Stephanie Gemino Is Empowering People With BRCA Gene Mutations One Topless Video at a Time

06.10.2026, 17:45 allure.com

The inaugural season of Allure Perspectives will explore one of the most controversial and medically researched parts of a woman’s body: breasts. Through expert interviews, personal stories, and historical context, the podcast series, hosted by editor in chief Jessica Cruel, will examine how breasts intersect with beauty, health, identity, sexuality, and culture. In our final episode of the season, Cruel talks with Stephanie Germino, a creator and advocate who goes by the Thee Boobless Babe online. Germino shares the story behind her decision to get a preventative double mastectomy with an aesthetic flat closure, how being a “flatty” has changed her relationship with her body, and how she uses her platform to take up space for other people with the BRCA gene mutation. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts for new episodes every week.

Stephanie Germino, aka @theebooblessbabe, says her social media accounts are banned a lot. “I have had my account deleted so many times,” she tells host Jessica Cruel on Allure’s Perspectives podcast. “I have to send so many emails, cause so much ruckus to try to get my accounts back.” It seems that Germino’s topless photos and videos are what’s triggering the censorship, something she finds confusing since she doesn’t have the breasts, nipples, or areolas that usually go against platforms’ community guidelines.

A carrier of the BRCA mutation, which increases the likelihood of developing cancer, Germino opted for a preventative double mastectomy when she was 28. Instead of a breast reconstruction, she decided to become a “flatty,” meaning she got a procedure called an aesthetic flat closure (AFC) that creates a smooth, flat, nipple-free chest. “If a man can [go topless], why can’t I?” Germino says. “I have less than a man.”

Despite the bans, Germino has built a massive following online, where she makes a different type of ruckus to advocate for breast cancer awareness and bodily autonomy among patients. There, she’s found the growing community of “previvors,” people with a high genetic risk for cancer who have never been diagnosed with the disease. While some people don’t understand or agree with the decision to get a preventative mastectomy, Germino is confident she made the right choice. “I did this to be here long term for my son,” she says.

In the sixth episode of Perspectives, Germino talks about the three surgeries and two revisions she’s had since testing positive for BRCA, the types of reactions she gets online, how being a flatty has improved her relationship with her body, and why taking up space is crucial for her. Get a taste of the episode below, then listen to the full interview.

Germino says she experienced negative thoughts about her body, including her breasts, from a very young age. She recalls thinking, “Whenever I can, I’m gonna get my boobs done.” Her mother and aunt both tested positive for the BRCA mutation and opted to get preventative double mastectomies and hysterectomies when she was younger. Unlike Germino, they both got breast reconstructions after the surgeries. At the time, “I was very naive and ignorant and I…was like, ‘Ah, if you have this mutation, your insurance will pay for boobs,’” she says.

At the time, she thought a woman needed long hair and big boobs to be beautiful, largely due to traditional gender roles that were reinforced by people in her family. “It’s easy to stay in that cycle [of misogyny] if everybody has that same mindset,” Germino says.

Eventually, she realized that “femininity, womanhood, and your sexuality is not based off of what you look like.” Finding the flatty community on TikTok after testing positive for BRCA helped Germino realize implants weren’t actually what she wanted. “I pictured myself and how I would look [without breasts] and I’m like, ‘That’s it. That’s exactly what I’m gonna do,” she says.

Now, she feels happier in her body than ever. “Anytime I can take my shirt off, I do,” Germino says. “I absolutely love my chest.”

In addition to finding other people who’d opted for an AFC, Germino says having a supportive partner was invaluable to making a decision that was right for her. “I can’t tell you how many unfortunate stories people have shared with me about their whack-ass husbands and partners talking about how they didn’t marry a man,” Germino says. “It’s very unfortunate that that has any weight to your decision when it comes to your body.”

On the contrary, Germino says her partner, Diana, empowered her to go flat, saying “You’re doing a preventative, risk-reducing surgery … I will love you no matter what,” Germino recalls. That encouragement prompted Germino to ask herself, “Wait, why did you want implants in the first place?”

One thing Germino aims to get straight on her platform is the difference between top surgery and a mastectomy with an AFC. A lot of people, she says, assume she’s transgender and post hateful comments to her page because of it. “I’m not offended when people mistake me for trans,” she says. “I love my trans homies. I am only offended because they’re spewing hate.” So, she takes the opportunity for a little education.

The biggest difference, Germino says, is that with mastectomies, the surgeon “is trying to get as much breast tissue out of your chest to reduce the risk of cancer forming there.” With top surgery, “they may leave some breast tissue to create chest mounds.”

One thing they have in common beyond aesthetics: “Both are life-saving, risk-reducing surgeries,” Germino says.

Germino says that, in addition to being life-saving, her mastectomy and AFC were gender-affirming. When she told the surgeon doing her initial mastectomy that she wanted to be flat, she says he replied, “Don’t you want to be a whole woman?” Contrary to that doctor’s misconceptions, Germino says she feels even more feminine now than ever.

Now, Germino says her social media presence is all about giving other patients going through the same tough decision an example of someone who’s thriving after the procedure. Her goal is not to say that this is the best option for everyone, but just to make people who might not be thrilled about implants for whatever reason know that an AFC after a double mastectomy is an option. “My platform is about doing what you want, not what you think you should do to please others or society,” Germino says.

Women have told Germino her plan to empower others is working. “[People have told me] they were a little hesitant with going flat, but seeing my page has helped give them the confidence to know that they can still be sexy, they can still be beautiful,” she says. “And if you take even a second to go through any of my platform comments, you’ll see men are still throwing themselves left and right every day.”

To hear the full interview with Stephanie Germino—including her bodybuilding journey, how she talks to her son about BRCA risks, and more details on the five surgeries she’s had—listen to the episode below. (Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.)

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