to wonder why the female co-presenter on Countdown has to dress like a stripper

[hamtastrophe]

Just that.

Is this 2013? Just utterly depressing.

"So someone whose name is hopeful92 because they are having a lot of problems in their pregnancy. And you change their name to hopeless."

• This is insane: people on here have all sorts of nicknames for all sorts of reasons.

I didn't say CB was unattractive for the record. I like her because she is very intelligent, very engaging, very warm and very credible

Hamtastrophe, "sexed up" is exactly right. That is just what it is. Fed fed fed fed fed fed up!!!!!!!!

Yep, Barry. My nickname doesn't mean I have sex with everyone I meet

I know AF I saw a post down thread.. I was aghast!

hopeful you are completely ridiculous to suggest that thisis should know what your username relates to. This is AIBU and you can't assume anyone here will know anything about your posts on other boards. Lots of women here who are not TTC, pregnant or even necessarily mothers.

I'm sorry to hear you are experiencing difficulties and also hope you are getting the help you need, but it is extremely out of order to put that on thisis. You owe her an apology and should probably steer clear of AIBU until you are on a more even keel.

Eek, I feel terrible. I don't want to upset anyone. It was childish of me.

I hope Mumsnet deletes soon.

(The rest of the post still stands though!)

"Basically, you have a contrived view that all women should cover up and dress like a frump just in case someone thinks they are beautiful."

Basically you haven't bothered to read any of my posts.

I was arguing, very early on in the thread, that women should feel free to wear exactly what they want, whether it's "frumpy, "sexy" or whatever. And that picking out one presenter and attacking her for what she wears is wrong, as is assuming she hasn't chosen her own clothes.

But you cannot deny that, in general, women are expected to look a certain way and are unlikely to go far if they don't fit that look.

As for why was I talking about presenters? Because it's an area in which there should be no discrepancy between men and women. There's no excuse for it. An unattractive man cannot present better than an unattractive woman. And yet you are highly unlikely to see an unattractive woman presenting (unless she is famous enough for something else).

You really shouldn't feel terrible (but yes of course you do, I would also). But how could you know - I am quite small and quite good IRL, it is all a cunning disguise ;)

Thisis Don't feel awful, they've already used their pregnancy as a reason why no one should disagree with them. I note that they failed to apologise for having a go at a disabled woman though. Seems that insults only work one way round.

Slightly different but I live movies and saw a few recently that when I looked at them realised they had about 10 men to every woman. Would love to see a breakdown of how many roles go to women and how many go to men. Know that the mie industry is run mainly by men but FGS women are about half the population, do we not watch movies?

It's a cunning plot on the part of the government to encourage older males who tune into afternoon tv to pop their clogs with a smile on their face not become a long-term drain on the penson pot.

Think of it as statefunded Dignitas service for geriatric males who can't be arsed to travel to Switzerland.

Oh come on you so called feminists. Are you really so niave to think that this presenter has not been persuaded to wear something to show her assets to boost ratings? I have not seen the show so I can't comment on her precise outfit. However, it almost feels as though we are moving backwards with feminism if an intelligent women has to get her tits out when she is on a show like this. It would be interesting to see what she wears in her everyday life and see whether this is her usual type of outfit or not.
We have a long way to go yet if someone like Mary Beard is criticised in the press for not conforming to some shit ideal of how a female presenter should look. I think there is some denial going on with some of you if you can't see that.

Begonia, have you come across the Bechdel Test:

1. It has to have at least two [named] women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man

I wouldn't seriously want to apply it because oviously there are some great guy only films (In Bruges was fab) but I find it a very useful way of thinking about how women are generally portrayed.

Have heard of it vaguely. I do like action, Scifi thriller type movies though so that probably makes it seem that women are few and far between. Saw TDKR and The Bourne Legacy, Lord Of The Rings recently. Men, men, men with a small dash of very attractive ladies. Women actors must get seriously pissed off. Saw Elizabeth last night, some very strong female roles but still mostly men which I'll forgive as historically they had more power and would have been more present.

And Ripley was my hero, loved those movies. Was so great to see a strong intelligent woman where sex and attractiveness were not important to the plot.

Mumsnet used to be somewhere you could voice an opinion without getting personal attacks and people ganging up on you. Obviously this is no longer the case.

Regardless of the context of my nickname (agreed that it is unfair to expect you to know what it means in this patricular thread), my name was still changed to "hopeless" which is indeed a personal insult. If I changed your name to something insulting I don't think you would like it very much.

Believe it or not, not all women are feminists and should be allowed to voice this opinion as much as the rest of you.

hopeful I never referred to anyone dressing like a stripper I do not agree with this I said I get the point the op is making

would Rachel off countdown got the job if she was not so attractive I would like t think yes but looking at the vast majority of women presenters on tv it is unlikely they have to conform this is what I think is wrong. The women on your list are not presenters yet because of the way they look no matter what experience they have they are constantly ridiculed for how they look. You made the ugly list sadly I know these women have been called fat, ugly so on

I've read your posts, you were one of the worst on this thread for dishing out insults though have to admit moaning about someone changing your name to hopeless whilst you actually accidentally called yourself hopefuk was quite funny.

So, hopeful, it's ok then to cast aspersions on other people's relationships then ?

"Mumsnet used to be somewhere you could voice an opinion without getting personal attacks and people ganging up on you"

So practice what you preach. You can't complain about comments about you if you are happy to make nasty comments about others.

Also, well done on steering the subject away from valid points that you can't find an argument against.

Guys, give her a break, I think she's got frustrated 'cause no one would let her make her point. I think you both have valid point and have all been out of order dishing insults, but to call the poor girl hopeless was a tad to far.

It shows how very narrow minded, the feminists are when all they can do is sling insults to make a point.

Shows a lack of self control and intelligence.

Hopeful I wish you all the best, ypu will never get through to the block heads on here

I agree MrsBucket!!

You know, this world can be really depressing with wars and stuff, it's nice to have a pretty girl in pretty clothes to look at and cheer us all up!!

We don't just want middle-aged men telling us all the depressing news, we need something nice to look at as well. And if we have to hear that the weather is just simply awful, I'd rather be told by a sweet young lady who's made an effort with her appearance and knows how to present her assets well, than some dried up jealous old harridan!!!!!!!