Male and I voted for “a little is okay no matter what”, and I do mean a little. Definitely less revealing than a daring cocktail dress, but moreso than a conservative one.
The closest equivalent for males that’s within the realm of possibilities these days is shorts, which I assume is equally distracting for both genders depending on its length, cut, and the wearer. I’d be okay with slightly above the knee shorts for both genders, no matter what profession, at least as far as distractions go.
I guess an equivalent for males would be sleeveless shirts, which are distracting not because they are sexual but because they expose underarm hair. If a male wore a sleeveless shirt, I wouldn’t be distracted by it if they shaved their armpits.
Now, all this doesn’t mean that I think a person of either gender dressed in shorts and a clean-shaven tank top would look professional, just that I don’t think the dress should be discouraged on distraction grounds, nor would I try to not frequent places that had such things. As opposed to very revealing dresses, which I would avoid if it happened all the time. (Of course, if she were in the top .1% in attractiveness I might frequent the place more but few people are attractive enough to overcome my awkwardness.)
Yeah, reading this thread it made me roll my eyes that defending a woman’s right to bare as much skin as she’d like is supposed to be the non-sexist response.
Anyway, I’m another woman who doesn’t think that any of the poll choices really fits my attitude. I feel like women should be able to reveal cleavage, as long as she doesn’t whine about people taking her less seriously, like I personally do people of either sex who show up to work in flip-flops. You’re an adult, you can wear what you want, but it’s childish to do what you want and then get upset that other people have opinions about it.
I think a lot of time could have been saved, if male Dopers, instead of participating in this thread, had just looked at themselves in the nearest mirror and been thoroughly ashamed.
Well, most respondents have not given their reasoning.
And if it was, for many, simply “I like seeing boobs,” that would not have to be sexist either, in itself. Sexual, yes, but for modern grown-ups that needn’t be the same thing.
Whereas you find constraining a woman’s choices, or denigrating her for her appearance, to be superior.
I hope you take your objection to the forklift driver rather than the object of distraction.
I have E cup boobs. They’re going to show themselves off in some manner no matter what I wear. I also sometimes allow a glimpse of bare ankle to show if I’m wearing cropped pants in the summer, but trust those around me to be able to control themselves.
Guess I could try out a burka? Seriously, they’re just boobs. I don’t believe that a person’s ability to catch a glance of mine impacts in any way on my professionalism.
I work in a fairly large complex full of engineers, scientists, technicians, and support staff.
It’s a very conservative atmosphere. Clean cut, business dress, short hair on men, no exposed tattoos. The female engineers & scientists all dress like nuns for the most part. They know they would not be taken seriously if they showed much skin, including cleavage.
Some of the female support staff are more… showy. The younger ones turn heads when they walk down the hall.
I believe the answer to the poll is highly correlated to whether you view the issue in terms of ideology (sexism, women’s autonomy etc.) versus practical reality.
I suspect the gender breakdown would be different between those answering the poll versus those actually posting (the latter tend to be more ideological).
Somehow most of humanity can go to the beach and not cause auto accidents or run into poles. I don’t see what the big deal is about the office. If someone is wearing attire appropriate for their profession then why the issue?
If it’s truly impossible for you, that it’s good that you don’t have to teach middle school and high school girls.
(Most of) the rest of us who do have somehow learned to keep our eyes on the paper, not down their shirts. Boobs are not absolute magnets. Yes, it takes a bit of work, but your eyes are trainable.
I’m not even sure what “some cleavage” means. It’s possible to pereceive the woman has breasts? That’s a hard one to hide. How far down is “cleavage”?
A person’s professional attire depends on the job. What would be kind of weird on a lawyer would be practically modest for a hostess in a trendy restaurant.
Not sure if there’s some subtle meaning to this that I missed. But it seems pretty obvious when people refer to “showing” cleavage that they’re referring to having something which is identifiably part of a woman’s breast uncovered. The fact that breast are hard to hide in the sense that their shape can be identifiable through clothing is not part of “showing cleavage”.
I don’t want to get into a nitty-gritty analysis of whether this or that photo is “showing cleavage”. I don’t see how the answer to that question would change anything as to this thread.
That said, I would note in general that ISTM that female executives who get highlighted in various magazines tend to dress less conservatively in such photos than ordinary business attire. But regardless, that’s neither here nor there.