History Main / ACupAngst

* ''WebAnimation/HelluvaBoss'': While [[MurderInc I.M.P.]]'s melee expert Millie usually doesn't bring much attention to it (and her husband Moxxie certainly doesn't mind), she does imply a bit of envy for those of a curvier chest, as indicated after she [[RageBreakingPoint loses it]] at [[GuardianAngel C.H.E.R.U.B.]]'s [[BitchInSheepsClothing Keenie]], after C.H.E.R.U.B. once again interfered with their assassination contract. Along with calling Keenie out for her [[MoralMyopia hypocritical nature]] and [[FantasticRacism derision towards Imps]], she finishes up her trio of insults with "[[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking tit-having.]]"

Previous thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1567760209071248000

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* [[BerserkButton Getting offended]] (and sometimes [DisproportionateRetribution violent]]) when other people comment on the smallness of her breasts.

* [[BerserkButton Getting offended]] when other people comment on the smallness of her breasts. (Often resulting in [[DisproportionateRetribution excessive violence]])

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[[quoteright:300:[[Franchise/TouhouProject https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fnzo8o_4897.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:[[http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=4225304 If only I had a pair...]][[note]]Parody of [[https://cdn.donmai.us/original/4a/58/__yumi_onee_chan_no_te_wo_totte_drawn_by_aoki_kanji__4a5818f2e1dfc2082c7d039b7a8eff57.jpg this image.]][[/note]]]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=4225304 If only I had a pair...]][[note]]Parody of [[https://cdn.donmai.us/original/4a/58/__yumi_onee_chan_no_te_wo_totte_drawn_by_aoki_kanji__4a5818f2e1dfc2082c7d039b7a8eff57.jpg this image]].[[/note]]]]

* [[Wrestling/LisaMarieVaron HBIC]] switched her [[WrestlingDoesntPay second]] sport from body building to [[TheCheerLeader cheer leading]] in Ultimate Pro Wrestling because she didn't like how the combination of developed chest muscles, low body fat and regulated water intake necessary to win body building contests made her breasts look.[[/folder]]

* [[BerserkButton Getting offended]] when other people comment on the smallness of her breasts.

* Heather Foreman on ''WebOriginal/TheWarComms'' is one of the few A-cups over 13 in the entire cast and as a result feels ugly compared to the other girls. Inverted with Lucy, who thinks breasts are ugly and freaks out when other girls tell her that she'll have "big lumpy things on her chest" when she gets older.

** Rushia Uruha has this as a BerserkButton anytime someone cracks jokes about this, screaming "NOT PETTAN!" and that she's "boing boing." It doesn't help she's surrounded by other bustier girls like [[HotNurse Choco]], [[BoobsOfSteel Noel]] or [[DragonLady Coco]].

* In the 1982 comedy ''They Call Me Bruce?'', the title character goes to a massage parlour. As he's waiting in a hot tub, a beautiful masseuse enters and slips off her robe. Bruce exclaims that she is a "10", which she is quite pleased about until Bruce clarifies: "You are 10 where you should be 36." The woman looks embarrassed and sinks into the tub to hide her chest area.

* ''They Call Me Bruce?'': The title character comments on the fact that the nude woman sent to massage him has "breasts like a boy". She seems rather embarrassed by this.

* ''Film/BreakfastOnPluto'': Heroinne Kitten Braden, although she prefers to call herself a "svelte gamine", as she indignantly informs the peep show customer who complains about her lack of endowment. Although in Kitten's case, this is only to be expected, since she's a [[{{Transgender}} trans woman]] and not on any sort of hormone therapy.

Subtrope of AppearanceAngst. Contrast PetitePride for women who are small-breasted and proud. For "assets" on the other side of the spectrum, compare BigBreastPride and DCupDistress. See also BabyDontGotBack, for the similar reaction to another body part. For the SpearCounterpart, see MuscleAngst. UsefulNotes/AnimeFanspeak refers to this type of character as a "''UsefulNotes/{{Pettanko}}''" (roughly, "completely flat").

Subtrope of AppearanceAngst. Contrast PetitePride for women who are small-breasted and proud. For "assets" on the other side of the spectrum, compare BigBreastPride and DCupDistress. For the SpearCounterpart, see MuscleAngst. UsefulNotes/AnimeFanspeak refers to this type of character as a "''UsefulNotes/{{Pettanko}}''" (roughly, "completely flat").

* ''ComicBook/XMen'': ComicBook/{{Jubilee}} sometimes took this role back then, but she has gotten bigger as she grew up. In ''Generation X'', which focused on the younger and less well-known of Xavier's students, her modest figure was used to contrast her against the model-esque [[AlphaBitch Monet St. Croix]]. Sometimes Kitty Pryde takes this role, too. But much like Swift above, when Jubilee transitioned into the ''ComicBook/NewWarriors'' relaunch, she lost her mutant powers, but gained two cup sizes in the bargain. (Granted, she was 13-14 for most of her comic history.) [[http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5717/002b4g7c.jpg Entertainingly lampshaded]] in ''Uncanny X-Men'' #268 -- Jubilee is listening in to a conversation between Wolverine and the [[MostCommonSuperpower more commonly-endowed]] Psylocke and Black Widow. She glances up at the two women in their skintight costumes, peers down her vest to see how she matches up, and then drops her head in her hands with a frustrated expression.

[[caption-width-right:300:[[http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=4225304 If only I had a pair...]][[note]]Parody of [[http://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/70972 this image]].[[/note]]]]

[[quoteright:300:[[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fnzo8o_4897.jpg]]]]

* Averted in "Whenever, Wherever" by Music/{{Shakira}}, who doesn't mind her small chest size and in fact takes pride in it:
-->Lucky that my breasts are small and humble\\
So you don't confuse them with mountains

* Then, in ''Objection (Tango)'', Shakira oscillates between this trope and PetitePride:

[[folder:Real Life]]
* This angst is very common. Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} says that, according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, breast augmentation is the most commonly performed cosmetic surgical procedure in the United States. More than 300,000 ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_implant you read that right]]) were performed, only in 2007, only in the USA. Some of the pictures on the webpage are {{NSFW}}, some are pure {{Squick}}.
* The Thai government is concerned about nationwide A-Cup Angst that compels many women to go under the knife. In response, they have endorsed an alternative to breast enlargement surgery known as the "Thailand Breast Slap" said to enlarge feminine assets by one to four inches. [[AllMenArePerverts For those of you that would like to know,]] four inches of growth would enlarge small A-cups to full D-cups.
* When the Hands-free Boba Tea Challenge[[note]]the challenge was to drink a cup of boba tea balanced on your chest[[/note]] got trendy in Japan, this trope was naturally brought up.
* This Mexican fifteen-year-old girl [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19pmap7naC0 is crying about being A-Cup]].
* Gigi Edgley (Chiana on ''Series/{{Farscape}}'') is very small-breasted, though you perhaps wouldn't know it from looking at her in costume. In an extra on one of the ''Farscape'' [=DVDs=], she recounted telling her family about the makeup.
-->My dad was like, '''"How long does that makeup take?"''' About three and a half hours. '''"Oh, so they spend half an hour on your face and three hours on your tits?"''' Thanks, dad...
* [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001176/ Nicole Eggert]] got implants during her run on ''{{Series/Baywatch}}'', which she later revealed was due to her desire to "compete" with her co-star Creator/PamelaAnderson.
* Creator/NoraEphron wrote a humorous essay on having small breasts and her neurosis about it in the 1970 book "Wallflower at the Orgy" where she claimed that she was the only female working in the Kennedy White House that the president did not flirt with.
* Creator/SarahMichelleGellar, star of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', was for several years dogged by rumors that she'd had breast-enhancement surgery. Since even while nursing her children she was a C-cup at best, she found this amusing.
-->Seriously, if I'd paid for these, ''*pointing to her chest*'' don't you think I'd want them to look better?
* Dutch dancer and courtesan UsefulNotes/MataHari was reportedly self-conscious about her small bust and was rarely if ever seen topless.
* Creator/SalmaHayek suffered from this in her teens, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToQQorOYDy4 as she related]] on Creator/DavidLetterman's Late Show and then again [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwCUB5VisU0 years later]] on ''Series/TheGrahamNortonShow''.
* Pornstar Kitty Jung, pre-implants.
* Creator/KellyRipa often comments on her small breasts during the host chat segments on ''Live with Kelly and Ryan''.
[[/folder]]

While the trope is named after one of the smallest standard bra cup sizes[[note]]The actual meaning of these letters varies by manufacturer and country, and many people don't know that cup size is [[https://web.archive.org/web/20180222025433/http://www.brasizecalculator.tk/images/bandbustguide.jpg always relative to band size]], i.e. 38C is about the same volume as 30F[[/note]], for an AlliterativeName, the interesting thing is that a lady doesn't have to be "flat" or even remarkably small-chested in order to suffer from this anxiety. It's a state of mind that depends on what beauty ideal or peer group the character is comparing herself to, so even a girl or woman who fills a C-cup may feel inadequate in the presence of another who's an E-cup. Messages from the media, lack of self-esteem, or even just happening to associate with women who are bustier than average (sometimes the result of being the token average person in a WorldOfBuxom) can give a female character a distorted image of what counts as "small".

* Gigi Edgley (Chiana on ''Series/{{Farscape}}'') is very small-breasted, though you perhaps wouldn't know it from looking at her in costume. In an extra on one of the ''Farscape'' DVD's, she recounted telling her family about the makeup.

* ''Film/SpecialFemaleForce'': During the DesignatedGirlFight between one of the protagonists and the DarkActionGirl,
they both strip down to tank tops in the middle of the fight, and the heroine takes note that villainess is lacking in the chest area, which noticeably pisses her off.

-->'''Owens:''' You're bored with ''this?'' ''(cups her [[LingerieScene lacy bra]])''
-->'''Amanda:''' ''(pouting)'' Too small.
-->'''Owens:''' Bore me to death!

Contrast PetitePride for women who are small-breasted and proud. For "assets" on the other side of the spectrum, compare BigBreastPride and DCupDistress. For the SpearCounterpart, see MuscleAngst. UsefulNotes/AnimeFanspeak refers to this type of character as a "''UsefulNotes/{{Pettanko}}''" (roughly, "completely flat").