An SNL joke about women's gym clothes revived an old assumption. Here's what a first impression can, and can't, tell you.
By Kosher Casual Editorial Team
On October 10, comedian Shane Gillis hosted Saturday Night Live for the third time. Early in his monologue, he said he hadn't been to the gym in so long that he didn't know how women dress there now. Then he described them with a crude word for sex workers. He went on about tight, neon-colored shorts and added that men aren't allowed to look.
The joke appeared to draw few laughs in the studio and got a lot of anger online, where many viewers called it misogynistic. Critics also said the timing made it worse, because it aired during a national conversation about sexual assault. Dan Levy posted a video the next day. Short shorts don't make women what Gillis called them, he said, but they do make the men who use that word misogynists. Former cast members Cecily Strong and Ego Nwodim answered with sarcastic gym photos, and dozens of women on TikTok posted their own gym outfits.
The discussion continued after the broadcast. On October 15, SNL co-anchor Michael Che was asked about the monologue and described the divided reaction as part of comedy. The broader debate, though, was about the assumptions people make from women's clothing.
One detail stood out. In Nwodim's photo, captioned with Gillis's word, she was wearing black leggings, a black long-sleeved shirt and a black baseball cap. The label never really depended on the shorts.
We're a modest clothing brand, so you might expect us to have a quick opinion about gym shorts. What interests us more is the assumption behind the joke: that you can look at what a woman is wearing and know who she is.
First impressions: we all read clothes, just not very well
Snap judgments are real. In a 2006 Princeton study, psychologists Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov showed people unfamiliar faces for as little as one-tenth of a second. Their ratings of traits like trustworthiness and competence correlated highly with ratings made with no time limit; extra time mostly made them more confident. But the study measured how fast impressions form, not whether they were right.
Clothes are part of that quick read. In a 2013 University of Hertfordshire study, 274 people viewed photos of a man with his face pixelated, for no more than five seconds each. His two suits matched in color and fabric; one was tailor-made, the other bought off the rack. In the tailored suit, he was rated significantly more confident and higher-earning. On trustworthiness, there was no statistically significant difference.
That doesn't mean clothing can't affect how trustworthy someone seems; this one comparison simply didn't measurably change that rating. And it's a single study of one man in a business suit, so it tells us little directly about how women's clothes or modest dress are perceived. What it does show is how quickly strangers credited a man with confidence and income, traits they had no real evidence of, based on the cut of his suit.
So how much control do we have over what our clothes say? Some, but not all. You choose the signal. You don't get to choose what someone else decides it means. And what a woman wears never explains or excuses how she's treated. That responsibility belongs to the people doing the treating.
For a closer look at the research behind snap judgments, clothing and perception, read our evergreen guide: What Does Your Clothing Say About You? The Psychology of First Impressions.
Modest doesn't mean invisible
Women who dress modestly know this from the other side. Long sleeves and a midi skirt get read too: old-fashioned, shy, not trying, hiding something. Those guesses can be just as wrong as the one from the SNL stage.
Women dress modestly for different reasons, across many faiths, cultures and communities. For some, modesty is tied to values and commitments they take seriously. For others it's about privacy or comfort, or it's simply what feels like them. The reasons are personal, and they don't all match.
What modesty isn't is a wish to disappear. Wanting coverage and wanting to look good aren't opposites. You can want to walk into a meeting, a family wedding or a parent-teacher conference feeling put together, comfortable and, yes, attractive, on your own terms. Coverage is a standard, not a hiding place.
Then there's the part nobody else sees: how you feel in your clothes. Tugging at a hem all day, checking whether a neckline has shifted, adding one more shirt underneath and feeling bulky can wear down anyone's confidence. Miriam M., a verified buyer, put it plainly in her review of a sleeveless layering top: it "provides a modest neckline without adding extra heat," and it "stays in place so I don't have to worry all day if I am still modest." Reva M., also a verified buyer, wrote that she wore a T-shirt dress on yom tov and spent the afternoon with her grandchildren. Getting up and down from the floor, she found it "easy to move around."
Reviews like these are a reminder that coverage isn't only about how an outfit looks in the mirror. It's also about whether it stays comfortable, and stays put, once the day gets going. When it does, you can stop thinking about your clothes and get on with your day.
Dressing with intention
None of this means you can control what other people think. You can't. What you can choose is clothing that meets your own standard and works for your actual day. That's the idea behind Kosher Casual's promise, Look Modest. Feel Amazing. We want modest dressing to be easy to live in, not something you have to manage.
People will always read into what we wear; that's how first impressions work. But whether a woman is in neon gym shorts or a long-sleeved top and a midi skirt, what someone sees at a glance is an assumption. It isn't proof of her character, and it isn't proof of her values.
For a deeper look at the research behind these snap judgments, read our companion article, What Does Your Clothing Say About You? The Psychology of First Impressions.
Sources and Further Reading
Willis, J., & Todorov, A. (2006). First impressions: Making up your mind after a 100-ms exposure to a face. Psychological Science, 17(7), 592–598. (abstract: APS)
Kosher Casual verified-buyer reviews: Miriam M., Crop Top Sleeveless Tank Top with Full Shoulder Coverage Modest Neckline; Reva M., T-Shirt Dress – Comfortable A-Line Silhouette.
הוסף תגובה