Choosing a Binder

By Finley Baker

Last Updated March 19, 2025

Image Description [Vignette style illustration with yellow, blue, red and orange color palette. The yellow frame of the vignette features binders on hangers and measuring tapes surrounded by small hearts, repeated in each corner. Within the vignette, there are three figures with 3 small hearts surrounding them. The first figure is an older, fat, white trans man standing with a single-point orange cane. He has short, curly gray hair and a beard. He is wearing a yellow cropped tank binder, blue and orange boxers, tall yellow socks, and an ankle-foot orthosis. He has a vertical scar on his chest. His hand is resting on the second person's shoulder. The second figure is a Black non-binary person with muscular arms sitting in their blue and orange daily-use wheelchair with their hands in their lap. The wheelchair has little red star decals. They have medium-length twists covered by a bandana printed with lemons. They are wearing a blue zip-up binder, yellow boxers and black wheelchair gloves. The third person is an Asian agender teen, smiling with eir arms in the air. Eir hair is dark brown and chin-length, and you can see eir armpit hair peeking out. Ey are wearing a full tank style racerback binder, and light orange boxers with a sunflower motif. Ey have yellow headphones on eir head and a blue continuous glucose monitor on eir arm. Eir service dog is a golden retriever with a black vest, looking happily at the viewer from by his owner's feet.]

Image Description [Infographic with several illustrations and a blue, yellow, and orange color palette. Heading text reads "Binders" with the subtitle "Choosing one that's right for you." The first textbox has an orange frame and reads "What to Consider. Closure: pull-over, zip, side hooks (*easy exit options good for discreet binder breaks, panic attacks, asthma, or if you are at risk for shoulder dislocations). Style: full tank, racerback (good if existing shoulder pain/nerve compression). Level of compression: 1, 2, or 3 front panels. Cost: availability, ethical business practices. Comfort: sensory ick from tags, seams, zipper, fabric breathability. Color: close skin tone match. Size options: for larger chests. Activities: waterproof? for sports?" The graphic in the upper right is four colored circles with illustrations and captions of a pull over binder with the caption "Ex. Underworks", a zipper binder, a side hooks binder, and TransTape. The textbox at the bottom has a blue frame and reads "Safety first" with two caution symbols, and the subtext "Avoid binders that create equal 360 degree compression - ace bandages, duct tape, plastic wrap, braces. These can cause nerve/muscle/skin damage or ribcage deformation. Duct tape is the most dangerous, with high risk of rib fracture even for a short amount of time - ex. drag performance. These types of symptoms are very rare when binding properly!" In the lower left corner, is a blue toned illustration of a Black person with long hair and a small mustache holding up one finger, and wearing a hard hat, a binder, and boxers. There is a QR code with a link to this webpage and the caption "Scan for more."]