Thursday, June 24, 2010

Dress Codes for Women are a Joke

Ever since "business casual" became popular in the 1990s, work dress codes have essentially become male-only. Women's only restrictions could be summed as "no bare breasts, midriff, or groin."

Take Disney for example. For years Disney's dress code for its employees was described as "conservative," which in the gynocentric, feminized liberal media means "women are expected to dress like they are not at work, not a nightclub." A few days ago, Disney apparently decided that they were wrong to hold women to any standards in appearance:

Disney theme parks' dress coder relaxed
Female employees don't have to wear pantyhose with skirts anymore, unless the leg wear is part of a costume.
By Hugo Martín and Jason Garcia
June 16, 2010
Reporting from Los Angeles and Orlando, Fla. —

Chalk one up for women who work at Disney theme parks: They don't have to wear pantyhose anymore.

In the biggest change to the company's appearance code in a decade, the Walt Disney Co. has decided to let most female employees at Disney theme parks worldwide, including the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, forgo pantyhose when wearing skirts.

Although it may seem a trivial change in any other business, the relaxing of dress codes at Disneyland is a significant move considering that founder Walt Disney was adamant about making sure all employees maintained a well-groomed, all-American look.

"That clean-cut look never went out of style as far as Walt Disney was concerned," said David Koenig, the author of four books on Disneyland and a regular writer for http://www.mouseplanet.com, a website about the Disney parks.

Koenig recounts a time in the 1970s when some Disneyland managers brandished rulers to ensure that employees' sideburns and hair length met strict grooming standards.

But since then, the company has regularly revisited and relaxed its appearance and dress codes. The last major change to the policy came in 2000 when the company let male employees wear mustaches. Disney tweaked its guidelines again a few years later by allowing male employees to style their hair in cornrows.

Disney officials said the latest change, announced companywide May 28, was prompted by a routine review of company guidelines and a comparison with the dress codes of other Fortune 500 corporations.

"We continuously evaluate our appearances," Disneyland spokeswoman Betsy Sanchez said. "We are trying to stay relevant."

The decision to permit female employees to forgo pantyhose applies to most Disney employees, except where the leg wear is part of a particular costume, such as the outfit for characters such as Tinker Bell or Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

Among the 20,000 or so employees at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, the changes will apply mostly to staff who work in offices or behind the scenes at the park.

Among other changes to the code, women will for the first time be permitted to wear sleeveless tops — though in typically restrictive Disney fashion, only if the shoulder straps are at least 3 inches wide. Female employees also will be allowed to wear Capri pants and sling-back shoes that also have open toes.

Men, meanwhile, will now be allowed to wear untucked, casual shirts.
This "dress code" like most modern American dress codes for working women is a joke. Note that under Disney's new dress code women can wear sleeveless shirts, capris, skirts with bare legs, and sandals. They can basically wear whatever they want (except shorts, it would appear). That's not professional looking - that's casual. And keep in mind that this is the dress code at a "conservative" company. But of course, "conservative" means "what was liberal ten or fifteen years ago."

Men, in contrast, are now finally allowed to wear untucked shirts, although women were probably doing that at Disney for years before. But even with untucked (presumably collared) shirts, men will still be wearing slacks, socks, and dress shoes, which look a lot more professional than what the women will be wearing.

The headline writer made a big deal over the fact that women don't have to wear nylons anymore (Disney was probably one of the few places left to require women to wear them after bare legs became ubiquitous throughout the 2000s). Nylons make women look professional and polished, improving their image. Of course, American women stopped caring about their appearances long ago, except to make themselves look sluttier, so it's understandable why they are happy about not having to wear them anymore.

Don't mistake me for a prude. I have no problem with women wearing revealing clothing in general and I'm probably less prudish than most Americans in some ways. For example I wouldn't have a problem with women going topless on American beaches as many do in Europe. But I think that there is a time and place for such clothing. Work is not one of them. If men are capable of dressing professionally, then women should be to.

It really shouldn't be surprising that so many companies have nonexistent dress codes for women. HR departments are run by women, like the spokeswoman quoted, who are to busy "trying to stay relevant" with the latest Sex and the City styles than to hold women to any sort of professional appearance standards. That just wouldn't be fashionable. And corporate men are probably too afraid to hold women to any sort of appearance standards, for various reasons.

Professional jobs are becoming more and more feminized as America reverts to a 21st century female farming system matriarchy. Combine this with the fact that young American women have sluttiness ingrained into them from the time they are kids and it's easy to see why corporations don't (or are unable to) hold women to appearance and dress standards anymore.

9 comments:

  1. I work in DC, a pretty conservative town. I have long noticed the double standards in dress code. The standard is strict, and enforced, for men - suit, shirt and tie, proper shoes, etc. Your ass will be sent home if you don't measure up. I see women going to work with bare midriffs, flip flops, cleavage, jeans, all kinds of attire that looks totally unprofessional. And they are NEVER called on it.

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  2. Yes dress codes for women are a joke. They are a joke because it is nigh upon impossible to define modesty. Dress codes for women attempt to limit how much sexual signalling a woman may do in polite company; there will always be a temptation to push the limits, to out-do her sisters in sexiness.

    Codes for men are much simpler, because the more clothes you have, the higher status you are. There is no pressure to bear skin to appear "sexy"...sexy for men lays in their status or how much wealth they have. Nice shoes, trousers, jackets, sport coats, vests, ties, all signal formality, all signal wealth and good breeding.

    The only way to get around defining deviancy down in women's dress it is to do as the Moslems do...put em in burlap bags.

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  3. I've often wondered why the decline in standards for women hasn't led to a decline in standards for men. I'm in a suit in the office about half the time and I'm often sitting next to a woman wearing a t-shirt.

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  4. @Anonymous:
    I've heard that before about Washington, although what you said probably applies to most cities in the US. It's not very surprising as anything "conservative" generally means men are held to standards, but women are not. And the fact that women can wear flip-flops as professional dress is very revealing.

    @Elusive Wapiti
    Female modesty can be hard to define, but defining an appropriate work dress code for women is easy. Something like "pantsuit or skirtsuit with hosiery; close-toed dress shoes; no cleavage shown" would work. From the time they entered professional jobs until around 2000, women actually followed professional dress standards.

    @foseti:
    My prediction is that one hot summer relatively soon, men in offices requiring business casual dress will start wearing dress shorts and men's professional dress standards will change, too.

    Naturally, traditionalists will complain about this while ignoring the fact that for a decade women have been going to work dressed as if it were nightclub.

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  5. From my experience the relaxed standards for women do filter down to the men already. I've worked at a job that has a dress code of tucked in dress shirts for men, but women may wear them untucked (usually collared Ts).

    Lots of the rank and file men wear their polo shirts untucked and despite any attempts to keep them tucked in by management it's a nonstarter. The men will keep them tucked in for a day and a half after being told to do so and then things revert back to normal.

    I'm sure a part of the issue is that lots of men can't keep their shirts tucked in because of their girth. The opposite happens as well. I'm average height, and at a lean BMI, but not skinny by any measure and finding clothes that actually fit off the rack at a department store is impossible. A 'medium' shirt is often fitted apparently for a man four inches shorter than me and twice as wide. Even $80+ polos are made for the rotund it seems. You can't tuck a shirt in like that, and you can't keep it tucked if you are 'muffin toppin' it, nor would you probably want to show off your protruding gut even if you could.

    I don't get paid enough to get tailored clothes that I'll only, ever wear to work, nor do most Americans even in 'professional' fields.

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  6. "Note that under Disney's new dress code women can wear sleeveless shirts"

    Women are hot in sleeveless shirts (unless they are old and have wrinkled arms), but it's gross on a man. Be thankful.

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  7. "Women are hot in sleeveless shirts (unless they are old and have wrinkled arms), but it's gross on a man. Be thankful."

    Sleeveless shirts on women are fine for casual wear, but they don't look very professional.

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  8. Just came across this post from a Google search, and put simply: I completely agree.

    I work in a very male-dominated environment, where the standard is to wear a tucked-in shirt, and a tie is optional. I am male.

    Women, however, seem to wear some rediculous things. Not even sexy - just plain weird. One occasionally dresses like an elf, kitting herself out in red and green clothes top to bottom. One wears sleeveless tops on more days than not, which is annoying when her gruesome underarms distract attention when speaking to her. Another wears very light-weight blouses, so her bras always show through - however, she's passed the age of forty.

    I'm convinced women could go to work dressed in a clown's costume - complete with a red nose, orange curly hair, red cheeks with a cross, a flower that squirts water, and a stripey outfit - and no-one would say anything.

    Yet, strangely, should I dare to take a walk on the wild side and wear a short-sleeved shirt to work, I attract plenty of attention and comments - though, strangely, all from other men. They then joke that I buy my clothes from a women's shop.

    I'm all against sexism, towards both genders. I guess other men are fine with it?

    I don't understand this world.

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  9. I wonder why there is a dress code. Does a dress code even matter.

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