pat@ih1ap.UUCP (06/15/83)
Yesterday, we had an Affirmative Action meeting about sexual harrasment.
During this meeting, a movie called "The Power Pinch" was shown. In
this movie an interesting comment was made by a man interviewed about
the subject. He stated-
"Women spend alot of money trying to make themselves
attractive to the opposite sex, isn't this contradictory
to the sexual harrasment issue?" (Not verbatim but I put in quotes)
I asked the question that since millions (billions?) of dollars are
spent on commercials and sold in products to women, can't this
seductiveness be construed as baiting? To my surprise every woman
there said they dressed up and wore makeup to look nice for the
other women and not to attract men! I know this is going to cause flames
but all the psychology used by the manufacturers imply to me that
this is not true. Look at magazines, "GLAMOUR, COSMOPOLITAIN?,etc".
Surely, the social pressure and industries place women in a
seductive role?
Patrick Fargo
BTL -IH !ih1ap!fargo!loosemo2@utah-gr.UUCP (06/17/83)
I don't use a whole lot of cosmetics myself, and if other women are trying to impress me by doing so, they are certainly missing the boat. Something that really turns me off (in particular) is heavy use of perfume; I'd rather sit next to a chain smoker! I also tend towards more casual dress in the office, for practical reasons. (4-inch spike heels and tight skirts are not very comfortable.) Being "fashionable" is not something I value highly, whereas being comfortable is. If a woman thinks she has to make herself miserable by wearing such things to prove her value to other women (or to men), I am not likely to be very impressed. In fact, I'm likely to think that she's more concerned about her appearance than her job. Froggy
rh@mit-eddi.UUCP (Randy Haskins) (06/27/83)
At the risk of getting castigated (and related things) I will stick my neck out on this one: Women dress up and look nice for other women (presumably, this is some sort of competition?) Well, at MIT, where there are 4-5 guys for each girl, most women tend not to dress up, since they (correctly) feel that men will tend to regard them as pleasure units less than if they dress up and gob on make-up. Everyone's obsessed with "the Ratio." But women say that they don't want to have to compromise their feminity just to avoid being hassled. Fine. The first week I was in Boston, as I naive 18-year-old, I went for a walk by the river in the early morning. I was wearing a satiny, silky pair of jogging shorts. This guy started following me, and I KNOW that he didn't want my money. I don't know if the satiny shorts had anything to do with it, but I won't wear them again when I'm out in those circumstances. I don't care if I have to compromise my (no longer exists, don't worry) sexiness. I'd rather avoid trouble. -Randy rh@mit-eddie