Am I being prudish, or do I have a point?

[AmIJustAPrude]

NC for this.

I've just sent the following email to a company I ordered underwear from:

I've just received my order confirmation and was quite shocked by the accompanying image. I don't want to screenshot it to resend, so hopefully you can work out the image I mean: it is of two women/girls lying on their fronts outside wearing black pants.

The woman (I hope) or girl on the left is very thin, which immediately made me assume she was a teenager. One of her breasts is clearly visible.

I'm not prudish about breasts at all, but it made me extremely uncomfortable to receive an image of what appears to be an almost-naked teenage girl. Given you also sell bras, it seems totally unnecessary for her to be completely topless.

I recommend you review the images you send out to your customers, as this has put me off using your company again.

As I say, I don't have an issue with breasts- I've breastfed in public many a time. It was mainly the fact that, based on her body shape, the woman/girl in the photo looks very young (post-pubescent, but pre-adult) and the exposed breast was completely unnecessary.

So what do you think: did I overreact?

You just have!

Maybe you should take another look. There is no breast in the picture.

And this is why you should never believe anything you read online. It's gone from a teenage girl with her nipples on show to quite clearly an adult woman with her elbows in the picture. People really need to think before they make complaints or post things online because it's stuff like this that spreads like wildfire because people are so guliable, and innocent people and businesses reputations end up damaged

It's insanity! OP even said: "a thin woman's body could easily be mistaken for that of a teenager."

You get plenty of 'fat' teenagers too, they come in all shapes and sizes because they are normal people. Close to half the kids at DS school are around the same size or bigger than me and I'm not overtly skinny at an average size 10-12.

Weight is in no way linked to age.

You need to get out more.

just her naked elboob

Are you joking? This entire post is fat shaming them!

Having been searching for an elbow bra for many years, I'm hoping OP's email will inspire the company to introduce this much needed product into their range.

I really don't understand how you got to the teenager assumption? It's a normal healthy sized woman, and teenagers can be overweight so why did you not guess that the plus size model could have been a teenager? There's nothing at all indicating either of their ages.

Stripe and Stare must be wondering why they’re getting so many hits.

I can see absolutely nothing wrong with any of the photos. It’s quite nice that they have a great cross section of ages and sizes.

Oh God. I was talking about my experience when I was much younger. Their rolls were on display when they talked crap about me (pure jealousy as they were overweight). Did I tell them to lose weight or comment on their body at the time they slim-shammed me? No.

Learn to contextualise.

I used to order suspender belts for my mother and she was quite a large lady. I would be inundated with links to sex sites. It became a joke but the pictures were quite awful.

I doubt their wondering op is the ceo.

I wish it was a clever marketing ploy! Unfortunately, I'm just stupid.

Yes, I'll share the photo now!

• [Pic has now been removed at OP's request as it was identifying]

Brilliant.

I'd be making a joke about arse and elbows.

😄

Why would you assume that? Women can also be the target of malicious accusations.

Well, Lucy 🤣 I still wonder where her actual boob is? But I can see why you thought what you did!

I'm not talking about whether or not you said it to their face, I'm saying your post now is fat shaming. "pure jealousy as they were overweight" just proves that- you know not all fat people are secretly desperate to be thin?

Anyway, I don't think it's unreasonable to be cautious about the sexualisation of women in marketing, OP.

Women struggle with this shit all the time. Being told to look a certain way, being told we look wrong, being told we should flaunt ourselves, being told we mustn't flaunt ourselves, being told we're wrong whatever we do or don't do.

No wonder we end up sensitised to it all and not sure to trust our own feelings.

sure they are not 😂

As I said, It was my experience many years ago. And yes, they were jealous because they targeted the slimmer women in the office and made inappropriate comments about the way we looked. Did I say bigger women want to become desperately thin? No.

I have this body type and was often called a boy growing up. In your defense, it does look like a boob at first!

tbf OP at least you're coming off as a good sport!

maybe you could send them a link to this thread and say, Yes I may have sent you a slightly mad initial email but look how many people who have previously never heard of your brand have been looking at it. Free marketing and all for the sake of one el-boob. Bear in mind that only, what, 1 in 10/1 in 100 people who see the thread actually comment so hundreds/thousands of MNers will have now heard of that brand.

Perhaps they'll send you some free stuff! Or, based on your 'reproduction' if you ever get sick of teaching you could offer your services as a graphic designer?

OP I know you've changed your username but because this is exactly the sort of thread that gets picked up by the DM maybe ask MN to remove your post with the picture and email confirmation as it shows your real first name? Meanwhile I am off to change mine to @ itsanelbownotanipple....

Maybe they just weren't nice people? That isn't the same as being jealous.

Assuming that all fat people secretly want to be thin (can't imagine what else mean by jealousy in this context?) is inherently fatphobic.

Anyway sorry to derail the OP's thread- the elbow is hilarious, thank you for that!