That's a good question. There have probably been studies. Most women find it more comfortable to wear a bra, physically. Not wearing one (much cooler in the summertime)tends to send many onlookers into a tizzy.
Most bras are made from synthetic fiber (and some have natural fiber mixed in) and that stuff does not breathe. You can say, "so what, who needs a breathing bra?" Synthetics hold odors too, even after washing them. The bra will smell like the woman's chest. But, that's an individual thing and some women have no odor there.
Then there's the issue of large breasts. Without a bra to hold them still, they can really get in the way. Jogging without a bra and having something like B cups (no bra) is a very bouncy process.
Then, you must consider the breast structure itself. There is no muscle, only skin supports that bag of fat. The actual mammary gland that produces milk is only the size of a small fried egg, the rest is fat. If the things aren't held up, they succumb to gravity pretty fast.
I know some teen girls who wear a bra all the time, even at night. They don't want saggy breasts. There are teen breasts that sag and 40+ year old breasts that may or may not sag. It depends on the type of skin and type of breast that you inherited. So, whether a bra is worn or not, the breasts could still be "saggy."
Maybe all the bra burning, freedom and hanging loose is an acting out on a larger issue. Go into any grocery store and see all the perky breasts, on the magazine covers. Not only are most of the photos re-touched and airbrushed, many of the boobs are duct taped up so that they appear perky, or larger. It's all about image. An image that pleases the highly visual male of the species. Hanging loose, I believe is partly an eff-you to that imagery market in society. I just turn the magazines all backward if I'm in that eff-you mood.
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