Cleavage

[jibbet]

Call me a Prude, Old-fashioned, Whatever (I'm sure some will!) but watching the Boris Johnson interview I noted with some queasiness the deep cleavage revealed by one of the mumsnet interviewers.

It irritates me intensely to see women in professional situations, e.g. Jackie Smith in Parliament, or my locum GP, revealing inches of titillating cleavage. For a young female doctor to be flashing breasts while in consultation in a small room with male patients strikes me as risky. In these business situations, men are still required to be covered from neck to toe in sober suiting and restrictive collar and tie, surely women should also sport sober attire?

Such displays undermine credibility, compromise respect and distract colleagues - some might get the wrong idea.
Maybe some women want that?

Have you now, jibbet? Well personally I am not going to scour the internet and spend hard-earned cash for something to make me acceptable to those who might faint at the sight of a couple of centimetres of cleavage. Turning on the TV, reading the papers or walking down the street must be such a strain.

Sorry, I am being sarcastic because I find this incredibly hard to stomach. IMO those who put the blame for rape and assault on clothing are doing rapists a favour. Rapists rape, clothes don't "get you raped". This is a pernicious rape myth and part of the reason that when women report a rape, instead of people giving them support, they ask "what were you wearing?".

Jibbet - you do know that women in Afghanistan and Saudi who couldn't be any more covered up, still suffer from rape, assault, harrassment etc? It's an illusion to think that wearing e.g. a high-necked shirt can keep you safe.

Elephants,
Though a feminist of the first rank in terms of demanding equality and respect, there are many degrees and varieties of feminism/feminists, some of which I might think extreme, ridiculous and counterproductive to the cause.

I want to be respected as a women even if I look like a woman. I shouldn't have to cover myself up to be respected. I have enormous tits but that doesn't mean that I am asking for it .

err is the OP for real?

I'm sorry Elephant that you have such difficulty clothing yourself. I'm lucky to have never found it much of a problem.
In my line of work I can just throw on any old thing. As I grow older, I increasingly enjoy the freedom of actually not caring very much what people think of me - especially not my outer appearance.

I agree the situation for women in most 'developing' countries is really really terrible and I wish there were more we could do about this. But men still rule the world and they don't seem to care very much.
As for being safe in this country, the better you protect yourself the better your chances.

err is Climber really a chick?

abouteve, I know what you mean about ample bosoms being different to dress. Sigh.

I'm amazed by the posters who are making the gigantic Olympian leap from "risky" to "rape". Wow. Impressive gymnastics, that! I took it as meaning that some 'vulnerable' people can take more of a shine to you than you may enjoy, IYKWIM, particularly if you're a doctor. It's like the therapist/ patient relationship - ripe territory for infatuation. Such encounters make me cringe with horror, and I'm sure that ALL medics, both male and female, are very aware of this.

I can confirm that the cleavage on display at the Boris interview had absolutely no effect on the outcome, process or validity.

Hilarious thing to post in the Feminism topic

Delighted that Lady Blah got a laugh - we need more of that. I'm sure Boris enjoyed the display of female attributes. His reputation goes before them

This is what always happens. Choufleur comes on and blames feminism because someone like Jibbet has come on to a thread and made statements with which most feminists would disagree.

I don't think the woman in the Boris Johnson interview is showing a large amount of cleavage. Having breast fed children for many years, many people have seen all of my breasts in public places, and I find it really difficult to empathise with people who find the sight of a bit of cleavage to be in any way something worth noticing or passing comment on.

I think the only way people are going to get over their really adolescent boy approach to breasts is if they see women breast feeding more frequently.

I just find it absurd that the woman in that Boris Johnson video who is really dressed quite demurely could be considered to be dressing dangerously. How very, very odd.

dittany - I was actually thinking the same thing...thought thread maybe belongs in Chat or elsewhere.

Rofl at Blah! Though I doubt anything, even mucho cleaveage, could make Boris look more of a gibbering buffoon than he already is.

How exactly do people like him pull? Surely power can't be that powerful an attraction?

I apologise for being flippant OP, my sentiment was correct, it was badly worded (though your counter was undignified). I still find your post wrong on so many levels, that I don't know where to start and still a bit ed by it. So I will bow out now.

Ta ra

Elderly person's historical viewpoint coming up. Regard it as a curiosity.
In the 70s some of us were trying to be taken seriously by a male-dominated establishment. Which many of them found difficult, because we were just women, and therefore had limited uses.
We wanted them to hear what we were saying and think about it, and many of us felt that wearing clothing that distracted their limited brainpower was shooting ourselves in the foot.
Attractive woman talking, possible communication. Add cleavage and their brains switched over. So many of us chose to avoid confusing the situation for the males.
Doesn't mean that it's relevant now, or that it was right then but it was what a lot of us did.
Think of it as me trying to teach Y6 maths with a flowerpot hat and clown makeup. Possible, but you have to fight the class being distracted whilst trying to make them understand and follow a complex series of ideas.
Don't know if that's helped or just poured fat on the fire.

Goblin, that's a rather splendid post!

Speedy - there is something about him. Possibly simply 'GSOH'

I do actually get what Goblin is saying. I very rarely display cleavage. I can't be bothered with The Gaze

That is wrong though.

You know, even when I was an A cup (i.e. Before Breastfeeding) I still got The Gaze from men who were clearly stuck in Adolescent SchoolBoy mode. Ugh. If that happened to me today I'd like to think I'd slap them.

Bla - re Boris, I just can't see it.

Cleavage makes you queasy? For real?

well vanessa feltz does gies me wet boak.i had put it down to her faux indignation,maybe its the gargantuan chest afterall

rofl at "wet boak"! You are priceless, scotmum!

"I don't come on the feminism threads very often and this is why."

ROFL. What a liar. The reason you don't come on to the feminist threads v. often, is because you are not a feminist and therefore presumably have no interest in them. I imagine you occasionally come on to random threads in the feminist section purely and simply to inform us all that you don't come on that often and that particular random thread is why. There's always a bit of that...

I am that people even notice cleavage this much. Does chest hair also cause nausea? (I'm thinking of chest hair on men, but whatever really)