AIBU to think that short skirts and cleavage are totally inappropriate professional dress?

[Shamwari22]

Following the recent shenanigans about Angela Rayner crossing and uncrossing her legs while wearing a mini-skirt to throw Boris Johnson off his stride ... And further back, I was cringing at Theresa May standing outside No 10 as she took office as PM, flashing her cleavage. I really think if women wish to be taken seriously in politics and the professions, that they should not flash the flesh. In parliament, men are expected to wear jacket and tie, so why should women not have similar professional dress guidelines?

Good examples for me are the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg and Emma Vardy wearing very structured suits and coats that do not distract at all from what they are saying.

women have tits and legs - if you struggle to take them seriously because of this the issue is yours!

Frankie Boyle ‘Theresa May once accidentally wore tan tights and had to deport her own legs’ 🤣 I don’t care if that isn’t even directly related to what you are saying as what you are saying is rubbish.

She is the BBC Correspondent for Ireland. If you Google her, you will see she wears what she likes outside work but not when she is reporting to camera.

@Goldijobsandthe3bears - I would still rather her than Priti Patel. Deporting refugees to Rwanda, a country with massive infringement of Human Rights.

I thought the Australian immigration policy was shocking - but as ever the UK has just stepped up and taken gold medal for

"Proposal designed to make me wish I was not a British subject and so had to be tangentially connected to this utterly racist shambles of a government".

*Oops sorry about the long link - I thought I had applied it to just the words "Google her"

I’ll tell him 😆 I’m sure he had some jokes about PP too.

@Shamwari22 - I think you did it okay? My link looks fine and just to the words.

Interesting link and see your point. She looks really professional in her blue wrap coat (I want one!) but rather different when off duty!

@Goldijobsandthe3bears - I'm sure Frankie Boyle does! He can be incisively spot on but he's the only comedian that I tend to come away from feeling rather depressed, not uplifted.

I'd rather have HIGNFY - which seems to cover the stories but without making the world feel utterly hopeless like Boyle does - Although I'm sure he would say something Scottish and pithy to that.

Not at all - I am just saying clothing for women AND men should be appropriate for the workplace. eg surely it's better for nurses to wear scrubs and non-slip shoes as they mostly do nowadays, than a knee-length, inflexible dress and pitty-pat shoes, as used to be more common?

:) phew! Thanks for letting me know. Yes Emma has two or three stunning coats I would love to own.

@Shamwari22

This is the level of 'flashing cleavage' that makes you cringe?!

YANBU.
This is nothing to do with blaming woman for sexual harassment, or going back to 50s values. It's just about appropriate dress for different situations.
If I had a meeting with a male bank manager to discuss an investment, I wouldn't want him to be wearing a skin tight vest top, Lycra shorts, sitting with his legs apart and sticking his crotch out. So why would it be OK for me to wear a tight top that barely covered my nipples, and a skirt that showed my pants?
If said bank manager wants to wear that outfit at the gym, that's fine. And if want to wear my outfit to the park, that's fine. Bit neither would be appropriate for a formal meeting. It's not about people being unable to control urges, it's about respect and taking a situation seriously.

@CorsicaDreaming Yes I can see why that would be, his ‘New world order’ programme is hilarious but upsetting in equal measure

But we are talking about cleavage, not barely covered nipples

You what?

I think business attire can include skirts and a little cleavage, if that's what a woman wants.

If you you will see the image you have shown looks rather different to when she (Theresa May) was standing at the podium. It's so great to see a woman reach the office of Prime Minister and I still think she would have looked more of a stateswoman without the boobs. She had a few much lower cut dresses she wore in the Commons as per the example shown upthread. Anyway, it looks like I'm in a minority and I am trying very hard to understand the opposite point of view (and failing!).

Hell yes!

I have this exact thought every time I see Boris on TV looking like he’s rolled out if a hedge backwards. Can you imagine the comments if Theresa May rocked up with her hair in that state?

I agree if you’ve got it flaunt it.

My boobs are big for my frame. I haven’t had surgery, that’s just how they are. I don’t go out of my way to ‘flaunt’ them (vile word) because I’m actually very conscious of them, but it’s actually very difficult to hide them without looking like a frump or mono-boob.

I can’t help having them and being this shape, and I am no less intelligent or professional because of them. And however much I cover up there are always men who like to stare at them. In my book that’s far more unprofessional that possessing breasts but somehow it’s nowhere near as frowned upon.

Fwiw I think TM looked great and wasn’t ‘flashing’ her cleavage, she simply had one. Commentary like this is simply another way to put women in their place and shame them simply for being.

I'd rather see Rayner's legs than a flabby, uncombed nincompoop. At least she had the decency to brush her hair before attending Parliament.

I still think she would have looked more of a stateswoman without the boobs So if she was a man? That seems to be the crux of your argument.
Women have breasts. Some of us have large breasts that it would be impossible to hide, even if we wanted to. That isn't flaunting, it's literally just existing in our bodies.
While I find arguments about professional or appropriate clothing bizarre - who decided these arbitrary rules like skirts an inch above the knee being fine, skirts three inches above the knee being an abomination - it's really difficult to see that what she's wearing there isn't completely 'appropriate'.
As PP have said, less time policing what women wear and more time policing men literally watching porn and sexually assaulting women in the same workplace would be a much better use of everyone's energy.

Macron with his shirt undone? I thought it was very silly behaviour. Just as it was the week before when he dressed up in camo like Ukraine's Zelenskyy.

Totally agree. Boris Johnson always looks like he has been dragged through a hedge backwards. Also inappropriate, but in his case a sign that he does not give a damn about anyone or anything (other than clinging onto power)

I don’t demand they cover their arms up in case im overcoming with lust and there is no fainting couch nearby

I’d hope not.

Just watched your video Op. I’m now quite concerned about myself as I appear to have lost my libido. I am not at all titillated by Theresa May, although I did make a point of acknowledging to myself that she has breasts and legs. I listen to her words and see a prime minister prime- ministering, albeit a prime minister with a heart of stone.

I wasn’t turned on or even distracted. But then again perhaps I’ve become desensitised to women possessing breasts and legs existing, and indeed working? I definitely have greater empathy for Neil Parish MP now. Obviously after years of being subjected to women in possession of breasts and legs existing they have become ubiquitous- women in the work place were a gateway drug for him if you will. No wonder he needed to turn to pornhub in the chamber.

So maybe you are in fact right? If women didn’t exist with breasts and legs and then chose to work then maybe sexism and misogyny would be a thing of the past.

Or maybe not.