A Canadian Journalist Was Criticized For A Dress She Wore On-Air & She's Getting Major Support

A Canadian journalist is receiving a lot of support online after a viewer reached out and called the outfit she wore on-air "inappropriate" and "almost upsetting."

Tess van Straaten, a news personality with CHEK News in Victoria, B.C., shared a complaint she received from a female viewer on Twitter over a sleeveless dress she wore during a weather forecast.

In the email, the viewer wrote it was "inappropriate" for the journalist to "wear sleeveless tops in the wintertime to report on the weather."

"In my opinion, she should be wearing a suit jacket and look more professional like other newscasters around the world," read the email that Van Straaten said was sent to the entire newsroom.

"Sorry for the negative comment but it is almost upsetting to see what she is wearing," it continued.

The B.C. journalist decided to share the complaint via Twitter writing, "This is what women in broadcasting sadly still face in 2023... Do you think my dress is 'almost upsetting'?"

Van Straaten tells Narcity this is the second viewer email she’s received over her bare arms in the last year, the previous one she received while reporting during a heatwave.

"Unfortunately, it’s all too common for women in broadcasting and the public eye to get emails about how they look — whether it’s a negative comment [over] their clothes, their hair or even their weight — and male colleagues almost never get messages like this."

She says she used to ignore these types of "superficial criticisms" like the one she tweeted out, but decided to start calling them out a few years ago.

"I’ve been in broadcasting for more than 20 years, and I would have thought things would be better by now," she said.

"Unfortunately, it seems to be worse than ever. That’s why I decided to tweet out the email. It wasn’t because my feelings were hurt, it was because people need to realize it’s not okay to tell women how they should look or dress."

After sharing the email online, Van Straaten received a lot of support both from viewers and fellow journalists.

By Monday the tweet had been viewed over 500,000 times and had more than 1,000 comments.

Many people expressed their support for Van Straaten.

CTV News Vancouver anchor Keri Adams tweeted "your arms showing shouldn't even be part of the conversation."

Van Straaten's CHEK colleague Kori Sidaway poked fun at the email, writing "This just in: women have arms!"

NYPD Blue actress Sharon Lawrence also voiced her opinion on the complaint, writing "This person can't even spell, so let's not worry about the ignorant, nervous nightmares out there."

Another person posted a Simpsons GIF pointing out the silliness of the complaint.

One Twitter user jokingly asked Van Straaten to dress more warmly next time to "empathize with our suffering" referring to the cold temperatures we have to deal with outside.

Van Straaten says she’s "completely blown away" by the outpouring of support she’s received over her tweet.

"The supportive comments have warmed my heart, and the funny ones have made me laugh, and the overwhelmingly positive response has helped restore my faith in humanity."

The B.C. broadcaster is the latest journalist to call out a viewer email they received over their appearance.

On December 10, CTV Calgary anchor Kathy Le publicly shared a viewer complaint that she received. The complaint was over the fact that she was "heavily pregnant" on air.