A woman was accused of breaking the law by a security guard for wearing a midriff top in a Queensland shopping centre.
According to a report from 9News, 20-year-old Madison Green was at Dalby Shoppingworld in the Western Downs region of Queensland, grocery shopping for her grandmother.
A security guard stopped her and asked her to leave. Green caught the interaction on camera, which was provided to 9News.
“What’s your issue?” Green asks the security guard.
“I can see your stomach,” she replied.
The security guard from Valhalla Security Services said Green needed to wear “any shirt that covers your whole stomach… because that’s the law”.
Green argued there were stores in the shopping centre that sold midriff tops like the one she wore on the day of the ordeal. Meanwhile, mid argument, another woman in the shopping centre walked by, wearing a midriff top.
“She’s not wearing a top,” Green said to the security guard.
“Well, I saw you first, and she’s on her way out,” the security guard said.
“So I can’t wear a top but this lady can?”
“I saw her after I saw you, and you’re a smart ass, so now you can leave.”
The guard threatened to call the police and ban Green from the shopping centre. She then followed Green into the grocery store.
“Leave me alone, stop following me,” Green said.
“It’s my job,” the guard replied.
Following the incident, Green spoke to 9News, saying she felt intimidated and shaken.
“I’m a woman and I know for a fact I’m allowed to wear these things,” she said.
“It’s 2024, I don’t see any issue with it whatsoever.”
Dalby Shoppingworld confirmed with 9News the woman wasn’t breaking any centre rules for wearing a midriff top. The spokesperson from the shopping centre also said the security guard would not be working at the centre in the future.
The male gaze
It’s not the first time this week alone that women’s clothing has featured in headlines – for all the wrong reasons.
On Monday night, a man from the Gold Coast went on The Project to discuss a letter he published in the Gold Coast Bulletin.
In the letter, Ian Grace asked the Mayor of the Gold Coast, Tom Tate, to ban women wearing thong bikinis in public. He said the swimwear makes him “uncomfortable” and “sends the wrong message”. Steve Price, a panellist on The Project, said he “tends to agree” with the man’s perspective.
Grace said while a woman in a thong is a “nice view”, it would make him uncomfortable if that same woman is later “serving me a coffee”.
Sarah Harris, co-host on The Project, asked Grace why he felt the need to look, to which Grace said “you can’t help it”.
He later went on to say he would take women who wear revealing clothes in business meetings less seriously.
“I have seen women at fairly high-level networking meetings that were very much exposing their breasts and you think, ‘Well, you’ve kind of lost a bit of business credibility straightaway’,” Grace said.
Harris wrapped up the interview shortly after, saying she was “lost for words”.
Throughout history, women fashion designers have been changing the way women dress, providing women with an outlet of freedom of expression and liberation from the male gaze.
However, many people continue to hold prejudiced views against women who wear revealing or “promiscuous” clothing.
At best, people believe women are taken less seriously by men. At worst, people believe it puts women more at risk of rape.
A survey in the UK from The Independent found more than half (55 per cent) of men and two fifths of women believe a woman is more likely to be sexually harassed or assaulted if she wears revealing clothes.