People of Cleavage

Much attention has been paid to Senator Hillary Clinton's cleavage since its July 18th debut during a speech about education televised on C-SPAN.

The Washington Post's fashion critic, Robin Givhan, touched off a firestorm when she compared Hillary's rather modest decolletage to a male politician appearing in public with his fly unzipped. Since then, several incisive writers including The Post's Ruth Marcus and Howard Kurtz and Judith Warner from The New York Times (The Cleavage Conundrum, subscription or fee required), as well as the Clinton campaign spokespeople, have weighed in. What does it mean to be a "person of cleavage" these days? Is too much attention paid to Hillary's appearance because she's female?

It once was political suicide for a woman to show cleavage in a business or political setting; A V-neck shirt suggested that you wanted to be remembered for your physique. (The assumption being you'd never be remembered for your brain or achievements if anyone saw an inch of your breasts). When I joined the working world in the 1980s, savvy women with a scintilla of ambition would never dress provocatively at work ("provocative" dress included bare legs in summer, shirts that showed skin below your collarbone or above your elbow, a skirt cut above your thigh, heels more than an inch.) Even in social settings, if a woman dressed daringly she was "asking for it" in other ways; a scantily clad woman who was hit on or sexually assaulted often unfairly and unfortunately received blame instead of justice.

I thought those days were gone.

I'm proudly pro-cleavage now. I'd love to see a national Cleavage Pride movement. Kind of like Gay Pride or Puerto Rican Day. Women in positions of authority across the country would display our God-given cleavage proudly to show how stupid this whole thing is and how wonderful having breasts can be. Imagine the parade we could have.

So what do you think? Do you hide or show cleavage when you dress for work? Has your own dress code changed over time, either because office standards have changed or you have changed? Do you think it is acceptable for Clinton and other prominent women to wear clothing that shows they have bodies as well as brains?

By Leslie Morgan Steiner |  July 30, 2007; 7:00 AM ET  | Category:  Moms in the News
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