Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!orion.oac.uci.edu!ucivax!gateway From: uunet!infmx!robert@ncar.ucar.EDU (robert coleman) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: Erotic images on display in the workplace Message-ID: Date: 14 Jun 91 18:29:53 GMT References: <1991Jun13.155936.12964@aero.org> Organization: Informix Software, Inc. Lines: 66 Approved: tittle@ics.uci.edu Nntp-Posting-Host: glacier.ics.uci.edu mjm@ahimsa.intel.com (Marjorie Panditji) writes: >Actually, my main question was, why look at these type of pictures >(GIFs or paper, for that matter) at the office? But I do wonder about >why people *display* these pictures *in the office* (not why people >enjoy them in the first place). The more interesting question is: why not? If you accept the fact that people enjoy them in the first place, why should they put one kind of picture they enjoy on their walls, and not another kind? Why are sunsets on beaches OK and bikinis on beaches right out? >First, wouldn't such sexually arousing pictures be distracting from >their work? I have a number of pictures on my wall at work. Some are various fantasy-world settings, some are cartoons I like, some are sunsets, some are pictures of those near and dear to me. Every picture I put on the wall is there because I like looking at that picture. If I like looking at a picture, then I'm probably *going* to look at it, making it a distraction. Yes, it would be distracting. No more or less than my other pictures, though, which I ignore most of the time, but sometimes spend minutes at a time inspecting. I hope your not suggesting that everyone work in bare offices? :-) >Second, ignoring why people want to look at them in the office, why >should people display them so that others can see them, instead of >just for their personal use? This is especially confusing since I >think it is pretty well known that these pictures can be offensive to >some people and that there are usually company guidelines about >displaying these images to prevent charges of sexual harassment. Probably every reason you can possibly think of. Perhaps they're straight out of college and clueless. Perhaps they are rebelling against authority. Perhaps they are making a freedom-of-speech statement, hoping to pull some manager's chain. Perhaps they intend to be offensive. Perhaps they like it and don't care what other people think. Perhaps they have the power to do so and like to demonstrate it by doing so. Perhaps, since one tends to surround oneself with things that express one's personality, they put it up to express an important part of themselves (why does society require us to supress our sexual nature, anyway?). Perhaps it's a $20,000 Nagel, and it's hip and showy. Perhaps it attracts certain kinds of men (or women!) that that person likes to associate with. Perhaps they like to live dangerously. Perhaps it keeps the feminists out of the office. ;-) I don't keep such pictures on the wall, because I don't like to offend people. If I could keep such pictures on the wall, invisible to everyone else, I might (depending on the distraction quotient! ;-) ) If I didn't care about offending people, I might put them up as a freedom-of-speech message, and a rebellion, since I don't like other people putting peer pressure on me to conform to societal rules that I think are silly, or declaring my sex drive to be wrong or evil. But to me, not offending someone or causing my friends to avoid my office is an overwhelming reason. But to paraphrase a recent commercial: why ask why? :-) Robert C. -- ---------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: My company has not yet seen fit to elect me as spokesperson. Hmmpf.