June 19, 2008, - 11:33 am
ABSURD: Business Dress Codes are the New “Sexual Harassment ,” “Oppression” By Men
By Debbie Schlussel
Pity Christina Binkley. After a ton of articles during her history as the Wall Street Journal fashion writer, no-one noticed her reports on whether hemlines were up or down, ties in or out (they’re out, per future allies Obama and Ahmadinejad), and whether or not furs are still in.
But two recent columns she did write–about how the “Sex and the City” look is out at the office (unless you work in the creative fields) and how pantyhose are the new frump and are out (seen as a sign of old age, but sorry, I still wear them)–got her a ton of attention. And they got a lot of men at certain offices in trouble. The men have had to apologize, even while we hear Michelle Hussein Obama at ABC’s “The View” hagfest that she goes barelegged (again, TMI–and methinks she said it to look hip to younger female voters).
Ludicrous but true. Yup, the inmates are running the asylum. Ask your female employees not to dress like hos at 8:00 a.m., and you will be slapped with a lawsuit, if you don’t grovel to the hoseless hos.
The latest in women’s lib–the right to dress like a Hooters Girl in the executive sweet:
Jim Holt doesn’t see himself as a “Neanderthal Man,” but that’s one of the nicer names he’s been called since he expressed his view publicly, in this column, that panty hose are more professional than bare legs for working women.
Mr. Holt, president of Mid American Credit Union in Wichita, Kan., has become the poster man for a lingering part of the war between the sexes. “It is not just that he is clinging to antiquated notions of femininity; it is also that he thinks he has the right to mandate femininity — antiquated or otherwise — in the office environment. Didn’t we blow past that when we got the right to wear pants to work?” wrote Cyndi Lafuente, a Washington, D.C., tax attorney, in one of hundreds of messages I received. . . .
But when it comes to setting and enforcing dress codes in the workplace, it isn’t the message but the messenger. What might sound like a mentor’s advice coming from a woman can feel like oppression coming from a man. . . .
Tom Mills, managing partner of Winston & Strawn’s Washington, D.C., law office, was asked to make a firm-wide apology for complaining in this column that some young law associates’ work attire was based on “the TV-woman lawyer look with skirts 12 inches above the knee and very tight blouses.” The accuracy of his statement is on view at many law offices and courtrooms. Yet one law blog suggested that Winston’s female associates should buy burqas in response to Mr. Mills’s views. . . .
When a man acknowledges any awareness of a woman’s body — as implicitly occurs when he raises the topic of, say, a low-necked dress — his comments can be misinterpreted.
John B. Phillips Jr., an employment-law attorney with Miller & Martin, Chattanooga, Tenn., says our ability to discuss these topics across gender lines is “worse today than it’s ever been.” . . . People are more aware of discrimination and more worried about saying the wrong thing. . . .
As a lawyer, Mr. Phillips advises male clients to ask a woman to convey dress-code standards to women — or at least to have a woman in the room. Otherwise, he says, discussing attire and women’s bodies “can lead to charges of discrimination if the man is the enforcer of the dress code.”
Yet another sign of America’s steep decline.
But, hey, you can wear a belly shirt and Hello Kitty earrings to work. So, we’re far better off.
This is yet another example of women destroying the work place in America in the name of Feminism.
It is absurd that an employer could be sued for discrimination for enforcing a dress code but believe me it happens.
When I was in Law Enforcement; jewelry, long hair and makeup were not allowed but the women ignored it and as usual they were not disciplined for violating the dress code due to the fear of a lawsuit and pandering by the PC types that ran our agency.
ScottyDog on June 19, 2008 at 1:45 pm