Young Teen College Girl Without Brassiere

Within Western cultures that place great value upon youth, bras are marketed to emphasize their ability to preserve a youthful appearance. The design of fashionable rather than solely functional bras has been influenced by changing fashions in outerwear and undergarments. The bra is sometimes viewed as an icon of popular culture that eroticizes female breasts as sexual objects.
• Tween market for bras
Marketing executives have invented the concept of Tweeners, girls from under the age of about nine to girls of 13 or 14 who have reached puberty, as a new niche for selling bras. The tween market has been defined by media like MTV, brand globalization, the increased amount of money controlled by children, peer pressure, and more separated families with guilt-ridden parents playing off against each other. Paparazzi coverage of celebrities of all ages have included reports of teen star Miley Cyrus going braless.
In 2006, Target stores began stocking a range of bras for three- to four-year-olds, Bratz bras for three- to four-year-olds, Saddle Club bras for four- to six-year-olds, and a lightly padded Target brand bra for eight- to 10-year-olds. Australian retailer Big W's added a Just Girls padded bra for eight- to 10-year-olds and a My Little Pony bandeau bra for two- to three-year-olds, and Bonds is now marketing My First T-Shirt Bra, for ages eight and up. In 2010, Primark stores withdrew a bikini featuring a padded bikini top targeted at seven-year-olds after protests by local consumers who described the marketing program as "premature sexualisation".