If you haven't noticed from all of the pink athletic wear at high school football games, an increase in dyed pink streaks of hair, or a surge in posts about "saving the boobies," October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. On Oct.13, it was apparently "No Bra Day," a faux-holiday in which women could go about their daily lives without a bra and have it be socially acceptable for the day. I, unfortunately, did not partake in the event (mostly because I found out about it the following day), but it really got me thinking: do I really have to wear a bra every day? Why is it so socially acceptable to wear a bra at all hours of the day except in the privacy of my residence hall room?

We've all seen the posts about (and for those who wear bras, have experienced) the feeling of taking a bra off at the end of the day. It's freeing, not to mention comforting, to tear off my over the shoulder boulder holder that I, or my mom, spent around $30 (or more) on.

Think of it this way: I have about eight bras that I wear. If I spent $30 on each of them (this is an estimated average and in no way completely accurate), that's $240 sitting in the top drawer right now. I get a new bra or two every year and throw out one that has stretched out or doesn't fit, so that's an extra $30-$60 a year. For mathematical purposes, let's say I buy one new bra per year. I'm almost 21 and I have been consistently wearing bras for 10 years and let's say the first time I bought bras, my mom let me pick out three, so I'd have to not count that first year. If you like math, here's an equation for you:

Number of bras I originally bought ($30) + years I've been wearing bras - 1 ($30) = money I've spent so far

So let's do some calculating.

3 ($30) + 10 - 1 ($30) = money I've spent so far.

$90 + 9 ($30) = money I've spent so far

$90 + $270 = money I've spent so far

Estimated amount of money I've spent so far on bras = $360

That may not seem like much to some of you, but let's assume that I keep living this way for my whole life. According to this model, I will live to be 81.48 years old and that would mean that, over my lifetime, I would spend $2,504.40 on something that JUST HOLDS MY BOOBS IN PLACE. About $2,500 more that I have to spend than men, not even counting feminine products, makeup, clothes, accessories, etc.

Now, to assess the cost: $30 was an estimate. You can't find a bra at Victoria's Secret that costs that little unless it's on sale. Not to mention that if you are bigger than a DD cup, you can't even shop at Victoria's Secret, nor can you pick up bras at places like Target, Aerie or any other popular lingerie store. No, you have to special order those and they are going to cost you.

I can hear some of the arguments now, so I've taken the liberty of answering some of the most popular questions that people who do not wear bras would ask.

Question 1: If they don't want to pay extra for bigger sizes, why don't they just lose weight?

Answer: Heredity. I am 5'10" and weigh about 175 pounds. My bra size is a 38D and I have been this size since high school. My younger sister is 5'6" and weighs about 135 pounds. Her bra size is a 34DD and growing. While weight has something to do with the band size and a little bit about the cup size, you can still be tiny and have large breasts. It's all in your genes.

Question 2: Why don't you just go to Wal-Mart and buy the ones for like $5?

Answer: While the bras are cheaper, they also are not made with the same quality that more expensive bras are. The Wal-Mart bras, on average, last a month, if you're lucky, because the material and wires are cheaper, meaning they poke through faster and make life VERY uncomfortable for the wearer. That means you'll be buying a new bra 12 times a year. Let's do a little more math and use similar numbers as before. My mom still originally bought me three bras and I have been wearing bras the same amount of time (10 years).

Number of bras I originally bought ($5) + years I've been wearing bras - 1 ($5 x number of times a year I need a new bra) = money I would've spent on bras at Wal-Mart so far

3 ($5) + 10 - 1 ($5 x 12) = money I would've spent on bras at Wal-Mart so far

$15 + 9 ($60) = money I would've spent on bras at Wal-Mart so far

$15 + $540 = money I would've spent on bras at Wal-Mart so far

Money I would've spent on bras at Wal-Mart so far = $555

In my lifetime, that would mean I would spend about $4,843.80. That's almost twice as much as I would spend on the regular bras. So, no thank you.

Question 3: If regular bras are so expensive, why don't women just wear sports bras?

Answer: Dude, don't even get me started. They can be almost as expensive, or more expensive, as regular bras, depending on the brand and the padding level. If you don't buy ones with enough padding or lining, you can chafe, which hurts horribly. Think of chafing when you run on a summer day and your thighs rub together so much that it burns and then transfer that feeling onto your nipples. Yeah.

Question 4: Why do you even wear bras at all?

Answer: There is this thing. I don't know if you've heard about it. It's called a social norm. Google it, if you must, but we are trained from a young age to want to wear bras. Ever seen the Lizzie McGuire episode about bra shopping? Here it is in case you haven't or you need a refresher:

So why is Lizzie freaking out? It's just a bra, right? NO, it's because she wants to be a damn woman already. It's a rite of passage to own your first bra! It signals that you are growing up and beginning to enter the world of, you guessed it, puberty and we all know where that leads.

There's even research to suggest that going bra-less could even make your boobs sag less. Yes, you read that right, and we can thank Professor Jean-Denis Rouillon for that. However, this only works in younger women because their skin has more elasticity.

So do we ditch the bras just yet? It's up to you to decide. I've increasingly become more and more comfortable with wearing a bra less often, as long as I am wearing a baggy enough top and it is not while I'm anchoring on Public Eye News or going to class. I'm not saying go out and burn your brassieres, ladies and gents, but free the nipple every so often. I promise, you'll thank yourself later.