Friday, August 26, 2005

You've come a long way, baby!?!?

I was recently present at an orientation meeting for new professionals in a particular field. The "look" of the day seemed to be...cleavage. One woman, who knew she would literally be on stage, dressed in a very tight fitting tank top with nothing left to the imagination, a very short skirt, and high healed sandals. There was another woman in a tiny, spaghetti strapped top telling the participants how to win respect as a professional.

These were highly educated, well-qualified people. I don't understand what these women were thinking when they dressed, literally, like street walkers, to a business function.

Have we made progress towards equal treatment under the law only to announce that we have no clue how to act like anything other than the sex objects we purport to abhor? How in the world are our colleagues supposed to take us seriously when we show up with next to nothing on at a business meeting?!?! Somehow no one is supposed to notice?!!!

The treatment of women as objects to be used is common enough in the music and television industries. For smart young women to further that attitude by the way they dress to go to a job related function is just plain counter productive.

4 comments:

Darrell said...

Where these women "professionals" or were they practitioners of "the oldest profession?" ;)

Staying in Balance said...

Exactly, Wendy! If that is how one must dress to get ahead, I'll always be behind!

Darrell, that is what I wondered myself. It made me uncomfortable and I'm a woman.

Saint Peter's helpers said...

There was another woman in a tiny, spaghetti strapped top telling the participants how to win respect as a professional

Yikes! This is misrepresentation! It's just sad to see people duped like this.

Staying in Balance said...

I remember when I was graduating from college, there was a lot of talk about "dress for success." I wonder where all that is now? I can't believe that young people truly don't care what impression they are making in the work place.

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"Slavery ended in medieval Europe only because the church extended its sacraments to all slaves and then managed to impose a ban on the enslavement of Christians (and of Jews). Within the context of medieval Europe, that prohibition was effectively a rule of universal abolition. "— Rodney Stark

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