The Way Women Dress on TV

“The eastEnders show a pp mentioned that dressed up a 14 year old girl in a skimpy dress is not on. What girls and children wear on tv really matters imo.”

It’s the 10 yr olds dressed in skimpy clothes that the real problem, so many mothers dress their young daughters a little clones of themselves, it’s awful.

I don’t care what women wear on tv as long as they are not told to wear cleavage bearing tops or other body baring clothes as a condition of their job.

It would hardly be written into their contract but I suspect it is rather expected of women to be glammed-up. Gone are the days of Sue Lawley, Angela Rippon etc wearing sensible suits and blouses - the equivalent of a man in a suit & tie.

Even Fatima Manji on Channel 4, who is a Muslim and covers her hair, wears striking glamorous clothes and full make-up.

Meanwhile all the guys are in plain suits.

Fashion dictates sadly. Old or young. Some people will always follow this blindly and this encourages older folk to be more comfortable with their skin showing.
I have a niece recently turned into a teen (13) her and her friends all dressed in November for an outing in trousers trainers and little more than bra tops.
So these are 12/13 year old girls to me yuk….to them they were delighted with them selves, I vaguely remember being this age and the peer pressure to be the same as everyone else and as fashionable as possible…………….

I wish I had the boobage to make a good cleavage, but nature thought differently. I sometimes used a dark concealer to help it along and create a shadow between them😁
I would only present it in the evenings however.

dogsmother I agree fads/fashions come and go.

We have moved on from the days when a glimpse of an ankle was risqué.

As long as women are not told to flash the flesh I respect their decisions to wear what they like as long as it does not infringe on them doing their job.

Thanks for your comments. I'm amazed at how many agree. Yes to the ladies who mentioned Bettany Hughes. Very good presenter but I feel like shouting at the TV cover your boobs up.

Honestly I think women should wear what they want to. And if it's a short skirt or a low cut top it's entirely up to them what they choose to display. As long as no one is dictating to them what is appropriate or making their careers dependant on their dress I can't see its anyone else's business
There are presenters who dress conservatively- Kirsty Wark for example.
Can't believe it's the generation that pioneered the mini skirt criticising women because of the way they dress!
As for the 14 year old that is how some teenagers dress, and a soap should have some connection with reality.

nanna8

My daughter works in a private school and they are not allowed to have open toed shoes, jeans, shorts and certainly no cleavage can be displayed. The open toed shoes bit is strange but I suppose it is because it is against school rules for the pupils and they want staff to set an example.

I think that the open toe shoe thing is a health and safety thing. Toes are very vulnerable in a busy classroom, especially if your foot happens to stray under a swinging child’s chair and then feels the full force of the chair leg 😱

I had the most awful head teacher once . She decided that casual, lace up trainer shoes were not allowed . Even the smart, Hotter type ones.
You know the practical type of footwear ideal for chasing after small kids, crawling about on the floor, getting out PE equipment etc. She originally said that if you had a medical reason you were exempt. When I provided evidence that I was exempt (Freiberg’s disease) she changed her mind, and I was not except.
Mean while she clomped around in these. Honestly

I agree Glorianny that women should wear what they want to, but most places of work have a dress code of some sort.

My school code excluded any kind of denim, strappy tops, skirts or tops that allowed underwear to be seen and more than two undone top buttons on mens' shirts. We were also advised against open-toed shoes/flip-flops for safety reasons.
We were reminded that we needed to make sure that all parents would feel comfortable speaking with us, so there was a need to dress modestly.

I'm not keen on cleavage or men's shirtless tops, but I worry more about the toweringly high thin heels most women wear on the TV.

Can’t believe it’s the generation that pioneered the mini skirt criticising women because of the way they dress

But somehow, a short skirt above a pair of shapely legs just looked attractive, youthful and sexy, but not in an in-your-face way.

Whereas a pair of boobs spilling out over a top just looks… tacky.

Perhaps it’s about time that we stopped sexualising our bodies

We don't sexualise our bodies. 'Nature' did that to us as it did to all other sexually reproducing animals. Plants too. Nature in the form of evolutionary development of what works in helping species survival.

In Egypt Bettany Hughes was at times wearing a long scarf which covered her much on display cleavage; other times the scarf was off. During one clip with no scarf the poor Egyptian chap didn't know where to look - it's inappropriate attire, IMO

Travelling solo in countries like Syria, Egypt and Morocco I usually wore an approximation of the local hijab because I did not want any attention. If you are dressed in western gear and walk out on your own (no matter how well covered you are) every head turns. I like to do my shopping without an audience.

I’m amazed that so many of us are not keen on seeing cleavage. I thought it was just me being rather more modest with the depth of my necklines. I’m a big crinkly and wrinkly now, but I’ve never felt comfortable with showing off half of my boobs. I just don’t like to see it. I notice even older women are showing off the boobs now - including Shirley Ballas on Strictly. She’s a very attractive woman and has nice smooth skin, but I wish she’d cover up a bit more. She doesn’t need to put so many goods in the shop window. My personal opinion, I know.

Benny Hill's comment on a woman showing an excessive cleavage: 'Her dumplings were boiling over'.

It’s the silly shoes that annoy me. Why would anyone wear heels so high they can barely walk, let alone run? Even quite intelligent people on TV do wear them, though.

I'm another one annoyed by over exposed cleavage - especially when visiting a country that regards that sort of display as a sign of immorality. Yes, I know in our culture it isn't but it's unhelpful to dress that way in a country that takes a different view.

I also agree about the very high-heeled shoes that seem to equate with "professional dress". I have long held the view that much of women's "fashion" is designed to make them less able to run away - high heels; very tight skirts or dresses; crinolines; all manner of historic costumes.
I keep feeling there's a dissertation to write on the subject but I never get round to it and I bet it's already been done.

This thread has reminded me of this painting, ‘The Ugly Duchess’

Yes Ailidh, also the daddy of them all - foot binding

Ooohh Fanny. Nasty pic. Looks like a politician but I can’t place which one exactly.

It is really quite difficult to dress in a manner that the OP and others would approve of if, like myself, a woman has large breasts. A high neckline emphasis the breasts, a v neckline, which can minimise, just has to be a few millimetres too deep and one can be accused of "flaunting ".
Men start cat calling from about age 12, and it is us who are blamed. We do not deliberately have large breasts in order to offend other women.

It must be tricky to keep your modesty with large breasts but I suppose the safest rule for all is not to flash the flesh too much. As others have said, there's a time and a place for exposing your torso (top and bottom) and I don't think the workplace is it.

If the ambient temperature allowed us all to be naked we would still paint our skins or wear ornaments that have meanings.

Obviously not everybody subscribes to the cult of sex; however sex remains a best seller for all the fashion houses and for the makers of street fashions. Sex is commercialised as sex sells clothing.

As many people can't be trusted to eschew sexual allusions in inappropriate places employers and schools need to make rules about clothing.

Men's clothing is made so men look powerful rather than sexy, and power is unfortunately the way of the world and is not a cult.

The right time and place. Plus a little self respect and less follow the herd.

GrannyGravy13

I feel very uncomfortable discussing people’s choice of clothes and footwear, whether they are male or female.

I am petite apart from my breasts which are constantly fighting to escape despite spending a fortune on bras and expensive no gape shirts and dresses.

Perhaps it’s about time that we stopped sexualising our bodies and applaud them for the fabulous jobs they do day to day.

I think you are my long lost twin GrannyGravy 😲and I completely agree with your post.

I agree with other posters who don't like to see too much flesh on TV, and also about these ridiculously high-heeled shoes that so many (female) presenters wear. When news readers were allowed to sit down they could have been wearing old bedroom slippers for all we knew, but now that they have to be standing up all the time (why??), are they being told that they have to wear these things which will cause damage to their hips and backs? IMO shoes like that just make them walk awkwardly and look silly, and as for running away from a fire or an attack, forget it!

While we're on the subject of clothing, why can't more women's clothes have decent pockets!!