Do We Need Stricter Office Dress Codes? – IOTW Report

Do We Need Stricter Office Dress Codes?

Acculturated: Recently, the New York Times published an essay decrying the end of standards in work attire. “There’s a strain of thought that says an employee represents a company, and thus dress is not about personal expression, but company expression,” Susan Scafidi, a law professor and founder of the Fashion Law Institute told the Times. “But there’s a counterargument that believes because we identify so much with our careers, we should be able to be ourselves at work.” In our socially mediated age in which nearly everyone is marketing his or her own brand and presenting it daily on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, it makes sense that people want to stand out for their image. But even while cultivating our own personal brands, most of us are still going to end up also serving as brand ambassadors for our employers.

[…] By contrast, there is a term we have in Washington, D.C. for the scandalously-clad female interns who appear every summer in our city: Skinterns. These young women unfortunately cannot seem to dress appropriately for work. Their male peers don’t seem to have this problem. As a result, we tend to see specific clothing items outlawed (short skirts, low-cut tops) for women that have no equivalent for men. This isn’t sexism; it’s a response to an unfortunate reality, whether feminists like it or not. (And they don’t: U.S. Senator Mitch Holmes was forced to apologize for clearly defining the aesthetic standards for female employees in his office while only advising the men to dress “professionally”).  MORE

 

21 Comments on Do We Need Stricter Office Dress Codes?

  1. Oh, there’s a strain alright. Trying to find that just right combination of a bra that will support the weight of that which they are supposed to contain, without looking like an operatic Rhine Gold Valkyrie maiden.

  2. Most people seem to dress like scumbags all the time. I am the sort of fellow who wears a tie to the scrapyard — I absolutely loathe the flipflop/pajama crowd.

    And yea, many of the women dress like skanks.

  3. Unfortunately many people can’t exercise any self respect or common sense when it comes to dressing to go out in public let alone for work. For the last few years every time I go to the airport I see people wearing pajama bottoms and I often now see at least one person walking around in a full bathrobe and slippers pulling a suitcase. WTF. And most people don’t even look twice.

  4. My Yiddishe-Mama said it best.
    “If its not for sale, don’t put the signs out”
    Don’t get me wrong, Lazlo enjoys the decolletage, but it is not fair to display it when males in the office are bound by a strict standard of behavior lest we be sued.
    Evening wear should be worn in the evening.

  5. Proper dress has less to do with self-respect than with respect for others.

    Each is now the Center of the Universe, and all the rest are the interstellar dust swirling about.

    The atomization of society (which originated with socialism) is nearly complete. The normal, culturally based, mediating structures of society pertaining to individuals are gone – replaced by the gov’t-mandated “mediating” structures. The gov’t – through these mandated “mediators” – tell us what is appropriate, what isn’t, how we may interact with one-another, and with whom we ARE FORCED to interact.

    You may not be interested in the Modern State – but the Modern State is CERTAINLY interested in YOU!

    izlamo delenda est …

  6. Man, I love a skimpily dressed woman at work. I pretend not to notice until her back is turned, and then I ogle like the dirty old man that I am. Work is so boring. Please don’t take that “perk perk” away.

  7. If I were a supervisor at my job, 90% of the female employees would be written up for dress code violations. Ladies, if I can see your cleavage, you are NOT dressed for work.

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