AIBU to be bothered by the way female presenters dress?

[Justwrong68]

I was just watching Good Morning Britain and it seems ridiculous that the male presenters stick to their male uniform whereas the females, particularly Susanna and Kate wear very tight, colourful dresses that really emphasise their body shapes. The contrast is stark, I don’t understand it and it’s certainly distracting!

I think all the women on Breakfast TV are trained journalists and metorologists are they supposed to be "ugly/shapeless" to be taken seriously i@StopWindingBobStopWinding

if I had a figure like that and was on TV, I would want to look my best. I think they look lovely.

It is incongruous and a bit icky, male presenters all look so boring and 1980s corporate across all channels/news programmes whereas female presenters either have a bit more freedom (BBC) or have to follow some dress code that plays into the male fantasy/sexy secretary thing 🤢 (ITV aka tabloid telly).

Nope, I didn’t say that, did I? But the pool of talent is much wider than those you see on screen. So what do you think is the deciding factor in these particular women winning the roles? What do they all have in common, do you think?

Angela Rayner got so much misogyny over what she wore. Do you remember she got accused of flashing Boris Johnson when she wore a skirt in parliament. Who would want to flash him 🤢

Just thinking about your last sentence,

By that logic, only the most beautiful women would be presenters. They're not, are they. They're attractive and well turned out but they're the not the beauties of the age, so they can't have got the job on that alone.

In the same way, Kemi Badenoch and Angela Raynor dress much more flamboyantly than Keir Starmer. Do they have to do that because they have to look good, because no-one thinks they have brains?

Did Kemi only become the leader of The Opposition because she "looks good", and Angela Raynor in a position to become PM because she "looks good." Of course not. These women could dell many of their peers brains,

They don't have to dress the way they do because they can't get by on brains alone. They dress that way because they like to, they take pleasure in it. They're on show certainly in PMQ and I guess they want to dress that way.

They're not beauties of the age either, so I guess getting to where they got demanded some brains too.

Some women like dressing up. They like to look attractive. Nothing wrong with that, whether it's Jenny from the chip shop or the Leader of the Opposition.

I imagine Kemi would have got where she got if she had turned up in Boris Johnson's old suit! Or do you think she wouldn't.

Isn't that just the nature of the role, though? A bit like being a model.

Of course not. Being a journalist doesn't mean you’re a clothes horse! Being a model requires exactly that. Getting a journalism qualification doesn’t depend on your vital measurements, does it?

I sometimes think women are so desperate to perpetuate this stuff that the most fatuous arguments get trotted out. This one doesn’t do your critical thinking skills much credit.

Daytime TV, especially breakfast TV, seems to be stuck in a timewarp. It is literally those presenters and contestants of The Apprentice who still wear those dresses. Everyone else has moved on. Look at how much love Claudia W has been getting for her outfits - more modern and stylish and interesting and not a form-fitting dress to be seen.

But aren't the producers going to hire whoever gets them the most views? Putting on the onus on the viewers, rather than the person who hires the journalists.

Who still watches TV anyway? 😁😁😁

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By that score we’d still have bear baiting, page 3 and public hangings. I like to think we’ve evolved a bit.

No, I think you just don't want to admit that good looking people get more attention, and that's what this comes down to.

I agree re the difference in male v female outfits, but I don’t understand how you find a woman’s outfit distracting? Surely that just makes you part of the problem?

I also get annoyed by the female news presenters, hosts, interviewers etc who invariably wear very high heels. They are impractical, unhealthy and unnecessary.

Perhaps you need to work on redressing your social conditioning OP. Because if when you encounter a woman speaking you can't move past her appearance to concentrate on her words, an excellent job has been done on you. You may struggle initially because your ingrained sexism will automatically turn your attention to a woman's looks and clothing choices. However it's sonething that with work you can train yourself out of. Try very hard to listen to the women and if your attention wanders to her dress, force it back to where it should be.

I know mini skirts and tucking in the waist of your uniform skirts have always been a thing, but unless I've been missing something, they were nothing like the 'asses literally hanging out' nonsense I see now - not as school uniform.

Are you taking the piss? Stop policing women's dress choices.

That is a very odd take on my posts. I believe in meritocracy. The person who can do the best job gets the job. I don’t want my oncologist to be employed to fulfil the role because she looks good in a short skirt. I don’t want someone making decisions about my pension because they scrub up well and people find them attractive. Why are journalists different? Or do you apply this to everything in life? Ye gods.

No, it's not an odd take. You're questioning why good looking women get hired for televised roles while there's a "wider pool" out there.
Because they'll pull in more viewers. It's really that simple. It doesn't require any "critical thinking skills" 🙄

We're not talking about oncologists. We're talking about journalists on television.

I don’t think you’re understanding the points I have made upthread, but once more: I can see that is what happens. I am arguing for why I don’t believe it’s right.

I think they often also wear puffy blouses though it’s not always tight clothes
Nils Abbey though, buttoned up white shirt to the very top … and no tie … looks ridiculous!

And like I said, the onus is on the viewers.

And put their heads down.
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