Feminist Anna Brech says:

Ah, a quiet word.

It sounds so innocuous but really it’s just another way of making people feel shit about themselves – a channel for petty opinion that has little or no bearing on the matter at hand.

It’s an ugly fact of life that we judge each other on appearance, and it has a real impact in a business setting. Studies drive home the point with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer; women who wear make-up are considered more trustworthy, workers who hit the gym regularly get paid more - as do blondes - while their overweight colleagues lose out.

Historically, a woman wearing revealing clothing at work is thought to be a bad idea because it invites all the wrong attention and means you won’t get taken seriously.

However, recent research presents a more mixed picture. A 2011 study showed both men and women judge each other when skin is on show – but contrary to common assumption, this doesn’t mean we see the our lesser-clothed counterparts as mindless objects. Instead, our perception of them merely shifts and not in a bad way; we go from seeing them as primarily rational beings to more emotional and sensual ones.

Studies aside, your concern for your colleague is off-kilter for two reasons.

First, even if your judgement comes from a genuine place, what makes you think she can’t think for herself? She’s adult isn’t she? No doubt she knows exactly what impact her clothing has on other people and doesn’t care.

Secondly, you appear to be pandering to the concept of ‘the male gaze’ – i.e. you’re reading your colleague’s clothing as provocative because you’re viewing it through the eyes of a heterosexual male – and that is reductive and offensive, because you’re framing sexuality as a male construct. Your colleague’s choice of clothing may have nothing to do with turning men on, so why should she censor herself on the basis of it?

'My colleague's revealing clothes feel inappropriate and prompt catty comments. Should I warn her?'