their pants.)

I know there are other companies out there which also do custom-fit bras, but this is the one I have personal experience with, for a very specific size, shape, and fit not found in the average department store...and while they do go up to a size L, they also cover A-cups, too. Also, one boob a different cup size than the other? A friend of mine has the left one a C cup bordering on D, the right one a B cup--she had a hard time finding a bra that would support on both sides and fit, and for years would buy similar 2 bras, cut them up, and stitch them together...wasting the unusable halves. Twice as much money for something I told her she could have custom made for the price of one good but still affordable bra.

...That and like Monica, we can order these bras in a wide variety of colors, fabrics, different styles, and even some nice patterns. Va-va-voom red? Not a problem! Navy blue? No problemo! Calico flowers? Squee to your heart's content! Velour, too, for those days when you need some velvet-style love. Or warmth. (Minnesota, et cetera.) Whatever.

So don't despair, ladies; you don't have to find a mall with supernatural shopkeepers and supernatural size ranges. Real custom-fit bras are out there, at a price that won't make you flinch and walk away.

Again, thank you very, very much, Paul, for addressing this topic. Most women do not know how to properly bra shop. I had to learn the hard way, and had to spend years of suffering with ill-fitting, shoulder-digging bras because I could not afford the high-end custom-fit ones from shops that charged $125 in an era (the late 80s, early 90s) when a mass-manufactured DD could be found for under $50. Thank you so much for covering this topic with respect...and not just the bra-fitting itself, but the worries and the insecurities, and the slurs and epithets which large-bra-sized women have to face and often flinch from so many times in our lives.

I look forward to seeing how Atsali's day at school goes. It probably will be a bit bumpy at some point, but I'm rooting for her, and I know there are a lot of us readers who want to support her properly. (Yes, pun intended.) We also want to support each other properly, too. (Yes, pun still intended...but it's also the truth.)

Thank you.

[TheDOCTOR]

I'm thinking of STAR TREK. Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott shouting: "She canna take the strain Captain, She'll BLOW APART any second!!!"

[Julie]

UGH! Swimsuits! I always hated shopping for swimwear. Even when I was in high school and only a D cup (and only wore one piece suits because I was never comfortable showing my mid-section) I had trouble finding suits that fit well over my breasts without being gigantic everywhere else. A school-issued suit would be a million times worse! Even if they had several sizes to choose from, it's likely that the size issued to Atsali was designed to fit her pre-pubescent figure as opposed to the one she has now.

Our busty youngling may discover that she has POWER in the water.

I'm not necessarily saying the water will give the power, but it will affect just about any boy that sees her...

Well, true...but she may not figure that out just yet. Based on what the teacher was saying, it seemed to me that her phys ed class is not co-ed. I know that in my middle and high schools phys ed was broken into girls and boys classes (ostensibly to reduce the amount of oggling that might happen when dressed in gym attire), so that could very well be the case here, too.

EDITED for length: Bra Post

I agree! Paul has always handled these kinds of things with grace and care...and he's always been a promoter of the "non-traditional" body types as beautiful. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...this is half of the reason I'm a Wapsi fan.

I mainly was posting to say thank you for recommending this store. I'm not in Seattle, and I very likely won't ever use them (since even when I was a 38 GG I was able to find properly sized bras in my area), but I do have a friend from college who was an A on one side and a D on the other. She always stuffed her smaller side with a falsie and was very embarassed about it. I think I'll reach out to her now to see if she's still having issues and direct her to that store.