New research reveals millions of women across the nation are holding back from truly expressing themselves as almost half (42%) admit to being embarrassed of showing their ‘real’ selves.
The research, by bodywear brand sloggi – famed for breaking boundaries and empowering women to be bad-ass whatever their age – also reveals what women wish they could stick their middle finger up to, but aren’t brave enough. Being able to say NO more (22%), telling someone the brutal truth (21%), having no inhibitions when having sex (13%), and walking out of a boring meeting (16%) came out as the top responses.
Women have even gone as far as admitting they’d love to feel free enough to fart in public (6%), have sex in public places (5%) and poo at work (4%) but are too scared of what people will think (29%).
Following on from International Woman’s Day, outspoken Presenter and women’s advocate, Gemma Cairney, led the zero f***s sloggi protest today, along with Dancing Granny, Colette Zacca, Comedian Bella Younger and influencers Helina Mar and Rosie Connolly-Quinn. Taking to the streets of East London, the girl-power-squad stood strong together, loud and proud, in a bid to break the nation free from wires, and put one finger up to conformity. Because, what does being ‘ladylike’ even mean anyway?
When it comes to underwear, almost a quarter of women (24%) voted underwire bras as the main culprits for holding them back and making them uncomfortable, behind ill-fitting bras (31%) and thongs (21%), which has reportedly driven them to go commando (14%), pull out a wedgie in full public view (13%), and even pull a sickie from work (6%).
Anna Stark, Head of Marketing at sloggi, said “We want women to unfasten themselves and feel free in every sense of the word! Whether that means saying it how it is, pulling your best free-style dance moves naked in your living room or simply mixing things up and trying something new. We’re proud to be working with such strong, independent women to launch our campaign which celebrates our pledge to be a completely wireless brand by 2023. sloggi is all about bringing true comfort to people’s everyday, not allowing wires to squeeze, pinch, contain and restrain us. We want to empower all women to love themselves and give zero f***s to conformity.”
To free women from discomfort, sloggi has also partnered with Against Breast Cancer, to call women to donate their unwanted bras at sloggi stockist across the country. In return customers will receive a 20% discount for sloggi’s new ZERO Feel, GO Allround or WOW Embrace collections. For every ton of bras received, £700 will also be donated to breast cancer research projects.
There’s something very powerful in the unity of women coming together. Back in the 70s people were burning bras but now the narrative is more about true comfort. Sloggi have always been trailblazers in empowering women to be themselves, for a long time and I’ve loved working with them on this campaign!
Gemma Cairney