Jean-Denis Rouillon, a professor of sports science at Besançon university, has spent 15 years studying the anatomy of 330 women, and come to the conclusion that bras are a "false necessity". So, clever him and stupid women.

Except, wait. Rouillon isn't any kind of expert at all, because he doesn't have breasts. He reckons that "medically, physiologically, anatomically breasts gain no benefit from being denied gravity". But women don't wear bras for medical, physiological or anatomical reasons. We wear them for psychological, aesthetic and practical reasons. Bras stop our breasts from wobbling about in a Don't Forget for a Second You've Got Breasts manner, allowing us to forget them. Otherwise we'd be cupping them in our hands every time we broke into a trot to catch a lift.

Rouillon says that his research shows the nipples of women aged 18-35 rose by an average of 7mm when they went braless. He fails to understand that one of the many comforting things about bras is that you rarely have to think about where your nipples might be. Women are encouraged to fret about their breasts enough. The last thing we need is some fool telling us that we need to think about them, and their welfare, a great deal more.