By Judith Rasband, AICI CIM with Sarah Ward, Conselle Affiliate
Today we came across a website for a beautiful female businesswoman offering her services as an expert consultant. Her photograph included a plunging neckline that drew attention from her lovely face straight to her bust.
When positioning yourself as an expert in your field, bear this in mind:
The more skin you show the less authoritative you become.
By showing off your body in the workplace, you give away your “visual authority.” The cleavage becomes distracting from any point you want to make. To be respected in the business world, dress professionally and save the high hemlines and low necklines for after-hours.
By the way, natural cleavage doesn’t really look like this. This look screams “phony!” Is that really what you want to say about yourself?
Michelle King, vice president of a realty company, was interviewed by Pink Magazine on the cleavage crisis and was quoted as saying:
“I will not promote anyone who doesn’t dress appropriately. I consider it a factor in her decision-making skills.”
So when you get dressed in the morning ask yourself: Do I want to be taken seriously? Do I want to be a respected businesswoman in my field? Then do your career a favor and save the cleavage for after hours.
Copyright Judith Rasband and Conselle L.C. 2009
Judith Rasband is the Image Expert and would love to help you dress appropriately for the workplace! Visit www.conselle.com or call 801-224-1207 to learn more.
I agree and yet strongly disagree. Dress conservatively for interviews, yes. However, for a woman with a good body to really succeed in a man’s world she should look upon her curves as a tool capable of evening the playing field. Men will hang on every word uttered by an attractive woman. While ignoring if not ridiculing the same thing coming from her male counter part.
So dress conservative until you have the job or when you know you’ll be dealing with other women. Women who “don’t have the body for it” despise women who do. Just stating a FACT.
However, when giving a presentation or dealing with men, ATTRACTIVE SKIN IS POWER!
Thank you, Ian, for your feedback. Yes, we do have some differences in opinion!
There is certainly a time and a place for women to show off their curves. When women dress alluringly in the office, they cause unneccessary distractions in the workplace.
While I am not suggesting that women need to cover every inch of skin, it is important for professional women to exercise discretion.
I quote what one lady said , “The reality is that men are wired to react to female sexual displays. What they do about it is another story. Nevertheless, most women know very well that they do this to men by displaying their breasts. That is a good part of why women do it for the power it has to open doors and male wallets.
Well I’m teaching English to a class of adult students and one of the female students who has a beautiful figure and big gorgeous breasts comes into class wearing tight skimpy tops and tight pants which emphasize her breasts and her figure. She often asks me over to her desk with a question. She’s friendly to me and comes up to my desk to ask something . Is she teasing me ?she must know that it really turns me on. Or is she just being friendly -is she deliberately trying to turn me on for fun- I don’t know why she dresses like that in my class. I’ve been very helpful and nice to her with her English studies and this is how she repays me -sexually teasing me-Ladies what do you think?
Ross
From what you write, this adult woman knows exactly what she’s doing. Teasing? I’d say tempting, and exactly what you want to stay away from. As the instructor, you might even go so far as advising her that her appearance is inappropriate in a classroom or professional setting and is “distracting” from the purpose of education or business. Cleavage in the classroom and the office is totally inappropriate for the purpose of education or business.
Ms. Judith,
I am totally agree with your article that women doesn’t need to please men every second of their life by showing skin at work place, at market-everywhere. When woman has got the talent and brain to use it, why you need to show your body? Does man do it for you girls?-open up your eyes and stop complaining about men.
Try to prove your boldness not your beauty.It will prove itself without showing.
Deepika, I appreciate your thinking, good for me to know. It isn’t necessarily a matter of pleasing men, it’s distracting them at the office when they ought to be doing their best work. They don’t need distraction. It distracts the woman, too, taking even their attention away from work. Cleavage is after hours only.
I don’t think cleavage is ever appropriate in business or education settings, but I think it is completely inappropriate to tell that to an adult student. I also think people need to get over it. You see worse things on every magazine, TV channel, and film. Breasts are all around. Why are old ladies so scared of young women and their breasts? Welcome to the year 2010. The completely disgusted expressions and comments are completely uncalled for. Women should not display cleavage at work, and perhaps a higher up could tastefully mention the dress code or come up with a policy if it is making people uncomfortable.
Bottom line- Dress conservatively at work, but be proud of your breasts- they are not shameful!
Lee, you’re talking to a teacher here, university faculty. It is literally my job to alert the student to appearance that is distracting to the purpose of business and education. Now what the student does with that information, that’s entirely up to them, and they will reap the consequences.
You say “people need to get over it,” they can’t. In all situations, attention goes to contrast and cleavage creates contrast in line and shape on the chest. It is always going to draw attention to itself. And as one young man has written in publication, “it sets the mind racing.” Yes, we do see worse things, but just because we see worse things doesn’t mean we should accept “less worse” appearances that are equally distracting to the purpose of education, business, leadership, or worship. It doesn’t belong.
You say “breasts are all around,” and ask “why are old ladies so scared of young women and their breasts?” Scared? Not! They simply recognize from experience male distraction from what they ought to be doing. Why are men so fascinated? Because they don’t have them? Masses of fat for the purpose of milk production for child feeding? Big deal.
You’re exactly right with your conclusion that a “higher-up could tastefully mention the dress code or come up with a policy” that simply eliminates the distraction.
[…] The More Skin You Show, The Less Authoritative You Become January 2010 8 comments 4 […]
Im a man and I find it very distracting with women showing their cleavage in the office
Ross
Judith I wouldnt dare talk to my student who is dressing very sexy in my class – she might complain and I could lose my job
Ross
I need to find you the link to a recent study that suggests that the more revealing a woman’s dress, the less men see her as a person. Basically, men will view a scantily clad woman as an object instead of a whole person–she may have their attention, but is it actually effective? Yes, if her goal is to find a sexual partner; no, if her goal is to be competent and authoritative in the workplace. I much prefer men to view me as a whole person, look at my face, and pay attention to my contributions to the office. This is NOT, as some people would suggest, because I am insecure about my body or because I am not attractive. This IS because I honestly prefer to be seen as a person and not a sexual object.
Here it is. I couldn’t find a link to the paper, unfortunately: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090216-bikinis-women-men-objects.html