Some women embrace No Bra Day as a political statement while others prefer the comfort of discarding what they view as a restrictive, uncomfortable garment.

It was adapted by an anonymous individual who conceived of No Bra Day as a way to encourage women to enjoy being braless and to become knowledgeable about breast cancer symptoms.

[1] Brown found that many Canadian women who underwent a mastectomy due to breast cancer resisted undergoing reconstructive surgery.

[3] As of September 2018[update], the BRA Day event devoted to educating women about reconstructive surgery, and hosted by the Canadian Cancer Society, continued to be held across Canada.

In July that year, an anonymous individual using the name Anastasia Doughnuts conceived of No Bra Day and published the first website promoting the event.

[5][6][7] The first No Bra Day event was created by an anonymous internet user self-named "Anastasia Doughnuts" for July 9, 2011[5][8] and was observed on that date through 2013.

She was responding to her Helena, Montana high school principal's treatment of her friend Kaitlyn Juvik, who was summoned to the office because her bralessness had "disturbed" a male teacher.

[9] As of 2017 the day was observed by women in countries including New Zealand, Romania, Malaysia, Scotland, India, Ghana and the Netherlands.

[23] Some feminists who support the idea of using No Bra Day to raise awareness of breast cancer are concerned with the sexualization of the #nobraday hashtag in social media.

[32] The event does not directly raise money for cancer research or prevention, although individuals are in some cases encouraged to support such causes.

[34][35][36] The tabloid website TMZ posted an item about "Happy No Bra Day" with an image of Selena Gomez wearing a see-through top.