Blog 9: Science Fair Proposal

1. Hypothesis: If a female bodied person properly binds their chest, then their chest measurement will be reduced by a measurable amount. 
2. Variables: The chest measurement before binding is the control. The binding materials are the independent variable. The chest measurement after binding is the dependent variable.
3. Relation to my EQ: Binding is a huge part of gender expression for a Female-to-Male transgender person. There is a lot of insecurity (dysphoria) in the person's body when it comes to trying to present yourself as male, but still having a female chest. For those FtMs that can't afford surgery on their chests, binding is really their only option.
4. Procedure: I'm going to be using three inexpensive binding methods - layering shirts, sports bras and ace bandages - and between 20-25 1participants. Before having them bind, I'm going to take their chest measurement for reference. I'm going to have them layer three shirts - a camisole, a t-shirt and a flannel shirt. Then, on the outside of the flannel, I'm going to measure their chest again. I'll repeat this process with the other three methods. After trying all three of the methods independently, I'll try them together. So, wearing a sports bra while layering, binding with the ace bandages while layering and wearing a sports bra and binding with a sports bra underneath - and measuring the chest after each method is properly applied. When this has been done and the measurements of the chest have been taken, I'm going to be taking a look into the make-up of each of the fabrics and why they're most effective. 

Materials:

• Science Journal
• 20-25 participants
• Instructions on properly binding with Ace bandages
• Ace bandages (different sizes/brands)
• Sports bras (properly fitting - ideally, this will be something they own already)
• Camisoles
• T-shirts (same brand, weight)
• Flannel shirts
• Tape measure

5. This is a Chemistry project.