Blackpool, England in the 1980s was an interesting place to grow up. You could almost hear the argument going on in our streets.

The Friday evenings began at 7pm when young ladies appeared in the kitchen wearing skirts that looked more like belts or tops that only barely covered their breasts.

‘You’re not going out looking like that,’ screeched their mums. ‘You’ll freeze to death. Put a coat on!’

Blackpool can be fun in the summertime, but winters can be brutally cold due to rain and wind blowing in from the Irish Sea.

Our mums wouldn’t budge, so we’d put on a coat, scowling — only to hide it in a neighbour’s hedge and collect it after a taxi had dropped us off at 2.30am.

Rachel Rounds (pictured) reflected on her nights out in Blackpool throughout the 1980s, following research on why scantily clad revellers don’t feel chilly

Rachel Rounds (pictured) reflected on her nights out in Blackpool throughout the 1980s, following research on why scantily clad revellers don’t feel chilly

Scousers and Geordie Girls were not any different. They are well-known for their insistence on never wearing tights, even during December.

Putting a coat on would have ruined all those hours we’d spent in the bathroom with the gloopy fake tan. Our rah rah skirts underneath a Parka were invisible to anyone.

Our mums didn’t get it, despite all our arguments, because we Northern girls never feel cold.

Science has now proven it. A study in the British Journal of Social Psychology — titled When Looking ‘Hot’ Means Not Feeling Cold: Evidence That Self-objectification Inhibits Feelings Of Being Cold — claims to have worked out why scantily clad revellers don’t feel chilly.

Roxanne Felig, one of the report’s co-authors, explained that the team of researchers wanted to test the lyrics of American rapper Cardi B, who wrote in reference to attractive, promiscuous women: ‘It’s cold outside, but I’m still looking like a thotty because a hoe never gets cold.’

According to Roxanne: ‘It seemed like what Cardi B was saying was that she was too focused on how she looked and what she was wearing to feel cold. That was something we wanted to prove scientifically. And it’s true.’

The team used ‘objectification theory’, the idea that when a person is ‘highly focused on how they appear externally’, internal issues such as hunger and cold get ignored. If we are mostly concentrating on how hot we look, we have fewer ‘cognitive resources’ to devote to how we feel.

A team of researchers in Florida concluded that 'there was no relationship between the amount of skin exposure a participant had and the amount of cold they felt' (file image)

Florida researchers concluded that there was no correlation between skin-exposure and cold felt by participants (file image).

Over five nights, the team spoke to Florida women who stood outside nightclubs at temperatures between 4c and 10c. They asked the women how cold they felt, how much they’d had to drink, and more detailed questions that measured the ‘extent to which a woman thinks about how her body looks rather than how it feels’. After crunching the numbers, the study concluded: ‘There was no relationship between the amount of skin exposure a participant had and the amount of cold they felt.’

So, victory! A coat wouldn’t have made any difference to them anyway.

Northern mothers, this is a great idea. Now in those same kitchens, young women can shove the study under their parents’ noses — though Roxanne admits she might have got different results somewhere significantly colder than Florida.

This caveat is irrelevant, as I know from personal experience that she would be able to find exactly the same in Blackpool and Newcastle during winter.

In my day, it was not just because we knew we were looking ‘hot’ — if you can call bouffant hair and blue mascara ‘sexy’ — that we failed to shiver as the thermometer fell. Other practical reasons exist as well.

Rachel (pictured) said in the 1980s, nobody ever wore tights on a night out — except to go somewhere ‘posh’ that involved food and sitting down

Rachel (pictured) said in the 1980s, nobody ever wore tights on a night out — except to go somewhere ‘posh’ that involved food and sitting down

After the obligatory ‘slow dance’, I once got asked by a bloke if I fancied going for a kebab. This was Northern- speak for ‘fancy a snog?’.

Although I was willing to agree, it was a rare opportunity when my coat (Mum had double-checked), so I joined the painfully slow-moving queue in the cloakroom to get it.

By the time I retrieved my coat, the bloke had clearly got fed up with waiting and left — presumably to ‘go for a kebab’ with some other girl.

There were very strict guidelines when it came to tights. Nobody ever wore them on a night out — except to go somewhere ‘posh’ that involved food and sitting down, and even then they weren’t for warmth but a pair of sheer black 10 denier.

Only Princess Diana was able to wear flesh-coloured tights. For some reason, the gusset always ended up around your thighs and although ladders weren’t as obvious, they just screamed ‘loser’. I still can’t bring myself to wear them today.

Roxanne’s study also argues: ‘From corsets to shapewear, from foot-binding to stilettos, standards for women’s appearance have prioritised beauty over comfort. Far from protesting these painful fashion trends, women themselves are often their most vehement supporters.’

Rachel (pictured), who is now 50, said she still salutes every young woman tottering along on sky-high heels without tights or a coat

Rachel (pictured), who is now 50, said she still salutes every young woman tottering along on sky-high heels without tights or a coat

Every self-respecting young lady from Blackpool or Barnsley could have told her this. Stilettos were a favorite of mine (and still am). And remember body-shaper garments, sold as the answer to women’s problems with ‘unsightly bulges’?

The squeezing of your stomach into your legs made it hard to breathe. However, we looked great!

I am now 50 and my Friday nights consist of me in my PJs binge-watching Netflix instead of clubbing. Yet, I admire every woman who walks in her high heels and doesn’t wear a coat or tights. These nights are a way of life, and they’re a sign of passage.

There’s an old sexist chat-up line: ‘Get your coat on, love, you’ve pulled.’ Now young women have the scientific evidence to respond that, no actually, they can’t put their coat on because they don’t feel the need. And besides, with a chat-up line like that, he’s the one heading straight to the deep freeze.