Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Politician Raises Over $26k For Charity By Auctioning Off 'Shouldergate' Dress After Being Criticized For Her 'Revealing' Attire

Politician Raises Over $26k For Charity By Auctioning Off 'Shouldergate' Dress After Being Criticized For Her 'Revealing' Attire
PA Wire/PA Images - House of Commons

People are somehow still criticizing women based on their outfits in the year 2020.

The latest target was an off-the-shoulder dress worn by UK politician Tracy Brabin in the House of Commons.

But she flipped the script by raising over $26,000 for charity by selling the dress.


Brabin was forced to defend her attire last week after the dress slipped down her shoulder when she leaned on the despatch box due to a broken ankle.

The final bid for the controversial dress came in seconds before the auction ended at 6.41pm, with the winning bidder paying £20,200 (over $26,000).

The winning bid came in seconds before the auction ended. (Ebay/PA)

"It's extremely humbling to be able to do this for Girlguiding, and I am looking forward to attending a meeting tonight and celebrating with the girls," Brabin told the PA news agency.

"I want to encourage them to really be proud of who they are, to support each other as girls, and to not take any criticism from anyone — particularly boys – as I have found in my experiences with Twitter."

After reading the comments, Brabin took to Twitter to defend her attire.

She wrote she is not a "slag, hungover, a tart, about to breastfeed, a slapper, drunk, just been banged over a wheelie bin."

Tracy Brabin\u2019s dressScreen grab image from the auction site eBay of a page set up by Tracy Brabin. (PA)PA Media - eBay

More than 180 bids were placed on the dress. The starting bid was of £10 ($13) and was originally bought on ASOS for £35 ($45).

Brabin said she listed the dress as a way of standing up for women in the workplace.

"I thought I would maybe get £500 for it, which would have been amazing," she said.

"I do not think in three years being an MP anything has made quite as much an impact like this," she said.

"You could say that I'm foolish for wanting to be an MP. As #shouldergate has shown, female MPs are often vilified for their looks, not their actions," Henrietta, a 15-year-old member of Girlguiding's Advocate Panel, said.

"This demeans girls and our aspirations to be politicians. But Tracy Brabin – and all the people who supported her and Girlguiding by bidding on the dress – have shown that oppression is never acceptable," she continued.

The internet agreed.




"Girlguiding helped me persevere against the judgment of my looks," Henrietta said.

"I'm elated that the money raised is going to an organization that inspires girls and builds our confidence at a time where women's concerns are dismissed as 'humbug.' Girlguiding makes the future brighter for girls and young women."

More from Trending

Miriam Margolyes
David Levenson/Getty Images

'Harry Potter' Star Miriam Margolyes Offers Mic Drop Explanation For Why Respecting Pronouns Matters

Sometimes it is just that easy to make people happy. This is a lesson learned over and over in our lives, but that's because it's an important one.

Actor Miriam Margolyes shared how she learned to change her behavior to make others happier. Margolyes appeared on The Graham Norton Show recently and brought up a fairly polarizing subject in the United Kingdom: trans people.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk looks on during a public appearance, as the billionaire once again turns a newsroom style decision into a culture-war grievance broadcast to millions on X.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

Elon Musk Cries Racism After Associated Press Explains Why They Capitalize 'Black' But Not 'White'

Elon Musk has spent the year picking fights, from health research funding to imagined productivity crises among federal workers and whether DOGE accomplished anything at all besides leaving chaos in its wake.

His latest grievance, however, is thinly disguised as grammatical. Specifically, he is once again furious that the Associated Press (AP) capitalizes “Black” while keeping “white” lowercase.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk; Yale University School of Engineering and Applied Science
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images; Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Elon Musk Gets Brutal Wakeup Call After Claiming That Yale's Lack Of Republican Faculty Is 'Outrageous Bigotry'

Elon Musk—who has repeatedly whined about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)—took to his social media platform to whine about a lack of conservative faculty at Yale University.

Musk shared data compiled by The Buckley Institute (TBI), a conservative-leaning organization founded at Yale in 2010. TBI found 82.3% of faculty self-identified as Democrats or primarily supporting Democratic candidates, 15% identified as independents, while only 2.3% identified as Republicans.

Keep ReadingShow less
Barry Manilow
Mat Hayward/Getty Images

Barry Manilow Speaks Out After Postponing Farewell Tour Dates Due To Lung Cancer Scare

"Looks Like We Made It" singer Barry Manilow is in the process of saying goodbye to the stage and meeting his fans in-person, but he has to press pause for a few months after receiving a jarring diagnosis.

On December 22, 2025, the "Mandy" singer posted on Facebook, explaining that a "cancerous spot" had been discovered on his left lung.

Keep ReadingShow less
Chris Evans as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Endgame, the last time audiences saw Captain America before his unexpected return was teased for Avengers: Doomsday.
Disney/Marvel Studios

Marvel Just Confirmed That Chris Evans Is Returning For 'Avengers: Doomsday'—And Fans Have Mixed Feelings

Folks, once again, continuity is more of a suggestion than a rule in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel has officially confirmed that Chris Evans is returning as Steve Rogers in Avengers: Doomsday, and the internet has responded exactly how you’d expect: screaming, celebrating, arguing, and a very justified side-eye toward how Sam Wilson keeps getting treated.

The confirmation comes via a teaser now playing exclusively in theaters ahead of Avatar: Fire and Ash. There is no official online release, despite leaks circulating. If you didn’t catch it on the big screen, Marvel’s response is essentially: sorry, guess you had to be there.

Keep ReadingShow less