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Two women have accused Wetherspoons of sexism after being removed from The Back of Beyond pub in Reading for ‘inappropriate wear’. In a video posted to TikTok, Mollie Wood and Amy Lee explained that their wrap-around crop tops had been compared to ‘men taking their tops off’ before they were told to leave the busy pub.
Speaking to Grazia, Mollie explained that while the pair were originally allowed to enter the premises, they were told to leave by the manager who spotted them walking through the pub and ‘humiliated’ them in front of the busy premises.
‘When we asked why, [he said] they had been kicking topless men out the whole day due to the football,’ Mollie explained. ‘I was in disbelief by the comparison of my outfit to a topless man when I was fully clothed. He stated that he wouldn't allow his own children to wear clothing like this [and] when I questioned the manager on the dress code to understand if I was in the wrong and take accountability, he had no straight answer.’
In actual fact, the dress code on Wetherspoons website does not prohibit crop-tops, only stating that customers ‘are requested to remain fully clothed throughout their visit, including wearing shoes.’ It does state that ‘some pubs operate a specific dress code at all or certain times’ but does not provide further detail, instead asking customers to speak directly to the team of the pub they wish to visit.
Ultimately then, it seems as though Wetherspoons dress codes are up to managers discretion – with Mollie and Amy, both aged 20, subject to one man’s opinion on how women should dress in the summer. Particularly, Mollie explains, women with larger chests.
‘Why are women with bigger boobs sexualised to the extent where it’s compared to men that don’t wear tops?’ Mollie asked in her TikTok. ‘Why are cleavage and boobs inappropriate? They’re made for children.’
Receiving over 60,000 likes on her viral video, Mollie updated followers that she put in a formal complaint to the management but received ‘rude’ treatment and was left with ‘no clarity’ on how the matter would be dealt with.
When approached for a comment on the claims of sexism, Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon told Grazia: ‘Two female customers visited the Back of Beyond pub in Reading on Sunday evening at approximately 7.40pm. Shortly after entering, the customers were politely asked to leave the pub as, on consideration by the pub’s management team, their dress was not, in this particular case, in accordance with the company’s guidance to pubs on appropriate customer dress.
‘What may be considered appropriate dress is invariably a matter of individual judgement and whilst no offence was intended to the two customers by the request to leave the pub, we support the approach of the pub’s management team in this instance.’
Supporting the managers decision, it appears Wetherspoons has no plans to homogenise their dress code nor educate staff on the way in which women’s bodies are sexualised and deemed inappropriate merely for existing – which should be accounted for by any person implementing and enforcing dress codes.
I felt so small that my voice wasn't being heard.
‘The whole experience is a huge eye opener on the over sexualization that women face on a daily basis, and the internalised misogyny that is embedded into the Wetherspoons management viewpoints,’ Mollie told Grazia. ‘I felt so small that my voice wasn't being heard and the apparent disregard of my own feelings and emotional well-being.
‘As a woman I dress only for myself, to then be told that my body is viewed as an object that has a right or wrong way of dressing is completely disgusting to me,’ she continued. ‘Especially over the past year with stories being shared of women's experiences [of objectification and harassment] it makes me fearful to walk into large rooms of predominantly men where I know my body is being viewed and deemed as inappropriate just because my skin is being shown.’
Given the fact it was 27 degrees the day Mollie and Amy attended Wetherspoons, their experience also highlights just how much more sexist treatment women with larger breasts face in the summer – and how different their experience of summer dressing is for women that are small-chested. Why, we must ask, should women with larger breasts cast aside their personal comfort in fear of being harassed, abused and as seen here, denied entry to their local pub?
‘I felt comfortable when I left the house, I was allowed in four other establishments before this,’ Mollie says - adding that she has received messages from people claiming to be Wetherspoons employees who say that the dress code is never enforced and thus this instance is ‘pure discrimination’.
Mollie’s not the only one too, she says she’s received countless messages from women who have experienced similar treatment – both at Wetherspoons and beyond. Ultimately then, it speaks to a much larger issue where women like Mollie and Amy see their emotional wellbeing sacrificed for the whims of sexist men perpetuating the male gaze.
‘Men can walk around the streets with no top on and not to worry about being sexualised, glanced or commented at,’ Mollie says. ‘Yet I wear a crop top in the middle of summer and I’m constantly on guard or aware of whose eyes may fall upon my body or what disgusting comments are being said when I walk past. It 100% impacts my self-esteem and makes me rethink my own self-image. It forces me into a mindset that will I only be respected when I'm covered, that certain clothes will only be deemed desirable for smaller chested people and that anything I wear, I will always be conscious of the male gaze.’
‘I shouldn't need to choose whether to hide or flaunt my body, and I shouldn't be scared or ashamed within my own body at the mere thought of being treated like a sexual object.’
Read More:
How Being Boob-Shamed In My Teens Still Affects Me In My 20s
Emily Atack Calls For An End To Big-Boob Shaming As Women Get Older