Binding for Beginners
What is Binding?
Binding, also known as chest or breast binding is the flattening of breast tissue using constrictive material. People who bind are most often assigned female at birth (AFAB), which includes women, transgender men, and nonbinary persons. Binding is commonly used for the following purposes: aesthetics, costuming, masculinizing one's appearance, alleviating gender dysphoria, and inducing gender euphoria.
What are the risks?
Binding is NOT benign. Depending on how you bind, there are some things you can and can't do until you remove your binder, such as exercise, swim, or sleep.
Binding can be as dangerous as it can be freeing, 97.2% of individuals who bound their chests experienced at least one negative physical symptom from binding, the most common of which were back pain (53.8%), overheating (53.5%), chest pain (48.8%), and shortness of breath (46.6%). At the most extreme, binding unsafely can result in fractured ribs, punctured lungs, and permanent disfiguration.Â
Don't let this discourage you though, on this site you will learn all the essentials on how to bind safely.
What kinds of binding are there?
Tight Layers
The most straightforward Multiple layers of clothing, layered tightest to loosest can be used to conceal breasts.
Pros: Accessible, low risk
Cons: Bulky, overheating
Tape
Tape with strong adhesives can be used to flatten the chest by moving breast tissue to either side of the torso which reduces how far breasts protrude from the torso
Pros: Discreet, longest wear (up to one week), exercise and sleep compatible*, open shirt/shirtless compatible
Cons: Potential Allergy, difficult removal, risky if done wrong
Never use duct tape or ace bandages, as they restrict movement and compress the ribs. Only use tape specifically designed for binding and make sure you fully understand how to use it.
For tutorials see our resources page.
Binders
Chest binders, or binding bras, are items of underclothing that compress breast tissue with elastic
Pros: Discreet, medium wear duration
Cons: Constrictive, 8-hour daily maximum, not safe for exercise or sleep.
General Do's and Don'ts
Do
Take breaks from binding and take a few minutes to breathe without your binder on.
Ease yourself into it, start in small increments until you're used to it.
Don't
Bind every day
Bind too long, eight hours is the recommended maximum if you are over 18. People under 18 are recommended to bind no more than six hours daily.