By Lucy Caulkett-
British journalist, Sonia Poulton, let women down on the ‘This Morning’ show by arguing in vain that women should be allowed to sunbathe topless.
In what should have been a pretty straightforward debate about whether women should be able to openly sunbathe in public with their boobs on display, Poulton presented a weak case for insisting that women and men be on equal footing when it comes to reveal their breasts openly as part of a liberal sunbathing. managed to cause a social media storm on Wednesday when hosts Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes found themselves in a heated boobs debate about whether women should be allowed to sunbathe topless in public.
Agreeing To disagree
Appearing on the daytime telly show, journalists Sonia Poulton looked out of her depths against Shona Sibary whose views on the topic was closer to common sense than what Poulton was suggesting.
Unless the debate was contrived, in which case Poulton had adopted the opposing view to sustain the debate, she seems to have reasoned like a stubborn narrow minded participant in a topic that really should not have been a debate. Poulton went as far as accusing host Eamonn Holmes of ‘living in the dark ages’ for believing it’s wrong for a women to be topless, but still be happy for a man to show off his chest. Poulton forgets that the issue of equality of treatment when it comes to gender rights cannot be applied the same way in every sense. If it could, we would be equally appalled when a man throw the first punch on a woman just because some women initiate violence on men. Or we wouldn’t think anymore of it if we saw a man fighting a woman as we would two women or two men fighting.
Women are expected to aware of their femininity, and the fact that too much revelation of their sexual organs can undermine the dignity that ought to accompany a woman’s image and carriage . A society in which women freely exposed themselves topless for the sake of sunbathing would lead to them being sexually objectivised more, and also contribute to a wider and more intense perversion of men. Women are less likely to stare perversely at topless men than men are of topless women, because the world of men as a whole are motivated by sexual gratification which they prioritise over meaningful and loving relationships. Poulton argued without enough wisdom in her delivery, exposing herself to easy criticism. As a journalist, more would have been expected of her.
Strictly Come Dancing star Ruth then delivered her own verdict on the subject saying: ‘I have no problem with women sunbathing topless, but if you’re in an enclosed space in a family resort with couples and children, men cannot help looking at women’s naked breasts, okay?’
She added: ‘If I was sunbathing and a woman was sunbathing topless very close to my family, Eamonn would either be feeling very awkward or trying to look away from her, or if he was looking, I would have an issue with it.’
Eventually, Shona Sibary asked Sonia to get her boobs live out on air, saying: ‘This is a family show, take your top off now and show your boobs. ‘It’s not ridiculous. If it’s natural and normal, do that.’ Poulton had no good response to that.