I don’t think it’s appropriate to show cleavage in a corporate office, and I’ve often been told that I’m cleavage-shy. In addition to industry norms (ie., advertising versus banking, etc.) and personal style, it turns out that our own personal feelings about the amount of cleavage to display is also tied to cultural norms.
I picked this as my topic this week because in the past few weeks the magazine stands at my local stores have had busty women on the covers, but none were actually showing any cleavage. To me, this brilliantly showcases how in my culture, cleavage is so sexualized that women feel objectified easily if they opt to show it.
The cleavage issue is complicated since us busty women are always told to wear v-necks to appear more balanced. While that is absolutely true, it causes a dilemma if the body type is such that with even a medium v-neck there will be cleavage on show. For this reason some women, like me, prefer to cover the cleavage. Even though this might enhance the bust area, we prefer that over showing any cleavage.
We are quite a busty nation in general, but this is the way busts are mostly dressed in Finland’s media. I suppose if we would grow up seeing well respected women on adverts and magazine covers in cleavage revealing clothes, we might also choose to dress our busts in a different way. However, even Susanna Penttilä, ex Playboy model and now a boutique owner who often wears skimpy clothes, seldom reveals cleavage!
At a recent magazine cover shoot with her young rocker boyfriend, she was dressed rather modestly. I suppose this also might indicate that this is what women would rather see on women’s magazines here in Finland.
And one final example, an ex fitness model and now a tv-host for a weight loss program.
All these recent examples represent the major publications that are on every magazine stand aimed at women. Lads mags, on the other hand, are always tucked away at checkout. I’m sure there are more examples, but these were my wake up to one reason that I personally am cleavage shy and would never show cleavage in my office.
I find this interesting, as here in the US we are often told we have prudish, Puritan attitudes toward bodies, and that we should be more like Europeans, especially Scandinavians, who are presumably less repressed. And yet all our women’s mags have boobs aplenty all over the cover.
BTW I agree that cleavage in the office is never appropriate. I’m always mystified when women dress sexily and then get annoyed at men for looking at them.
You are right about the less repressed take on bodies up in the Nordics. That applies to nudity though, we have a no fuss attitude towards nudity because of our sauna culture, public pools etc. But when it comes to appropriate dressing to work or what is considered stylish, that is another matter and showing cleavage is not popular in any professional circles. Legs are more acceptable but somehow cleavage is not.
That’s funny how different things are in different countries. In Ukraine nobody actually cares. You can see a government clerk or accountant showing some cleavage, not because they want to look sexy, it is just not perceived as something out of ordinary (foreigners sometimes take open clothes, esp. in summer as sign of promiscuity, but actually some cleavage or short skirt by themselves mean nothing and because of poor state of air conditioning in many offices and its absence in public transportation and summer temperatures sometimes up to 100F people here are not strict about dress-code).