Pencil test (breasts)

Common card · No. 326443

The pencil test is an informal test of breast development and the need to wear a bra. It was published in a 1971 advice column by Ann Landers mostly containing reader responses, pro and anti-bra, to her recent column "berating the braless female who shamelessly bounced and flopped and went shopping ... [which for Landers] created a deluge of mail". One Chicago correspondent chimed in: The question "to bra or not to bra" can be easily answered if the undecided woman will apply this test to herself. Take an ordinary woodcase pencil. Put it under one breast. If the pencil stays there you should wear a bra. If it falls, you can go braless. The implication is that breasts that are not pendulous enough to trap a pencil are self-supporting and do not need the added support of a bra.

Read on Wikipedia · Image Alan Light, CC BY 2.0