Boobs-N-Business

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Permalink Reply by Kathi Moore on August 27, 2009 at 8:55pm

Okay I admit I'm the one with the sweater on in my profile picture....but I am also a big advocate of "dress appropriately"...we do have a couple of people at work who are sporting unnecessary cleavage. Call me old-fashioned (go ahead...do it), but I just do not think its appropriate, any more than I think men in short sleeved shirts (other than polo) are a good thing! And don't even get me started on flip flops in the workplace!

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Permalink Reply by Erik Deckers on August 27, 2009 at 9:37pm

Very honestly, it's hard to take a woman like that seriously. The impression I get is that she doesn't have much in the way of talent or smarts, so she's relying on something else. Whether I'm right or wrong, that's my first impression.

It doesn't help that some business owners I know seem to make their hiring decision based on that criteria, and not the talent and smarts.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa Coors on August 27, 2009 at 9:53pm

I agree with Eirk

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Permalink Reply by Scott Emmett on August 28, 2009 at 4:20pm

I, too, will defer to Erik's comments as representative of my own. Well put, my friend.

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Permalink Reply by Erin Monahan on August 27, 2009 at 11:13pm

Hmm... This could give a whole new meaning to the term boob job. I remember the time we had an intern who seemed oblivious to the fact that her cleavage was disrupting the flow of our entire office. She was in her junior year at a prominent local university and her attire was a "Do" for a night in Broad Ripple, but a "Don't" for a day at the office. We ultimately had an intervention. Actually, several members of our staff elected one brave soul (a female colleague) to tell her the jig (or jiggle, as it were) was up. Their talk was professional and discreet.

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Permalink Reply by Michael R. on August 31, 2009 at 4:43pm

That post was awesome, Erin.

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Permalink Reply by asa blevins on August 28, 2009 at 2:41am

When I read the title with my eyes open its distracting, but when I read with my eyes closed... I read ever word fine…
To be honest boos are just a body part. I have a very attractive female friend who manages a bank. She acts and dresses extremely professional. She has this one male customer that has a thing for feet. To the “foot guy”, her wearing high heels are no different than a chick showing her boobage.

I think a woman is free to dress how she wants, but she needs to be aware of the negative consequence her outfits might bring.
Not everyone is going to be cool and level headed about having to work around women with boobage. Or even take what they say seriously
Most guys, myself included, are going to notice a woman not matter what she has on.

With that stated, Ladies if you got it… flaunt it. You got bills to pay.

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Permalink Reply by Annie Sever-Dimitri on August 28, 2009 at 7:09am

As I suspected--it does detract from a woman's abilities as a business professional. How often, I wonder, are women who display all assets given unfair advantages in the work place? Any thoughts on that? I always read about it, but haven't seen it in action.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Anderson-Henry on August 28, 2009 at 10:25am

Let's also turn it around, since someone else also alluded to it earlier: How often are women who happen to be attractive and/or well-endowed (but don't go out of their way to display said assets) overlooked in the work place because they're not taken as seriously as their peers? If memory serves, and it's been a few years, my organizational management studies in college showed that attractive women (a naturally subjective term, of course) are perceived to have the LEAST value in the workplace, below that of their counterparts of both genders, based solely on appearance.

It'd be interesting to get some honest responses regarding how often some professionals have thought "she got the job based on her looks/boobs/etc" without regard for said individual's qualifications and skillsets. I'd love to see some discussion on experiences Smoosiers have with had with appearance discrimination, as I happen to believe that it definitely "goes both ways."

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Permalink Reply by Casey Valiant on August 28, 2009 at 9:11am

It's a turn off. First impressions are of vital importance. If those are the assets you are trying to show off at a networking event, perhaps that's all you have to show off and my first impression of you is greatly lowered.

The only time I have ever seen mass cleavage be somewhat appropriate is at a recent event where I met three rather well endowed ladies who were obviously proud of their upgrades. It turns out they worked at a female owned breast augmentation clinic. So, yeah, they were showing off their business related goods.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Bucherl on August 28, 2009 at 9:24am

My manly impulse control is mentally forefront (so to speak) when speaking with a professional female colleague displaying her attractiveness in such a manner. Regardless of her intentions, I find myself: a) vainly avoiding downward glances; b) wondering if the attire is purposeful (strategic?) or not; c) wondering is she just caught my last "unprofessional" glance; and d) slightly embarrassed and frustrated (professionally) by my distraction.

Yes, yes, "sex sells" and some of us guys are more testosterone poisoned than others. That's beside the point. The unfortunate thing is that office climes remain guarded, so it's difficult to just say, "Hey Annie, nice sweater." and move on.

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Permalink Reply by Sage McGreen on August 28, 2009 at 10:08am

When the stock market drops, the neck lines plummet. Don't boobs make everyone feel better?
You may be right about how it affects a business image. I've never felt the need to expose my tatas for attention, except during mardi gras.

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