Closing the gender activity gap takes teamwork. Our blogs offer a space for others to share valuable insights and perspectives on engaging girls in PE, beyond lessons.
This blog is authored by PEBE Sports Bras, who are experts in all things boobs and sports bras. The company is on a mission to empower women and girls to achieve their personal bests by revolutionizing the sports bra experience through science and education.
An estimated 1.3 million girls drop out of sport every year, with 64% quitting by the time they finish puberty[1]. While the reasons for this are multi-faceted, at PEBE, we know 72% of girls feel self-conscious about breast movement[2] and almost half of girls (46%) avoid exercise due to breast development[3].
An ill-fitting sports bra can exacerbate this; causing discomfort and hampering girls’ abilities to engage fully in physical activities, leading to a decline in participation and enjoyment.
At PEBE we have one simple goal: for women and girls’ bodies – especially their breasts – to never obstruct their participation in exercise. Everyone deserves to feel empowered to chase their personal best, whether that relates to performance, or simply feeling your best, strongest, and most confident self. So, alongside creating sports bras that actually work, we have set out to encourage girls to take control by delivering educational workshops in schools and clubs, to share what we have learned and get girls feeling great about moving.
Read on to learn why a well-fitting sports bra matters and how we’re helping make sure boobs don’t get in the way of girls’ enjoyment of exercise.
The lack of regulation and guidance around what constitutes an effective “sports” bra has resulted in an abundance of poorly constructed products with little thought into how breast tissue actually moves: sports bras are often marketed as “high impact” with no testing to back it up and no adjustability to account for fluctuations and growing bodies.
And why is this such a problem? Well, an ill-fitting sports bra can not only cause feelings of self-consciousness but can negatively affect girls’ performance and overall health. For instance, when running, an ill-fitting sports bra can lead to loss in stride length and decrease in acceleration, along with an increased risk of injury and an increase in perceived exertion.
These things are all important from an athletic perspective, but even more broadly: the way our bra fits will have an impact on posture and breath, which impacts pelvic floor health in a big way. Largely, these are things seen as problems to correct in adulthood, but with the right conversations we can encourage girls to take control of them before the impacts are noticed.
There’s often talk of barriers to women in sport, but rarely a discussion on how easy some of them are to break down. Solving the sports bra “problem” isn’t rocket science, but it is driven by science. Cue: the founders of PEBE geeking out on breast biomechanics to create their own bras and develop the tools to educate others too.
Sports bras on the market predominantly deal with vertical movement – giving that squished feeling that has been widely accepted as “supportive”. The reality is breasts move in a figure-of-eight; they don’t simply bounce up and down. Our bodies create momentum, thanks to our two legs and the transfer of weight between them; just picture the movement of a ponytail as someone runs for a visual of that motion!
This science underpins each and every bra we develop but also forms the basis of our educational workshops delivered in schools and clubs around the country: an understanding of how we move, and why it’s important to support this. Framing a sports bra as a vital piece of kit tackles the taboo of talking about boobs; and sets the stage for a transformative and candid experience.
It’s critical to give girls the knowledge of what good support is and feels like – to them – so they can feel confident into their adolescence and adulthood. This starts with helping girls understand what their fitted bra size is, so they can shop smart.
A positive measuring and fitting experience that is tailored to the individual can make girls feel seen and heard. Incorrect fitting in high street stores can lead to experiences that feel impersonal at best, uncomfortable at worst. This sets a low bar early on and can result in more women than not, never going back to a bra fitter after that first experience!
Not only do girls have to deal with changes and fluctuations in hormones throughout their lives, but these fluctuations manifest outwardly and create challenges when it comes to staying active, feeling comfortable, and taking care of their health.
Sports bras are not widely included in PE kit lists, despite the clear and indisputable benefits of wearing one. We all can, and should, interrupt the cycle of girls growing up uninformed so that together we set a higher standard of support.
So much of the community within women’s sport is underpinned by collective problem-solving. At PEBE we want to see a world where girls grow up with the body literacy to know how to support their bodies as they change – so they can thrive! Movement and exercise shouldn’t be reserved for a select few; we’re all in it together.
To find out more or book a PEBE workshop visit https://www.teampebe.com/pages/sportsbraworkshops or email hello@teampebe.com.
[1] Reframing Sport for Teenage Girls: Building Strong Foundations for their Futures, Women in Sport, 2019.
[1] Only a third of secondary school girls wear a sports bra for PE’, Women in Sport, 2023
[1] ‘The Influence of the Breast on Sport and Exercise Participation in School Girls in the United Kingdom’, Journal of Physical Activity and Health, Scurr et al., 2016