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From: chrism@orca.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Feminism and a double standard(?)
Message-ID: <582@orca.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 12-Feb-84 21:16:15 EST
Article-I.D.: orca.582
Posted: Sun Feb 12 21:16:15 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 18-Feb-84 04:26:14 EST
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR.
Lines: 48



This seems like a good newsgroup in which to resolve this issue:

There is a "Ms. X" who works for a company that shall remain nameless.
She is bright, relatively good-looking and exudes a very professional
manner.  She is also a feminist and is very protective of her rights.
Ms. X works in marketing.

By chance I happened to pass an informal meeting while Ms. X made a
pitch to an older man who was interested in our product.  What amazed
me was that Ms. X used blatant sexuality as a tool to cajole the customer.
It was smooth, obvious and planned.  Also, the customer seemed to really
soak it up;  he showed every indication of letting Ms. X's
methods be an influence on his decision making.  Later I was told
that this was a common practice by Ms. X, and that it was very
effective.  Incredible!

I was bothered by what I considered the unprofessionalism of both
Ms. X and the customer.  What really irked me, however, was the
double standard I perceived in Ms. X's behavior.  

I called up an old, reasonably progressive friend of mine and outlined
the situation for her.  Basically, she told me the problem lay more
in my outdated moral standards than in the actions of Ms. X.  There
was nothing wrong, I was told, in using "femaleness" as a tool for
leverage. She made a distinction between this and outright selling
of sex, which she conceded was unethical.  My problem, I was told,
that I was still living in the 19th century, and felt bothered and
threatened by a successful woman.  "Wake up to the real world!" was
her parting remark.

Needless to say I was not too happy with that analysis.  So, recently I
have been watching very closely for similar situations and (surprise!) they
abound.  Nor is the situation particularly one-sided.  I have          
seen plenty of men use these same tactics on women business associates.
Generally however, the men who do this are macho types who make no
pretense of relating to woman on any other level.  Many of their
woman counterparts, however, are self-proclaimed feminists like
Ms. X, and thus are guilty of hypocrisy on top of everything else.

So, the issue is clear.  Is this appropriate behavior in a professional
environment?  Or is the problem my archaic ethical system, and should
I pack up my computer and emigrate to Iran, where I belong?

	
	Chris Minson
	..!tektronix!orca!chrism