A Labor frontbencher who has faced social media abuse for wearing an off-the-shoulder dress in the Commons has said she will wear the outfit again.
The trolling began on Monday night, when one Twitter user shared a photo of Tracy Brabin MP wearing the outfit and asked: “Is this really appropriate attire for parliament?”.
The post gained more than 3, 728, comments, including one asking her to “put some clothes on love” and others saying she looked “drunk”, “classless” and like a “slapper”.
Ms Brabin hit back, tweeting that she was not “a slag, hungover, a tart, about to breastfeed, a slapper, drunk, just been banged over a wheelie bin” – a tweet that also attracted thousands of replies .
Now, she’s given the cold shoulder to suggestions that she should change her fashion choices.
Speaking on Sky’s Sarah-Jane Mee, Ms Brabin called criticism of the dress “everyday sexism”.
“I wore it yesterday, I’ll wear it again,” she said.
“Whilst I can brush [these comments] off as sometimes part of the job, I think it was really important that I could call it out because there are women across the country and world in work who have to put up with this sort of judgement every day of the week – and certainly, young women who are subject to the male gaze and men feeling very free to comment on what they’re wearing and how they look. “
She said it seemed common practice that “the only way to have a go” at “a powerful woman speaking with authority” was to judge her looks.
When Mee noted how male politicians including
Boris Johnson , Jeremy Corbyn and Dominic Cummings often faced criticism for their appearances, Ms Brabin said this was about “more than looking scruffy”.
“It’s about being sexualized – and a lot of the comments were sexualized – and that’s where it steps over the line , “she said.
(Looks like she just got in from a night out – Stormin Norman ✊🏻4🦊🏴🇬🇧🇮🇱🇺🇸 (@NormanSufrin) (February 4,
“That sort of language is derogatory, it’s demeaning.”
“I’m a representative of my constituency, of women who want to wear what they choose, and it’s the sexualization of it that is troubling. “
:: Listen to the Sophy Ridge on Sunday podcast on (Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , , Spreaker
The MP also took aim at how “social media is full of people who can be quite anonymous and … use politicians as a punching bag “, adding that female MPs faced” high levels of abuse “over Brexit, which” obviously hasn’t gone away “.
She said the debate focusing on women’s outfits took attention away from the important issues she was discussing while wearing the dress, including Downing Street’s decision to order senior journalists from major news outlets to leave before a briefing on Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans .
“And suddenly it’s all about a shoulder,” she said.
Read More 
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings