Cleavage

Goblin, that's a rather splendid post!

Elderly person's historical viewpoint coming up. Regard it as a curiosity.
In the 70s some of us were trying to be taken seriously by a male-dominated establishment. Which many of them found difficult, because we were just women, and therefore had limited uses.
We wanted them to hear what we were saying and think about it, and many of us felt that wearing clothing that distracted their limited brainpower was shooting ourselves in the foot.
Attractive woman talking, possible communication. Add cleavage and their brains switched over. So many of us chose to avoid confusing the situation for the males.
Doesn't mean that it's relevant now, or that it was right then but it was what a lot of us did.
Think of it as me trying to teach Y6 maths with a flowerpot hat and clown makeup. Possible, but you have to fight the class being distracted whilst trying to make them understand and follow a complex series of ideas.
Don't know if that's helped or just poured fat on the fire.

I apologise for being flippant OP, my sentiment was correct, it was badly worded (though your counter was undignified). I still find your post wrong on so many levels, that I don't know where to start and still a bit ed by it. So I will bow out now.

Ta ra

dittany - I was actually thinking the same thing...thought thread maybe belongs in Chat or elsewhere.

Rofl at Blah! Though I doubt anything, even mucho cleaveage, could make Boris look more of a gibbering buffoon than he already is.

How exactly do people like him pull? Surely power can't be that powerful an attraction?

This is what always happens. Choufleur comes on and blames feminism because someone like Jibbet has come on to a thread and made statements with which most feminists would disagree.

I don't think the woman in the Boris Johnson interview is showing a large amount of cleavage. Having breast fed children for many years, many people have seen all of my breasts in public places, and I find it really difficult to empathise with people who find the sight of a bit of cleavage to be in any way something worth noticing or passing comment on.

I think the only way people are going to get over their really adolescent boy approach to breasts is if they see women breast feeding more frequently.

I just find it absurd that the woman in that Boris Johnson video who is really dressed quite demurely could be considered to be dressing dangerously. How very, very odd.

I can confirm that the cleavage on display at the Boris interview had absolutely no effect on the outcome, process or validity.

Hilarious thing to post in the Feminism topic

abouteve, I know what you mean about ample bosoms being different to dress. Sigh.

I'm amazed by the posters who are making the gigantic Olympian leap from "risky" to "rape". Wow. Impressive gymnastics, that! I took it as meaning that some 'vulnerable' people can take more of a shine to you than you may enjoy, IYKWIM, particularly if you're a doctor. It's like the therapist/ patient relationship - ripe territory for infatuation. Such encounters make me cringe with horror, and I'm sure that ALL medics, both male and female, are very aware of this.

err is the OP for real?

I want to be respected as a women even if I look like a woman. I shouldn't have to cover myself up to be respected. I have enormous tits but that doesn't mean that I am asking for it .

Have you now, jibbet? Well personally I am not going to scour the internet and spend hard-earned cash for something to make me acceptable to those who might faint at the sight of a couple of centimetres of cleavage. Turning on the TV, reading the papers or walking down the street must be such a strain.

Sorry, I am being sarcastic because I find this incredibly hard to stomach. IMO those who put the blame for rape and assault on clothing are doing rapists a favour. Rapists rape, clothes don't "get you raped". This is a pernicious rape myth and part of the reason that when women report a rape, instead of people giving them support, they ask "what were you wearing?".

Jibbet - you do know that women in Afghanistan and Saudi who couldn't be any more covered up, still suffer from rape, assault, harrassment etc? It's an illusion to think that wearing e.g. a high-necked shirt can keep you safe.

er, choufleur, I think feminists are usually the people arguing that women should be allowed to wear what they want without fear of assault or comment. So please don't let this put you off!

At least, I think of myself as a feminist and that's what I would say.

poor clinical knowledge,inappropriate professional manner,poor judgement all certainly compromise and distract colleagues. chosen attire doesnt usually.although the odd that bag those shoes may cross my mind (esp the males)

"the rampant male" indeed, you are implying all men are latent rapists. This is misandry.

I forgot - hormone changes affect breast size too, so something which is fairly "covering" three weeks of the month is, erm, not so for the fourth week.

I think that dressing "professionally" is much harder for women to achieve (in fact I started a thread in this section about it ages ago). In part this is to do with the kind of clothes that are made and sold IMO. Men don't have parts of their body that they would reveal on a night out (IYSWIM :o) that they would be considered "unprofessional" to reveal at work. So men's clothes (formal or informal - except shorts, but they're not exactly night out material) tend to cover up from the collarbone down to the feet, and at least the top of the arms. But women are expected to cover up their cleavage at work, but to "get it out" for evening events. Likewise short skirts are terribly bad in the office, but fine for a night out with colleagues. As a result women's clothes come in a huge variety of shapes, and it can be really hard - depending on fashion - to access affordable clothes of the type considered "professional". For example last autumn when I changed jobs and had to be smarter, the fashionable skirt length was bum-skimming, or longer but tight over the arse. As I had no wish to reveal my arse to my fellow commuters and co-workers, I had to scour the shops for literally days before I could find something marginally acceptable.

Anyway what I'm saying is that clothes that show off cleavage are available, in fact sometimes they are all that is available. It doesn't bother me in the least if a professional person has their cleavage on show. I'm not a 13 year old boy and am perfectly capable of keeping my hands and my eyes to myself.

yes.and...