freesewing/markdown/org/docs/faq/breasts/en.md

---
title: "What's all this talk about with or without breasts?"
---

Some people get confused by the terms _with breasts_ and _without breasts_.

We use these terms as a gender-inclusive way to ask whether or not a person has breasts.

##### As it applies to bodies

Nearly every clothing company has two main categories for their clothing: menswear and womenswear.
These garment designs are usually based off of the ideal or average body.
Meaning, for womenswear, the designer will likely make a garment for a body with breasts,
narrow shoulders, a smaller waist and wide hips.

These characteristics are generally thought of as _the typical characteristics of a woman's body_.
However, we believe it is best to stay away from this;
no body is average and we want to build a gender-inclusive environment.

We do not want to exclude anyone and we think that _body shape ≠ gender_.
That's why we use the terminology **with breasts** and **without breasts**,
simply asking whether a person has breast tissue or not.

##### How it applies to patterns

Any user can draft any pattern on our site, as long as they provide the
required measurements. Which for some patterns includes measurements
that are only relevant if you have breasts.

##### How it applies to chest binding

If you are chest binding — effectively flattening your chest — use the **without breasts** patterns,
and use the cirumference of your bound chest as [chest measurement](/docs/measurements/chest/)