For Miami Women, It’s in the Cup

Anna Marie Rodriguez can barely toss a Nerf on the beach, but the 28-year-old third-grade teacher packs the self-confidence of an NFL Hall of Fame quarterback.

“I would be down and so mad; I couldn’t fill anything,” Rodriguez says, giggling over wings and beer during a recent midday lunch in Aventura. “But look at me now, I’m like reborn. This is by far the best money I’ve ever spent.”

Passer-by after passer-by set their eyes on the corner stool of an outdoor table. The adequately proportioned and petite Rodriguez paid $4000 last summer for a breast augmentation that took her cup size from 32B to 34C. Sitting with friends and unabashedly exposed – though not difficult to see – she wasn’t wearing a bra.

“I don’t get cold feet anymore when I go to the mall,” said Rodriguez, who spent $500 on new bras – yes, she wears them occasionally – days after her surgery. “My [breasts] fit in anything.”

While her revelation isn’t cut for Disney, Rodriguez now fits firmly into a trend that would make any friendly bear want to cuddle: America’s rising average bra size.

Lingerie retailer Intimacy recently conducted a survey concluding the average bra size in the U.S. has risen from a more-than-plenty 34B in 1993 to a mouth-watering 36DD in 2013, while pointing to more bra sizes available for purchase and breast augmentation surgeries from coast-to-coast as key elements for the overall increase.

But while both factors go hand-in-hand, there’s a bit more to chew on for the recent spike.

‘In the male world boobs are huge,” Rodriguez says. “If I or any of the women in here were walking around with small breasts, there would be no reason to go and buy bras for one and two; we wouldn’t be getting too much attention.”

“I mean, take a look around you. How many women do you see with small [breasts]? So, bigger breasts obviously means more bra sizes… I don’t know a guy who doesn’t like bigger over smaller. ”

Ricardo Santo echoes Rodriguez’s sentiments, although he paid a steep price for it and has nothing to show other than occasionally being reminded there’s a 30-ish single mom walking Miami Beach with a new and improved bra size – thanks to him.

Two years ago, Santo, a West Palm Beach bartender, jetted to Colombia for a breast augmentation that left him $3,100 short, but instilled his girlfriend with the joy of going from a 32B to 34C. She piled up on plunging bikini tops and t-shirts. He was in heaven.

“They were absolutely perfect: perky and really firm. She could be wearing anything,” said Santo, who walked away from the two-year relationship because she wouldn’t commit to marriage. “I could barely take my eyes off her in public.”

Santo hears it from his friends – especially when they’re sitting around having drinks – but he would be open to doing the same thing if the opportunity presented itself again.

“I just love them,” said Santo. “I am a big [breasts] guy.”

But ironically, Rodriguez and Santo, though they’ve never met and were interviewed separately in venues with diverse demographics, share a common bond that readily exists, according to 26-year-old freelancer graphic designer Cindy Hutchins.

“After I got mine done — and to this day — it’s like wow, they look amazing,” Hutchins said. “I never got that from women before and my guess is they didn’t want to say anything when the subject would come up because they knew I wasn’t happy.”

Hutchins sports a 36D cup after having surgery in 2010.

“And my husband still talks about them when three years ago it was the last place on my body he would even touch.”

Law student and part-time trainer Melanie Gianfranco, 21, made it through high school and two years of college without giving her ‘normal-sized’ breasts much thought other than when in the middle of a session of girl talk.

“I was cool with what I had,” Gianfranco said. “My friends would be like, I feel great and whatever but I was fine.”

A former 32C, Gianfranco now sports a busty 34C bra size after undergoing breast surgery last summer.

“My boyfriend plays minor league (baseball) and when I started traveling with him I would see all these beautiful girls with great [breasts],” said Gianfranco. “It was kind of intimidating and more in that environment.”

A Miami cosmetic surgeon concurs that besides elevating the physical state of most women, it improves the emotional well-being of both genders – especially those in relationships.

“It’s a given that the woman is staring at herself a few more seconds in the mirror and probably can’t wait to put on the tank top or whatever,” said the Aventura-based surgeon.

“But it gives men a boost of confidence. Tell me, you’re not walking around feeling great knowing your wife is not wearing a bra, in a tight shirt and will be home when you get there? I don’t know anybody that wouldn’t. ”

Well doctor, meet Denise Colon.

It wasn’t long ago the 38-year-old Puerto Rican masseuse couldn’t get enough of her string bikini, kept a supply of fitted, Heat t-shirts in her drawer, and always slipped into strapless dresses on ‘date nights’.

“I loved them,” said Colon, a perky 34C after plunking down $3,300 in 2007. “I mean I thought I had the perfect [breasts].”

The feeling was mutual from her girlfriends to her ex-husband who constantly showered praise all over her chest, but Colon, who keeps a steady workout routine, started experiencing back pains that have gradually increased throughout the summer and derailed her ability to move around, even altering her sleeping habits.

“I’ve been checked out three times and there’s nothing wrong with me,” Colon said. “I just wouldn’t have had them done if I could do it all over again.”

Rodriguez feels some sympathy for Colon, but she wouldn’t change a thing.

“I would be the same miserable Anna Marie without them,” Rodriguez said. “I would definitely do it again if I had too, no question about it.”

Fernando Ruano Jr. (@wordbyfernie)