Professional boobs?

Oh I'm sure you're wrong kitty!

Yeah I'm just talking waffle aren't I? Big boobs are just seen as sexual, end of.

I can vouch that not a lot go for tall, wonderfully legged busty women!! I tried hard though...

Personally I do think cleavage looks unprofessional - although Theresa May is a current role model for cleavage-at-work!

I agree that the size of the breasts should be immaterial, but there's no doubt that a flat-chested woman can wear a bit of a scoop neck without it looking sexualized, whereas someone with larger breasts might show upper breast and cleavage in the same top.

I think the same is true of chest hair, which is partly why wearing a tie looks more professional in a man.

I know there's an argument for saying that no clothing is sexual and it's all in the eye of the beholder, but what we wear does send certain messages and as a society we are trained in reading those messages.

Stock not stick!

Ok I'm off on a tangent here, don't shoot me! But having long good legs is quite a middle class lady thing and big boobs especially if you are petite is seen more in working class women. Studies that someone somewhere who I can't link to because I don't know who they are have shown that rich men go for taller slimmer women and poorer men go for petite busty women, not sure who goes for tall busty women, probably everyone.

Are legs showing seen as more acceptable because of this?
Rather than cleavage? A status thing? Yes I have had a glass of wine

This will also be why I can't get a rich man. I'm too fat and my legs are too short. Short sturdy irish peasant stick her. Good for carrying things though even though I'm short, just load me up and watch me go. Very useful in house moving me

What do you think?

It is no different to wearing a skirt that is too short or a man wearing trousers that are too tight or an unbuttoned shirt that shows his chest hair. No room for sexualised clothing in the work place unless you work in a strip club.

One thing that strikes me which is really sad, is that you said the person who complained has had a double mastectomy. I think you are going to have a big headache on your hands. It's not going to be good which ever way it goes.

A surprising amount of clothes have too low a neckline. If you are large you do not want to wear clothes with high tight necklines (they never fit anyway) so you end up trying to find necklines scooped just below the collar bone. But most of them are quite low. I never wear v necks now.

Also clothes which look fine standing in front of the mirror can gape unexpectedly when leaning forward over a meeting table.

Massive norks day supporter here! I have an emergency sewing kit in the car for nork-escape emergencies

Have a right mare keeping mine in place on occasion. I work in a male dominated industrial business - when I fully cover them up I apparently look dowdy or matronly. If I wear anything moderately feminine, I'm tarted up or told I'm trying to impress the boss I find it infuriating and demoralising that as an experienced health professional I'm largely judged on the amount of cleavage that I have on show, or if I've put make up on

I support massive norks day. Sometimes my G cups just like to escape. I’m always pinning the front of dresses.

I think I'd be favour of saying that workplaces just have to get over the fact some women have large breasts.

I totally understand the problem

When I was flat chested I could wear a V neck and not be accused of anything

now, I'm all right in the V neck while seated at a desk...reach under the desk to get trainers out for going home and suddenly I'm flashing people. I can see why it's unfair that clothing on one person is "revealing" and the same item on another is not. And that only applies to women....so I do think it's probably a sexist comment to make. not having a go at you OP, but I'm wondering how it works the other way - if a woman complained that her line manager had told her to stop wearing V necks but not said that to anyone else?

Here's a question, what would be considered too tight or revealing for a man? Can you tell me about a man who got disciplined because his trousers split when he bent over or because the buttons on his shirt were straining over his bellybutton. Or a man was sent home because his shorts were too short (rather than too casual)? We all know that has never happened because neither of those are actually considered tight or revealing. It's a definition determined by the male gaze on the female form.

There was a thread on S&B recently about the trouble with being hourglass shape and how men react to you predominantly as a sexual creature. We don't know if it was men or women who complain but I do suspect that a woman who had a smaller chest would not be criticised in this way. I also think any legal policy will not specify how many inches of flesh can be revealed.

What is your policy then?!

Women with smaller boobs definitely get away with wearing lower cut tops. I dress for warmth but have had a shirt button come undone accidentally and no-one blinked because it wasn't showing cleavage, whereas a woman with more average sized boobs would be.

That being said, I think there is a standard of dress at work which applies roughly to men and women - I'd definitely be more uncomfortable sat opposite a man with his chest out, than a woman with the same.

Sophia Loren proved that it isn’t only men who have a problem with this when she met Jayne Mansfield.