People Explain Which Works Of Art The Public Will Never See Because They're In Private Collections

People collect art for a myriad of reasons. Some might have a particular artist they admire, maybe it's a personal investment, or maybe they want serious bragging rights.
Whatever the reason may be, there are some incredible pieces of art that may never be seen by the public because the value has made it impossible for anyone but the elite to see.
Some collections are valued at $2.2 billion and are spread across over 100 museums and galleries.
But what about the private collections that are never seen by the eyes of the public?
Redditor nessenger asked:
"What rare or historical items are in private collections which the public will never see?"
Some of these historical items have an interesting background story.
An Emily Carr painting.
"One of my old neighbors had an Emily Carr painting. He had an art book on a pedestal in front of it that talked about the painting and had the location as 'Unknown.' He had written 'Ha-ha!' next to it in the margin."
"In my opinion, it was definitely stolen. Maybe not by him but...there's no reason not to claim it as an asset at least to insure it, considering its worth millions of dollars, unless claiming it would become a problem for you."
"He's definitely a legitimate art collector. He probably got it in a private sale where the [provenance] was exclusively from private sales."
A silent short film.
"My answer is something the public will likely never see, not because it's in private hands, but because all traces of it have likely been lost:"
"On May 16th, 1912, the American silent short film Saved from the Titanic premiered in theaters starring actress Dorothy Gibson. The film was unique in that, not only was it completed literally a month after the tragedy, but Gibson was one of the survivors of the disaster, even wearing the same nightgown she wore on April 15th in the film."
"Despite some papers like the New York Dramatic Mirror criticizing the film as "revolting," due to the recent nature of the disaster, many more praised it for the same reasons. And, indeed, its use of stock footage of Captain Smith aboard the near-identical Olympic, icebergs in the North Atlantic, and of the Olympic herself as a stand-in, was able to increase the film's authenticity in ways no other film could."
"Sadly, this would be Gibson's last film, as she suffered an existential crisis during production, and all known copies of the film itself were destroyed in a studio fire in March 1914. All of them."
"Except, perhaps one."
"You see, one of the more notable fatalities in the Titanic disaster was Major Archibald Butt. While basically everything he was said to have done during the sinking was a case of media sensationalism, what could not be fabricated was his friendship and role as military advisor to William Howard Taft, better known as the President of the United States. Taft, to say the least, didn't take the news well, breaking down into tears during Butt's second funeral ceremony on May 5th. He received a personal copy of the film, and as such, it is possible that this copy still exists today, tucked away and forgotten…."
A lost room.
"The Amber Room."
"It ended up somewhere."
- DNAeros
"As much as I would live to see it I don't believe it exists anymore. There may be pieces of it in collections but the majority of it must have been broken apart and sold to be made into other trinkets."
- Ascholay
"The consensus among most reputable historians and journalists is that the Amber Room was destroyed during the firebombing of the building where it was held, though individual pieces might have been looted as people fled the palace and sold later, fueling rumors that the room itself had survived."
"Notably, none of these rumors have led to a plausible theory of how the room might have been moved and stored. When you take into account that:"
- "It's very common for portable items of value to be looted during the destruction of culturally significant sites without the site itself surviving;"
- "The Amber Room would have been incredibly difficult to move, hide, and store, particularly in secret;"
- "And that all leads regarding its whereabouts so far have been proven false"
"... Then there is no actual evidence that it survived, besides wishful thinking and the fact that it makes a good story."
"Also worth noting, the destruction of the Amber Room was seen as extremely bad PR for everyone involved, so there is great motivation for powerful states and figures to produce the room, if it exists, yet they have been unable to do so."
"The thing is it's probably still around in the place where it was made, Prussia. In fact the Amber Room has a high chance of still being in the remains of Konigsberg Castle. The area of Konigsberg is now called Kaliningrad Oblast and is a Russian territory. The soviets blew up the remains of the castle in the 50s and 60s after it sustained heavy bombardment in ww2, however, the castle was so big that the basement/cellars/foundations all still exist. As far as I am aware, Konigsberg Castle was the last place the Amber Room was seen and it may by in the cellars/tunnels underneath the remains of the Castle."
"There is currently funding for a project to dig up the remains of the Castle and go into the tunnels underneath the foundations of the two main fortified towers that have been blown mostly to smithereens."
Art on rotation.
"I know there's a ton of stuff that the Nazis stole that still hasn't been recovered. Plenty of it HAS to just be sitting in somebody's living room, with the owner possibly being unaware of its origins, or maybe at least suspicious of its origins but they don't want to contact anybody about it."
"Museums also have a ton of stuff that they keep behind the scenes for various reasons - I think usually sensitivity to light and needing better temperature and air control are the main ones. Some of that stuff has really good replicas that are actually what's on display in museums, but I think a lot of the stuff doesn't so is just in some drawer in the back room somewhere where only specific employees and documentary filmmakers can see it."
"Apparently, because of how they 'rotate' exhibits & collections, museums typically have far more things in storage than on display."
"They also share with other museums, got to keep the attractions fresh."
"They have even more than that I'd say. Stuff admitted in the museum often have additional items on the side that get mixed up and unlabeled; some dresses have sample extras on the side for reparation or replication purposes for the original owner."
- Gemela12
"My mom works at a small museum and she says that they normally have about a third of their collection on display. Also, many pieces have restrictions about how long and how often they can be displayed, especially older paintings and delicate pieces like tapestries. For these reasons, museums often borrow pieces from private collectors to 'fill out' exhibits"
"Hell even in the university I work in, we have a small museum, with literally just a few select biological pieces. But we have a locked room with thousands of specimens that would fill the room 3 times over."
- Goetre
"Same, the University I'm at (I don't work there, I'm a student) has an enormous collection of Greek and Roman artefacts; there are like six pieces on display in the hallway, but on the top three floors the fifth-year and Master's students love getting sh*t out if you ask them. Three. Floors."
"My gf's family has an old bed frame they dismantled and buried when the Nazis starting taking sh*t, they eventually dug it up and reassembled it and now it's in like a guest room but it was all metal very well crafted."
The Most Unexplained Events In History | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
History is littered with unsolved mysteries. Whether those answers are buried somewhere or lost forever, it doesn't stop people from wondering or hypothesizi..."Lost" media footage.
"Lost Media footage. I know some collectors stumbled upon gems but won't release it, because the like the power of feeling like a god."
"For obvious reasons there are quite a few recordings of fatal racing accidents that are locked away forever either by the families or the racing team owners/manufacturers. I'm ok with these staying that way."
"I know this was being discussed after Steve Irwin died, since his death was caught on tape. I'd heard that the Australian government ordered the footage destroyed once the inquiry into his death was completed. Given how much of an icon Steve Irwin was, especially in Australia, I'm certain that all of the footage was destroyed, especially since all the people who witnessed it were his friends. I'm perfectly fine with that footage being destroyed."
"For a looooong time only 1 person was known to have footage of the entire first super bowl and flat-out refused to give it to NBC. To the point that NBC had to cobble together a tape from various other sources for the 50th anniversary."
Someone commented an article about a kickstarter to get the footage.
"I know DJ Mike Nice has the footage of the 'unrecognized' NWA Title change between Ric Flair and Jack Veneno in the Dominican Republic… probably not technically LOST but super rare."
Medieval manuscripts.
"Well maybe not in private collections, but as someone majoring in European Medieval History it kinda pains my hard that there are some beautifully illuminated manuscripts, that almost no one but the conservators will ever be able to lay their eyes upon. The Book of Hours of Jean de Berry bursting with life and colour, the Utrecht Psalter, the oldest & most valuable manuscript located within my country, dating back to the 830's and decorated with incredibly precise and lively pen drawings and so much more. You can check digital versions online, but to hold such a piece of history and art in your hands is another experience entirely."
"It amazed me when I visited the bayeux tapestry. The colour and condition of something coming up on 1000 years old. Some of the detail they put into those old manuscripts and tapestries are unbelievable."
"Dude I cried when I saw this old a** painting from el Greco. Like how can something soooo old survive. How am I seeing this painting. Same when I saw Van Gogh paintings."
"It's pretty important that people can't just come and handle it though. The only reason it's survived this long is because it has been handled extremely carefully. It probably won't be long before a technology comes along that makes current high definition digital images look outdated, just as they make black and white photographs look outdated."
- mordenty
Stradivarius violins.
"Few Stradivarius violins."
- Adonis_X
"I worked for a year for a big insurance company and I was helping an underwriter finalize some documents for a plan and it was this guy who had three of those violins."
"It's crazy to have even one, but three?!"
"Stradivarius cellos are even rarer than the violins. Knew a cellist who was loaned one for concerts. Bought 2 plane tickets whenever he traveled with it, one for the cello."
International drama.
"I work at a very fine auction house. I know where most of the European, Russian and ancient China art goes. And who bought what since WWII."
"I have no idea how much trouble I would get into, but I know of sales that would cause some international drama."
- Antieque
"See, we need a Wikileaks situation for this kind of stuff."
"A lot of very wealthy collectors have little trust in their relatives, so they grow a concern of what happens to their collections when they die. Some wants to sell them to other collectors in private auctions, some wants to sell them to the highest bidder and give the money to the family and/or donations. But they fear that their relatives with little knowledge of the collections value will do things they wouldn't approve of."
"When you sell something at auctions, there is a sellers commission, so wealthy collectors often negotiate with auction houses to sell their entire collections with lowered commission fee. This is where you see most crazy stuff, because you go to visit these people so see their collections with them and agree upon a deal. Some people have the most mind blowing stuff laying around. And some of them have very strict rules for whom they want to sell to and especially whom NOT to sell to."
"The classic examples are the very German sounding last names with art from earlier Nazi occupied nations. Dutch names with Malaysian art. British names with Egyptian, Chinese and Indian art. Religious leaders that buys and sells their own religions artifacts. Political party leaders that buys and sells things strict in opposition to their 'beliefs'. Royalty from all parts of the world buying the most random things."
"What makes me sad is, when people buy things that they collect with the intent of humiliation. Examples are anti-something people who buys things their 'enemies' loved to collect it as trophies. It is very difficult to mention a hypothetical example without sounding biased. Just like Hitler wanted to make a museum with artifacts of his enemies, all kinds of people do this to this day. Lots of people has middlemen as buyers to cover their tracks, but no one is stupid in this business."
- Antieque
"After today, the largest Triceratops skeleton ever discovered."
"It was sold to private collectors. Robbing scientists of the chance to take a look at the specimen."
"Ethics aside, f*ck that would be cool to have as a Halloween decoration lol."
"So not technically hidden anymore, but a few years ago the Vatican uncovered these chambers of rooms on their property that were intricately painted in a style of Western art that is entirely unique and was lost for the last 1000 years. You can probably picture the unique styles of a Roman mosaic, a medieval triptych, and a Renaissance painting--well, this was something completely different, a lost, orphaned branch of Western art that petered out and was accidentally sealed in a room for centuries."
"On my last tour there, the guides showed us this room and said basically, 'Hey we finally got around to cleaning these rooms, take a look around if you want. It represents a lost branch of Western art that exists nowhere else in time or space, if you're into that, whatever.'"
"I was blown away. It was delicate, colorful, more earnest and simple than most medieval art, lots of floral patterns, almost geometric. I wonder if it was never popularized because the Vatican at the time wanted a more brassy, imperialistic style. And there could be more lost artistic experiments like this, sealed off for centuries because the Vatican hasn't gotten around to de-cluttering yet..."
"The Vatican has a ton of historians and archeologists on staff because there's hundreds of rooms, most of them buried or in ruins under the soil, that still need to be explored and researched. Many of them are merely extensions of existing buildings that for one reason or another were walled off and forgotten at some point."
"The Vatican archives have all kinds of interesting stuff too, and they're working towards making a lot more of it publicly available. I'm amazed any of that stuff survived the multiple sackings of Rome."
- RealArby
Art collecting is definitely meant for the rich elite who pride themselves on having such incredible amounts of money. It's a shame that these incredible works are going to continue to circulate amongst those select few.
It's hard to think of it as even being art if no one is around to admire it.
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All of us have fears which some might call irrational.
Up to and including ghosts, witches, monsters.
But more often than not, reality can be far scarier than the supernatural.
And there are very few people indeed who don't have a memory of a moment when they were truly and genuinely scared.
And not by an otherworldly encounter, but by things that could quite literally happen to anyone.
Redditor GodhimselfUwU was curious to hear the scariest experiences people have lived through, leading them to ask:
"What’s the scariest non-supernatural thing that ever happened to you?"
Intruder
"I was 14, alone at my grandmas house around midnight."
"She was across the street at the bar she owned."
"I was playing games on her computer, about 15 feet from one of the windows facing the backyard."
"All of a sudden the glass from that window shatters, and I ran to one of the bedrooms."
"I can hear my name being called."
"Eventually I see my grandma's ex-boyfriend enter the living room where the computer is."
"He keeps saying my name."
"I’m scared sh*tless, but I walk out and confront him."
"He says my grandma stole his ID and that’s what he came for, as he’s taking money from my grandmas purse."
"He looks f*cked up on something."
"I forget how he leaves but when he does I call the bar and people come over looking for him."
"They didn’t find him."
"About a year later he did it again, and I was once again alone there."
"Except this time instead of breaking a window he decides to try to kick the side door in."
"I’m just there chilling when out of nowhere I hear the loudest bangs coming from the side of the house and I instantly knew what was happening."
"I immediately called the bar and they sent a bunch of people over before he could make it in."
"He apparently tried to jump from one of her sheds into the alley next to her house and broke his leg."
"He went to prison."- nfreshn
They're coming right for us!
"Two bison charging right toward me down a narrow wooded path in Yellowstone when I was 12."- pcc2
Uncomfortable in new surroundings.
"My sister has mental health issues."
"We were in a foreign country, driving across mountains on a one lane dirt road with no guardrails."
"She had a complete mental breakdown and threatened many times to drive off the edge."
"To this day, my mom swears my sister wouldn't have done it."
"All I say is, 'you weren't in the car'."
"'You have no idea'."- BlorengeJulius
Lost in the woods.
"Getting lost on 350 acres of woods in southeast Georgia."
"Was found about 6 hours later."
The dog found me hours before the people did.- No_Regrats_42
A near death experience.
"Was working as a linemen tasked to replace a 16m wooden power pole which requires climbing up to untie the lines from the isolators."
"I checked if the pole had any rot beforehand, climbed up, untied the lines, climbed down, as I was packing my tools up , the pole fell from its own."- LimaRadek
He wasn't who he claimed to be.
"A man claiming to be a meter reader was in our yard and tried the back door AFTER trying the front."
"It was unlocked because there was a field behind us and our gate had a lock, that he somehow got by."
"The meter reader man was nearly eaten by our Great Dane who was dumb and peaceful, except for when she laid eyes on him."
"Our other dog also wanted to kill him and he was up on our trampoline begging us to call the dogs off, which we, my then 11 year old sister and I, refused to do and went to get our dad, who worked from home."
"The guy escaped while we got our dad and my dad let the police know what happened."
"The real meter reader man came the next week."- Applesintheorchard
Had no idea what they were witnessing.
"I guess watching a loved one have a seizure when I didn’t understand what it was."
"Legit thought I witnessed a death."
"Scary stuff."- Peppapigisgodly
Always look both ways.
"I got hit by a car while in a crosswalk a few months back."
"Had a split second where I saw him coming and realized what was about to happen."
"I thought I was going to die."- jolalolalulu
Big Sister to the Rescue.
"Saved my sisters life."
"We were boating and my parents just kinda assumed we’d be ok with them only out a couple hundred feet."
"I was about 17 and she was about 7."
"I’m laying there chilling and see her slip and fall into the water and just straight up sink."
"Ran over, dove in and pulled her to shore."
"She spit up a bunch of water and was fine but that experience rocked me to my core."
"Not a super crazy story but almost seeing a sibling die has always stuck with me."
"I’ve broken almost every bone in my body, I died one time and was in a coma for a little bit but for some reason this one stuck with me."- Present-Trip5231
Often, an experience that left us scared does make for a good story down the line.
Though whether it was a good enough story to make having gone through the experience worth it, is debatable.
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Having to work for a living is hard work.
Some jobs come with difficulty and two extra sides of stress.
So the last thing people need is unwarranted hate.
I'm so glad I work from home. Writing alone.
I have issues with me, but that I can deal with.
I do hate internet issues.
But that is warranted.
Redditor PM_ME_URFOOD wanted to talk about the jobs where a ridiculous amount of vitriol is all part of a days work. They asked:
"What profession gets an unjustified amount of hate?"
Waiting tables was always the bane of my existence. Customers are rude. Staff is rude. It never ends.
Filthy Hours
"Trash men. They’re looked down on as dirty and uneducated, but they do a hard job that is absolutely critical to our public health."
kirkl3s
You're Out!
"Youth sports officials. I umpire baseball as a hobby and the way parents act is deplorable."
kennsing75
"The parents on the other hand deserve loads of hate sometimes. I was a coach for soccer and volleyball while I was in the Air Force. You would have loved to be a sports official for our leagues at our base. If a parent got sh**ty they are immediately ejected, no questions, and reported to whoever is their higher authority. It almost never happened."
DaniTheLovebug
Behind the Counter
"Any customer (client/patient) facing job. They get the abuse that stems from managements decisions, mistakes and incompetence."
HighlyOffensive10
"I did customer service for automotive companies at a call center for years. People get so unhinged, between dealerships, management, people calling into the wrong department, angry customers who were itching for a fight over a rental car. The job paid for five free therapy sessions a year, but honestly, it would take every ounce of restraint not to break some days."
"You aren't allowed to defend yourself or hang up, you can't transfer them to supervisors for a call, you technically work for a third party company that exists to keep the customer from ever actually speaking to the corporation. It was the worst job I've ever had, and that's coming from someone who used to work at a seafood processing plant."
Bromelia_and_Bismuth
I'm Hungry
"Food service. The workers have to eat too, you know."
stinky_cheese33
"Working fast food sucked. Not because the job was hard. But because people were *icks. For like, no reason. Working in an actual kitchen also sucked. Not because the work was hard, but because you never did it quick enough and your boss was a *ick for like no reason. But at least you didn't deal with customers."
thedankbank1021
Too much stress...
"Defense attorneys. People hate them because they defend violent criminals. However, as one lawyer put it, their job is not just to defend these people; their job is also to make sure that the cops did their job correctly."
TomoyoHoshijiro
I've always wondered about defense attorneys. How do they reconcile their morals?
They're Smart Too
"I live in Germany and currently in my (hopefully) last semester of university to become a pharmacist (4 years of university, one practical year and three exams of state required). A lot of people here think pharmacists are only cashiers and don’t know we get a scientific education. And God help me if I question a doctor's decision."
this_is_lune
Hard Hours
"I usually just lurk as a guest, but I made a Reddit account just for this. Cooks for public schools. They are constantly overworked, underpaid, and disrespected. Most schools have only a few ovens and microwaves, so school chefs have to either jam unsafe amounts of frozen food into ovens and microwaves, which is a giant fire hazard, or work non-stop from early morning."
Clingitty
Green Thumbed
"Plant breeders and plant geneticists. Imagine you're a plant nerd and you spend your life studying genetics so you can figure out how to improve food crops. Like, to make them yield more, taste better, be healthier, survive drought, etc. But on the internet, you're apparently trying to poison the world and control the food supply."
kjhvm
Heartless
"Veterinarians. My doctors CONSTANTLY get yelled at or called heartless when, for instance, we refer them to a hospital more suited to care for the animal than us. Like bro we didn't just tell you know we are giving you options and trying to ensure you seek the proper care. Don't call me a heartless b**tard for that crap."
Zfullz
No Fun Involved
"Janitors. Trash-related work. Sewage workers. Plumbing."'
SubiWhale
I feel for everyone in these jobs. They deserve better.
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Short of having a shopping addiction, no one actually likes spending money on stuff.
Why would you ever willingly give it away? It's your money!
Which might be why it feels so bad when you have to spend money of something that should be free from the beginning. People/ corporations are going to chase that cheddar, though, so there's little you can do besides complain, which frankly might be the best thing the internet is for.
Reddit user, woodside37, wanted to know what we should never have to pay for again when they asked:
"What should be free?"
Let's get these out of the way first...No, let's get this first one out of the way first.
Hidden fees are the worst.
Hidden. F***ing. Fees.
"Transaction/processing fees when you order a digital product online. Such as a concert ticket, where you pay 6 euro extra while you pay online, and have to print the ticket yourself."
rickmitchel
"Or processing fees to pay bills that you need. Duke energy charges a $7 processing fee for you to pay your energy bill. Like wtf."
CrispyCrunchyPoptart
Pay To Pee
"Public bathrooms! The amount of human piles of poop around because the homeless have no where to relieve themselves!"
AuntyMarcy
"Live in a very tourist-y part of the U.K., all public toilets charge and most cafes/pubs/libraries won’t let people use their toilets. As someone who lives here year round it’s really frustrating and doesn’t seem to make sense."
JonesNewport83
Want A Better Society? Educate Them.
"College. Or at the very least, college APPLICATIONS. If you're gonna require it for most careers, atleast make it accessible for people. And I just think it's stupid that people have to pay to get rejected."
callmeventibcimavent
"Oh god I hate that so much. Same with applying to apartments it’s such a waste of money if you don’t get approved. It racks up quickly too."
Kydra96
It does feel grimy when "official documentation" that is "mandatory" has to be bought and paid for not by the people requiring it, but by the people needing it.
Forcing Us To Pay For Something We're Forced To Have
"ID cards issued by the government. Especially since you need them for almost every aspect of daily living."
waqasnaseem07
"I. Exist."
"Birth certificates"
alexchico3
"I'm not the biggest fan of free stuf but having to pay for a piece of paper that says "I exist" is ridiculous."
Spaghetti-Evan1991
It'll never not feel bad having to pay for something we expect to be free, but it feels ten times worse when it's something you need to get by in life. As in, need to live.
Let's All Agree To Take Care Of Each Other
"All base needs up to a level. I mean stuff we need to survive, eg. power, water,... and things we are required to use to be relevant in daily life internet,..."
"Seeing how now power companies are fuel companies are having THE biggest profit in years while more and more families are pushed into bigger and bigger deths just to get by."
"Same goes for internet tbh, poor kids are just not getting by in school becasue they lack the basic stuff every other kid has to get further in life. I am not saying they need the fastest possible internet with unlimited dl, but give them so they can work for school so the vicious cycle can be broken."
Amelsander
We Need It More Than Anyone
"All mental health services. If you don’t have benefits or a VERY good paying job, they are unaffordable for how often most people really need them. At $120-160/ session even once a week is not affordable for most people these days"
pennylayne77
A Fine Line Between Need And Want
"Water"
selfishnerd77
"Drinking water, sure. But water is an expendable resource and it should honestly be more restricted when we think about cases like people watering their lawns."
I_Am_Become_Dream
Paying To Live
"Insulin. People are dying because of greedy pharmaceutical companies."
Astronimus123
"But We're 'Pro-Life'" - Jerks
"Birth control of all kinds."
"For anyone who b*tches about spending taxpayer money, I'd ask whether it costs more to provide condoms or to house prisoners."
AlexReynard
"Giving birth (In the us)"
z0k0n
"As a female US citizen the more I learn about the whole giving birth sh*t the less I want kids. My friend just had a baby, there were some complications. She is now paying off a 14k hospital bill! The lowest I have hears is 8k. 8k just to have a f-cking kid! For a country that is gung-ho about forcing women to have kids they have missed the mark completely."
Main-Yogurtcloset-82
Everyone is looking for their payout, and unfortunately sometimes we're the ones who have to give it to them, whether it makes sense or not.
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The worst part of having breasts is Florida.
I didn't even say large breasts. Just breasts, any breasts. Florida and breasts are mortal enemies sworn to battle one another into oblivion until the end of days.
In other states, you and your ladies can live a more peaceful life. Here in Florida, it's A Song of Sweat And Fire Ants.
Ever get tiny little jellyfish stuck under your side-boob? Happens here all the time.
Bikinis should come with a "Sand Lice, Your Titty Crease, And You" informational pamphlet.
Wanna jog? Hope you accounted for the fact that the air is soup and will chafe and cauterize your nipples.
Know what limits your field of vision, making you more likely to accidentally step on a snake and/or gator? Boobs.
Know what slows you down as you try to escape the angry reptile from the above paragraph? Also boobs.
Reddit user Saibotnl1 asked:
"What's the most negative thing about having boobs?"
Now take all this stuff they said sucked, and then put it inside of a steam oven filled with mosquitos. That's Florida.
And Florida is incompatibile with breasts.
Cardio Is Hardio
"I love them but running can be a nuisance even in a good sports bra."
- [Reddit]
"When I go to work, there is a woman that usually runs on the shoulder of the road. I gasp at how much her boobs bounce. Isn't that doing damage to tissue? Painful?"
- notanotherbreach
"Yes! I literally always hold mine when going up/down stairs so they dont bounce. Running is uncomfortable even with a good bra :/ "
- k_g94
"If it's a sports bra that holds you, it's so tight that it's impossible to get into or out of without a whole team of people like a pit crew."
"If you can comfortably get into it, it won't hold the girls for long."
"Cardio is just not worth all this."
-[Reddit]
"As a kid I wasn't fit enough for jump rope, but now that I'm older and have the big boobies it feels even more impossible to ever indulge in."
- PoiLethe
Literally In The Way
"They get in the way!!"
"Lately I've been getting frustrated with exercise. My personal trainer will say to hold something a certain way and I'll try but it's so uncomfortable because my boobs are completely in the way."
"She has small boobs so she doesn't account for them being in that space right in front of your chest."
- J09Lynn
"My English teacher in 10th grade was drinking water one day when a few drops landed on his shirt. He then complained about getting older and how he never stuck out far enough to get his shirt wet."
"I just sighed."
"4th grade. 4th grade is when I stuck out too much to avoid drips."
- wheredMyArmourGo
"So very much this."
"I refuse to do mountain climbers when my trainer suggests it, she started to get mad saying it's a great exercise. My retort was that I'd really rather not knee myself in the breasts as part of my workout."
"The lady has small boobs and replied that she had never thought of that!"
- Pauliester
Growing Pains
"Probably growing them."
"It hurts, and if you get big boobs young and quickly, it’s both physical and social agony."
"It hurts to grow them, first of all, your chest aches and bumping them against anything really hurts - and since they’re a sudden, large addition to your body, you’re ALWAYS bumping them on stuff."
"But the social aspect is worse."
"Your female family members comment on them slyly and smirk at your response."
"Your male friends look at you weird and you have to realize they see you as more sexual than girls with smaller chests, even though you literally cannot control this."
"Other girls can be nasty and jealous."
"Eventually I learned to manage all this and I like having breasts now; but from like 11-16 I was so frustrated and upset that I had developed them at all."
- Individual_Ad_7523
Two Volcanos
"The sweat and itch!"
"Also that they're like two volcanos, which isn't especially practical during summers or when you're a constantly hot temperatured person anyway."
- Queen-of-meme
"No matter what I try, the skin under my boobs never cools down!"
- Local_Masterpiece_
"Boob sweat is the bane of my existence when it's even a little bit hot outside - and sometimes even when it's not lol..."
- PleasuredMeatStick
"I hate the feeling of sweat on my boobs. I just put tissue between and underneath my boobs to hopefully absorb the sweat so it won’t start to itch and drip."
- LuckyBugHarley
Technological Advancements
"I STILL am not able to remove them after a long day. Why?!"
"Why can't I just set em aside for the night, all done. Why hasn't technology advanced to this possibility yet??"
- IAmNotLookingatYou
"Absolutely they would. The relief we would get ... oh my god it sounds divine."
"Maybe I wouldn’t be so b*tchy."
- Object_Prize
"I’d honestly probably only wear them for ren faire, and leave them at home the rest of the year."
- AbbyNormalKnits
Double Trouble
"The double standard of girls with small chests and big chests."
"If you have a big chest no matter what you wear or do it's sexual. But for girls with smaller chests they can get away with crop tops or v necks or even swim suits."
- BigBunsLittleBunbun
"Lol the bigger girls who spent their entire grade school years getting sent to the principal's office for breaking dress code will agree with you."
"Loose shirts will tent and billow up in the wind as you walk-- dress coded."
"Tight shirts that don't tent but cling to your chest-- dress coded."
"And don't even think about anything but a crew neckline, or you'll be dress coded again."
- cryptic-coyote
"Exactly!"
"I always got in trouble for wearing dresses in school, but skinny Minnie wearing something even worse gets by no problem just because she doesn't fill it out the way I do."
- APD2269
Expensive
"They're expensive."
"Bras are expensive and you need regular bras, sports bras, probably something special like a strapless or low back if you have a special occasion or something."
"And don't even get me started on women's healthcare ..."
- SailorSpoon11
"Stage 4 breast cancer patient here, and it costs me about an extra $5000/yr to stay alive if everything goes well."
- insertcaffeine
"I just stopped breastfeeding and none of my bras fit anymore."
"I’ve just been wearing sports bras every day because I don’t even know what cup size I am anymore and I don’t want to spend a fortune replacing all of my bras."
- kaytay3000
"Plus if you choose not to wear bras for any number of reasons, you’re treated as deviant or an acceptable target of inappropriate attentions."
- letsjumpintheocean
Getting Comfortable
"Laying on your stomach can be tricky."
- ChadweenaThundervag
"Laying on your back can be tricky as well."
"And on your side."
"Just laying in general with big boobs is a hassle."
- Skkaj225
"Am guy."
"However women in my life have found it difficult to get a decent back massage because of this. I've seen plenty of massage tables with head holes, but none with boob support..."
- DeluxeWafer
"Semi-suffocating yourself on the beach while trying to get some sun on your back is fun."
- Miikami
Either Or
"The fact that I look like a walking refrigerator if I wear a loose fitting top, as it billows shapelessly around my body in an odd fabric rectangle."
"But if I wear something form fitting, I look like a lady of the night and am treated as such."
- batchofbetterbutter
"OMG this !!"
"I feel like all my girlfriends around me have such a fashion sense and can wear things with such grace but I always look as you’ve described. Like either I look like a couch pillow or Jessica Rabbit."
"Sometimes I just want to cut them off honestly."
- octokisu
"Yeah I’ve been wanting a reduction since a was a teen because of the back pain and catcalling, and many people I know with a bigger chest feel the same way."
- didithedragon
"I had no idea women hated their boobs so much! It honestly is shining a light on an idea I have never thought of."
- Peter_the_pear
Attempted Murder
"They might try to kill me."
"Breast cancer runs in my family and I have to have my first mammogram this year at 36."
"My mom was negative for both BRCA genes but there are 6 others they’ve discovered since she had cancer that we haven’t been tested for."
"Insurance won’t cover me to test unless she tests positive for one."
- Outrageous-Proof4630
"Fun fun fun."
"My mom died from breast cancer at 46. I started getting mammograms at 34."
"Luckily, I took the BRCA test and was negative."
- lil_ho_on_da_prairie
It's Constant
"Constantly being sexualized."
"I’m the least sexual person but people assume I’m super sexual because of my body. And I hate it"
- Plus_Bison_7091
"Yup, I'm ace and I honestly just want them chopped off to be rid of the constant sexualization of my body."
"It makes me really uncomfortable."
- zapsquad
"My friend in elementary school had a condition where she went into puberty super early and had large breasts by 3rd grade."
"We would walk together to elementary school every morning and get cat called a lot, but we were too afraid to tell our parents because we thought they wouldn't let us walk together anymore."
"She would have teachers make comments about them."
"When we were older she talked about how insanely awful and alienating it made her feel growing up. Her younger sister had the same condition, but went on puberty blockers for it."
- gentlybeepingheart
Destroyed
"These pendulous bags of hell have destroyed my back."
"Even a decade after a reduction surgery, I remain in daily pain. And now as an added bonus they get to be misshapen, scarred horribly, and completely useless for raising a baby."
- Originalluff
"I didn’t realize how heavy they are until I got together with girl with big boobs and woooooow they are heavy!"
- I_love_pillows
"I got C cups in fifth grade and those f*ckers went all the way to G by senior year."
"My posture was/is awful and I've felt like an old woman since I was a teenager. I don't even want babies, so they're never actually gonna be useful either."
- Rozeline
See what I mean?
They're kind of awful once they hit a certain size, and that size is pretty much ANY size if you're in Florida.
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