Not All Girls Are Built the Same.
blog 2 of
This Might Be Dense:
and other stories about your girls
Welcome to This Might Be Dense: and other stories about your girls.
This blog series pulls the curtain back on a part of the body that’s been so sexualized, it’s still censored: on social media, in schools, and even in medical conversations. And yet, over half a million women die each year from breast cancer.
Censoring information about women’s bodies doesn’t protect us: it endangers us.
So, this series is both personal and practical.
It’s a love letter. A rage howl. A guidebook.
It’s a reminder that ya girls were never meant to be a mystery, especially to you.
There’s a strange kind of intimacy in hiding. If you’ve spent any part of your life hunched forward, folding in on yourself, adjusting your clothing so your boobs don’t “draw attention,” you’re not alone.
And then there’s posture.
The thing they tell you to correct in school, in yoga, in every wellness magazine. Shoulders back, chest proud.
But if your chest has always been on display — if it’s been praised or policed or whispered about — standing up straight can feel like an invitation for more of the same. So you hunch. You round. You fold in on yourself.
Not because you don’t respect your body. But because the world doesn’t.
When posture is framed as “confidence,” it ignores the reality that many of us have chests the world claims before we can. And when wellness influencers deride underwire bras or say “just don’t wear one,” they often have the privilege of a cup size that allows that. If you’ve got a larger chest — one that garners attention whether you want it or not — good posture can feel like a trap.
So we round our shoulders. We pull cardigans over tank tops. We choose function over flair. We try to disappear just enough to avoid the comments, the stares, the evaluations.
But here’s the thing: no matter how much you hide, the world still treats breasts like they’re all the same.
Spoiler: they’re not.
Dense, Fatty, and Everything In Between
Breasts aren’t just big or small. They’re not just perky or saggy. They’re made up of different types of tissue, and those differences matter for everything from comfort to cancer detection.
You might have heard the phrase dense breasts on a mammogram report or a medical form. But what does that actually mean?
Dense breasts have more glandular and fibrous tissue and less fatty tissue. That makes them feel firmer and often more sensitive. They also show up as bright white on a mammogram — the same color as tumors. Which… yeah. Not great for visibility.
Here’s how breast density is officially classified:
A: Mostly Fatty – Easiest to see through on mammograms.
B: Scattered Fibroglandular Tissue – Some dense areas, but still relatively easy to image.
C: Heterogeneously Dense – Common. Can obscure small masses.
D: Extremely Dense – Makes it very difficult to spot cancer on a mammogram.
About 50% of women have dense breasts (categories C or D) and about 10% have extremely dense breasts.
But most of us don’t find out until our 40s, when a mammogram technician casually mentions it like we should already know.
Wouldn’t it be great to know sooner?
If dense breasts contain more glandular tissue — that’s the tissue responsible for milk production — doesn’t it stand to reason that breast density could affect how much milk someone produces, how easily they clog, or how long they leak postpartum?
And yet, there is no formal research connecting breast density to lactation outcomes. Not yet.
(Which is why that got its own blog. Because I have questions, and maybe you do too.)
Breast Tissue Isn’t Static
Here’s something else no one tells you: breast density changes over time.
During puberty and reproductive years, estrogen boosts glandular tissue, which often increases density. Pregnancy, breastfeeding, hormonal birth control, and perimenopause all shift that density in different ways. And after menopause, many women experience a decrease in density as glandular tissue is replaced by fat.
So if your breasts have changed over time — shape, feel, size, pain level — that’s not just aging. It’s biology and it’s relevant to your experience as a person with a body.
And yet, the world keeps treating breasts like static objects. Like they’re supposed to stay firm, youthful, perky. Like there’s something wrong with you if they sag or swell or shift.
As if they’re shelves, not organs. As if they’re decor, not dynamic.
Why This Matters
First of all: because you matter. (That should go without saying. But I’m saying it.)
Knowing your breast density isn’t just medically useful; it’s a core part of body literacy. It helps you understand why your breasts feel the way they do, how pain shows up, and what types of screening you need (because not all imaging is created equal).
It’s also deeply humanizing.
Because when you learn about how your own body works — when you shift from hiding to knowing — you’re reclaiming something that was never supposed to be secret in the first place.
Your breasts aren’t built like anyone else’s.
Even your own breasts change over time.
So if you’ve spent your life adjusting your posture, your clothing, or your behavior to make your chest less visible, let me say this clearly:
It’s not you. It’s the system.
And it can be you again, if you choose to reclaim the story.
If this post helped you feel more informed, keep going. This Might Be Dense: And Other Stories About Your Girls is a full series: part practical guide, part personal reclamation, all grounded in research, rage, and reverence.
🧬 Understand breast tissue types (current post)
🍼 Explore milk, hormones & density
🔥 Learn how to manage pain & fibrocystic changes
📊 Decode your BI-RADS score and risk
🩻 Know your imaging options & how to advocate
💬 Say the quiet parts out loud
🌍 Understand environmental exposures & plastic’s impact
👐 Get the breast ritual PDF to care for your girls
YOU DESERVE TO KNOW YOUR BODY BEFORE ANYONE ELSE DEFINES IT FOR YOU.
