ISFW: Inexplicably Safe For Work
There’s a serious double-standard going on in my office, and I need to address it.
You see, my particular part of my industry is very much dominated by women. And then, in order of priority, gay men. And then, finally, straight men.
I’ve got nothing against teh gayz. But for the past week, one of teh gayz, who has a desk that faces the most public area of our floor, has had a wallpaper for his computer desktop that should ruffle some feathers. He is apparently a huge Britney Spears fan, because he has a massive image of her on his desktop - topless, against a wall, with some serious side boobage going on. If this wallpaper was displayed on a straight male’s workstation, it would be grounds for immediate dismissal. But because he’s just one of the girls, it’s completely acceptable.
I mentioned this to a co-worker and came up with a hypothetical situation:
“Okay, let’s say a client comes into the office and sees that picture on his computer,” I begin.
“Right,” she says. ”Clients don’t come over here often, but go on…”
“…and let’s say the client doesn’t know that he’s gay,” I posit.
“Oh, no,” my co-worker says sternly. “No, no. That would never happen. There’s not a single person on this earth whose gaydar wouldn’t go off within a hundred feet of him.”
I don’t think that makes it right, but apparently, I’m fighting a losing battle here.
This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 3:36 pm and is filed under Life at Work. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:08 pm
says:Your co-worker is a tool and clearly lives in a gaydar vacuum. And your conversation is prime fodder for a sequel to Office Space.
What if the client walks by the desk and said gay co-worker wasn’t sitting there at that very moment? And the photo just popped up as a screensaver? Then how do you tell that he’s gay? From the “Don’t worry! I’m perfectly gay,” next to his monitor?
It doesn’t matter that he’s gay. It’s an evil double-standard and that photo wouldn’t fit into any standard office conduct book— you know, the one that they pass around the office when you first get hired. Right underneath “Dress Code” there would be an entire paragraph on “No nudie photos of Brittany Spears!”
August 6th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
says:ha! code of conduct in this industry…ha!
maybe at one of those big snooty agencies
August 6th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
says:That post was a perfect premise for an episode of The Office.
August 6th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
says:I get that he’s gay, but is he also living in the year 2001?
August 6th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
says:the idea of having to look at a topless brit, no matter if i am male, female or whatever, makes me want to wash my eyes with acid.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
says:Yeah, see, that’s just not cool. I’m a queer chick, and I wouldn’t put a nekkid fella on my ‘puter as wallpaper (even though I do like me some nekkid fellas - just to look at, mind you) if I were in an open space. It’s just unprofessional any way you look at it.
My two cents.
August 6th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
says:She is absolutely right.
If you put a photo of Britany Spears up on your computer as wallpaper, you are gay. I’m sure every one of your clients would understand this.
August 7th, 2007 at 9:06 am
says:The only way to battle this… put up gay porn on your wallpaper. And if anyone complains… just say “well.. I’m straight!” Your boss will see that it’s fair.
August 7th, 2007 at 4:06 pm
says:Man, I hadn’t even seen this before putting up my own post today about what the gays are getting away with!
The picture is still up there, and that’s offensive, no matter who put it up, right? I am confused.