Wearable technology is a wave that has been gaining momentum for awhile now, from the many technology companies allegedly working on smart watch products to the Google Glass, which is predicted to finally hit the consumer market sometime during 2014’s first quarter. However, Microsoft has now raised the bar with an idea that will likely either gather laughs and confused looks, outrage, or a bevy of approval. Probably some of each.

Microsoft’s foray into the wearable technology is not a smart watch or a pair of smart glasses, but a “smart bra.” While those two words in sequence conjure up a collection of strange images, many involving women making phone calls and browsing the internet with their underwear, Microsoft’s new smart bra prototype is not – unlike other pieces of wearable technology – merely the technology of a smartphone captured in a wearable accessory.

On the contrary, Microsoft has a big practical vision for its smart bra innovation. According to CNN, the new bra is “embedded with physiological sensors” which work to track a woman’s heart activity and overall emotional moods. Supposedly these metrics are used to help stressed out or otherwise emotional women avoid overeating and to encourage them to stick to safer, healthier, and more disciplined diet plans.

In essence, the Microsoft smart bra is a means to combat binge eating and comfort food reliance at a biological and psychological level. Because the bra is situated near the heart, it is ideally located to track cardiac data that indicates stress, boredom, or other emotions that tend to trigger a binge eating response. When that happens, the bra automatically sends a message to the woman’s phone to encourage a smarter diet.

On some levels, the Microsoft smart bra idea seems to have a very skewed, stereotyped vision of the modern woman. Certainly, the image of the woman who gets emotional and turns to unhealthy foods for comfort is a very limited one, and it certainly doesn’t apply to everyone. For good reason, many women on Twitter were a bit offended by what they saw as a very misogynistic move from the already very male-dominated technology industry.

For women who do tend to binge eat as a defense mechanism, however, the Microsoft smart bra could be a helpful innovation. Researchers from Microsoft, along with partners at the University of Rochester and the University of Southampton (both located in the United Kingdom) found that women with the comfort food response were less likely to overeat if they were alerted to their actions by a text message.