A viewer’s email about co-host Kim DeGiulio’s eating etiquette during a food segment turned into a full-blown conversation about femininity this week on Live in the D’s “What’s the Buzz.”
DeGiulio told viewers that after one recent food segment, a woman wrote in noting that DeGiulio had taken some “pretty big bites” on air and suggested it wasn’t very ladylike. The exchange sparked debate in the newsroom, and DeGiulio and co-host Tati Amare decided to bring the conversation to viewers, inviting a panel of guests to weigh in on what “acting like a lady” means in 2026.
Joining Amare and DeGiulio were Lauren Crocker of “Blaine & Lauren” on 96.3 WDVD, singer-songwriter Beth Griffith Manley, and Vanessa Cohen, founder of Motor City Date Night.
Decorum over rules
Cohen argued that while the old-fashioned language may have faded, the underlying expectations haven’t disappeared entirely.
“It’s about having some decorum for yourself,” Cohen said, adding that many of the standards women hold themselves to are less a strict rulebook than something absorbed over time. “I think there are some things where it’s like you want to have some softness about you that people expect a woman to have. It’s not a requirement, but I think it’s just innately built into our head, like these are just some things that’s supposed to happen.”
‘Very cutesy, very demure’
Beth Griffith Manley pointed to a recent shift in vocabulary, tying today’s viral online phrases to the same old concept.
“Well, you know, lately there have been some words floating around on the internet. ‘Very cutesy. Very demure,’” she said.
She also offered a lower bar for what counts as “put together” on any given day.
“At least put on lotion and bathe,” she said. “If you can put on some lotion, not look ashy and dry, then that might be your put together for that day.”
On changing standards more broadly, Griffith Manley said the culture itself has moved.
A double standard, exposed
Crocker was the panel’s most direct voice on gender double standards, questioning why certain behaviors are only scrutinized when women do them.
“When’s the last time a man’s heard, be more manlike?” Crocker said.
She pointed to household chores as a clear example of the disparity.
“But if I’m doing it, they’re like, you’re supposed to do it,” she said, contrasting the reaction when a man does the same task.
Still, Crocker said the real issue isn’t the behavior itself but who’s imposing judgment on it.
“And that’s the point too, is like whatever you feel comfortable doing,” she said. “If you felt uncomfortable, I think people get bothered by ladylike when other people are putting that on you.”
By the end of the segment, the panel had largely arrived at a shared verdict: in 2026, ladylike isn’t about following rules - it’s about doing what feels right to you.
Click on the video above to watch the segment.