I hope you don’t mind me asking. But what is a binder? I see lots of guys and girls posting about them. But I don’t understand what they actually are or are for? When I ask people in person they laugh at me and don’t explain. And when I googled it all I could find was stationary.

glumshoe:

A binder is an item of clothing you wear under your shirt to compress your chest. Sometimes it’s for medical reasons, like after a surgery or for certain kinds of support, but they’re also used to give the appearance of a flat chest.

Binders are usually used by people who have boobs and don’t want them, but can’t/don’t want to get them cut off, like trans, genderfluid, agender, and nonbinary folks. 

They can cause damage if worn improperly or for too long, since they’re compressing the chest and can displace ribs, and it’s important for people currently growing to be very careful about wearing them. Some people use Ace bandages in place of them, but that can be dangerous due to improper distribution of pressure.

Most binders either look like a tight, short tank top or just a band of cloth, and they go around the chest/boob area. Boobs are squishy and are pretty easily smooshed flat/spread out to make them look flatter.