Some days, you need a good laugh, and The Other McCain has a post up about how sexist dress codes prevent women from showing as much cleavage as possible.
The original post at Cassy Fiano is hilarious, as well as pointed. In a nutshell, a woman wore a blouse to work which exposed too much of her breasts. A supervisor sent her an e-mail, informing her that the shirt was too low-cut and that, in the future, she should either wear something else under it or not wear that piece of clothing to work. Embarrassing? Sure, but not particularly political.
Unless you're a feminist.
If you're a feminist, asking a woman not to expose her chest to the world is sexism. Why? Because only women have boobs. Or, as one commenter at feministing put it,
Ok, looking at this from a feminist perspective, first off, enforcing a dress code is only OK if it is enforced uniformly for all employees of any gender. Whatever men can/can’t reveal, the standards for women must be the same, and they must be clearly defined, like for example, “no one should wear any garment that exposes more than 2 inches of skin below the bottom edge of the collar bone.” Otherwise, you get cases like this of random enforcement delivered in passive-aggressive emails that say “you’re showing a little too much cleavage.”
That implies that some amount of cleavage is OK, but that there is a limit. So what is the amount? How do you measure that amount? It’s been arbitrarily defined by a supervisor, yet that standard has not been shared in this offensive email.
So what has happened is that this woman has been singled out and told that she is being held to a certain nebulous standard, one of being able to show some cleavage, but not “too much” cleavage. Thus, the reality of living in a perpetual state catch-22 (one of the patriarchy’s strongest tools) which is inherent to having a vagina is perpetuated on an individual, personal and physical level.
And that is why this is bad.
I hate to point this out to these people, but there was a time, in the not too distant past, where women didn't try to show their cleavage at work. It was considered unprofessional to hang out of one's clothing, and was distracting to men as well as women. And it was embarrassing. There was no "right" to wear whatever the hell one wanted at work. You wore either a uniform or avoided wearing the clothing included in the dress code (no shorts or flip-flops, for example).
But given that we are in a day and age where people (ok, specifically women) wear clothing that reveals as much of their tops, middles and bottoms as possible without being arrested (regardless of whether they actually fit into the clothing), employers probably do need to be more specific about how much cleavage is permissible. Is it ok to show everything but the nipple? The cresting of the breast? We could, of course, have a field day with the creation of such a dress code.
Or we could stick to laughing at feminists who think popping out of one's clothing at work is a sign of professionalism. I prefer laughing, so here's another comment:
I hate things like this. A lot of bigger women, pregnant or no, don’t have a choice: plus size clothing seems to assume “if you have it, flaunt it”. Which I don’t personally mind some of the time, but many people are uncomfortable doing.
Additionally, in some situations wrap shirts and v-necks which reveal cleavage would be considered unprofessional, or even slutty: I’ve gotten overt whistles from random strangers and warning “that looks a bit sleazy” comments from my own parents.
Women shouldn’t have to be subjected to that kind of judgement. Body does not = sexuality does not = character. But it’s particularly irritating when they have little else in the way of clothing to choose from.
Where do these people shop that they can't find non-revealing clothing? I shop at every place from Wal-Mart to Dillard's and Macy's. There are plenty of blouses that even plus size women don't have to pop out of. And if the neckline is low, there are things called camisoles that any woman can wear under the top so that they aren't showing everything nature intended. And there are safety pins.
My favorite comment, though, was this one:
Personally, I would retort that, "These are a part of MY BODY. They should not be found offensive or out of place. They are attached to me, therefore, they have to be in the workplace too!"
Additionally, "I didn’t sexualize them, this society did, and apparently YOU buy into that."
So, if a man walked into work wearing a pair of shorts that were so short his testicles were showing, would he be allowed to exclaim, "These are a part of MY BODY. They should not be found offensive or out of place. They are attached to me, therefore, they have to be in the workplace, too!" ? And if not, why not?
Nobody's telling women to leave their boobs at home. But you don't have to dress for work the same way you do when you go out with your friends. Most people figure this out by the time they're 21. Or as Cassy Fiano says,
This is yet another post that just goes to show the truth about what feminism really is. Feminists like to say they want equality and the same treatment for men, and they say they want to empower women, but at every turn, we see this kind of behavior. It’s a state of perpetual victimhood where anything that pisses her off makes the behavior SEXIST!!!, and therefore must be abolished. When you read feminist blogs long enough, you start to get the feeling that modern feminists are basically a bunch of spoiled brats. If everything is not exactly how they want it, even if it has nothing whatsoever to do with equality between women and men, they throw a temper tantrum. It’s like feminism for five-year-olds.
But hey, at least I learned something new today. Requiring a women to cover up her cleavage at work? SEXIST!!!
Welcome to the club, Cassy.
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