A stepfather has sparked a debate after telling his teenage stepdaughter to wear better quality pyjamas when he realised her breasts were visible through the fabric. He said he usually left such matters to her mother, but as she was not at home, he decided to speak to the girl himself.
What happened
Writing on Reddit, the man explained: "My stepdaughter is a private person since puberty which I know is a huge thing for her. She was wearing a loose top with a wide cut collar. She is also small-chested so they wouldn't drop enough to be obscured. We had guests due and I realised that when she bent over her breasts were nearly fully exposed before I looked away."
He took the 14-year-old aside and suggested she change into a different top, saying he tried to approach the subject in the "most un-embarrassing way" possible. He added: "[I said] I knew she valued her modesty and that that particular top might compromise that and we can discuss buying any pyjamas of her choice if she loved those."
Wife's reaction
When he told his wife what had happened, she yelled at him for looking at her daughter's breasts, even though he explained he looked away once he realised what was happening. Confused by the reaction, he asked Reddit whether he had handled the situation appropriately, insisting: "I don't think I could have done this any less 'creepily'."
His post prompted a discussion, with some users defending his actions and others sharing similar experiences.
Readers respond
One user wrote: "When I was about 16, I was at a friend's house and helpfully bent over to restrain the household's dog when someone arrived at the door. Many years later that guy told me his very first sight of me was directly down my shirt."
Another added: "If you were a pervert you wouldn't have said anything. Then you could see it again." A third said: "It's pretty scary how nobody seems to be really concerned about your partner's response to this. That would be a huge red flag to me in this situation. If that's how she thinks then this is a very dangerous situation to be in."
One more user commented: "Seeing things wasn't intentional, you looked away ASAP once you realised and tried to say things in a delicate way. Sometimes we don't realise how things look from another person's vantage."
Another shared: "I stopped wearing a mini skirt without stockings around this age as when I went up stairs the person behind me could possibly see my underwear. Also, I'm short sometimes I don't realise that taller people can see further down my top than I can. It would have been worse to not say anything and wait for another woman to notice and pass along the message."
