June 4, 2004
MINI ME:
Tyranny of the Self (Val MacQueen, 06/02/2004, Tech Central Station)
In England, Birmingham lawyer Maxine Kelly is suing her former employers for sexual discrimination. Recently, Kelly and 50 other female employees received a memo banning them from coming to the office in skirts cut above the knee. The memo also listed bare midriffs, clothes that "ride up and reveal excess flesh when bending over or sitting" and body piercings as being among items of attire that failed to inspire confidence in the law firm's clients. One can only imagine the outfits that must have motivated the distribution of such a memo.Thirty-six-year-old advocate Kelly, who is single, favored wearing handkerchief-size miniskirts and, according to some, was much given to bending over the copy machine. She was offended, especially when, on complaining that the guidelines were unfairly harsh, she was told she was the worst offender. Kelly professed herself "astounded" by this clear "affront to women".
"I made my objections known and I feel this led to my being dismissed unfairly. I can't believe I worked for an employer with such archaic attitudes and a scant disregard for women's rights," she told a newspaper.
A few days after receipt of the memo, the £55,000 ($88,000) a year lawyer lost her job.
In a bid to paint a particularly harsh, intolerant -- indeed, almost Victorian -- work environment, she has stated in public that the managing partner is a Christian, was given to quoting the Bible and opposes abortion, which the sensitive Ms. Kelly found particularly distressing. Needless to say, she is claiming sexual discrimination, although the firm says it fired her for poor performance.
In insisting on her right to wear what was, by all accounts, wildly inappropriate clothing to the office, Kelly elevated her own sartorial satisfaction above the need of her employer to present a reliable, stable, confidence-inspiring image to clients. In other words, it may have been a large successful law firm, but it was all about Maxine Kelly.
There should be a harsher punishment than firing for mid-riff baring in a society struggling simultaneously with obesity.
Posted by Orrin Judd at June 4, 2004 7:32 AM
Please, let's create a worldwide ban on hip-hugging jeans. I've seen more friends' and strangers' butt-cracks in the last two years than I care to remember.
But the image sticks with me.
Posted by: NKR at June 4, 2004 9:05 AMForget banning nukes. Very few have them, and the mostly keep them hidden away.
Ban hip-huggers in combination with thongs. WMDs -- Weapons of Mass Disgust.
For the boys, how about banning those damnfool baggy pants with the crotch hanging down near the knees. Here's a clue, guys: If you can't trot across the crosswalk without having to hitch up your trousers three times, they're too damn baggy.
Posted by: Roy Jacobsen at June 4, 2004 9:50 AMAnd bring back tweeds, breeches and cummerbunds.
Posted by: Brit at June 4, 2004 10:17 AMPerhaps offices should set up two wings: one with modest attire, and one where everyone wears thongs. Sounds like this woman might have been more productive under such a scheme.
Posted by: jim hamlen at June 4, 2004 11:11 AMI always wear cummerbunds with my wife-beater t-shirts. But then I set trends, I don't follow them.
Posted by: jefferson park at June 4, 2004 11:16 AMthese sorts of clothes are appropriate in certain places (clubs, on a female in my bedroom) and on certain people (laeticia casta, halle berry)
if she was bringing this suit in america, she'd already own the law firm. i hate our legal system sometimes
Posted by: poormedicalstudent at June 4, 2004 11:47 AM>For the boys, how about banning those damnfool
>baggy pants with the crotch hanging down near
>the knees.
One of the essay/articles at Youth Specialties tells of how one youth pastor discouraged Lowrider Pants. He told the boys of the origin of the Lowrider style -- in prisons, where belts were forbidden and wearing it low meant it was easier to get a quickie from another guy, literally at "the drop of your pants". The boys in his youth group stopped wearing them low after that.
Posted by: Ken at June 4, 2004 12:55 PM36 y.o., it's called "dressing for success."
Oh, wait, maybe she was, just not as a lawyer.
Posted by: Sandy P at June 4, 2004 3:02 PMthe punishment is having to be posted on bangable.com
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at June 4, 2004 4:41 PM