tattooes & dressing in the workplace

the role of change

New York City sweltered today as has so much of the nation (and world) recently. I prefer dresses when it gets hot as I find shorts too confining (except for our 6.15 am constitutional which involves loose shorts) to be comfortable; I abhor the idea of me in pants at this temperature. I guess I would like to be like the pink flamingos at Lincoln Center.

#thezenoflight

We have certainly seen lots of dresses—and everything else—over our 48 hours in Manhattan so far. Sure, I mean pants, short shorts, and dresses ranging from actually dragging the ground to knee length to what my husband called ‘little girl’ dresses. These were rather frilly, short length layers.

To each her own but I am not just talking about dresses when ‘everything else’. We have seen virtually every single body part on the streets except what is often called ‘privates’. In particular, I have been amused and saddened by the number of young women wearing such revealing dresses as to spend half of the time I encounter them pulling their gaping clothes closer to their bodies. These are leaving very little to the imagination.

Anyone in this country is free to wear whatever she wants. We don’t have a national dress code nor would I ever support one. Many states in Africa, the Middle East, and Afghanistan prescribe women’s attire. As we discussed last winter, the Islamic Republic’s dress code ignited a smolderising battle between the government and its long-repressed women, one for which several people lost their lives. One of the reasons many people sought an American-led remaking of national governance in Afghanistan was to free women from the truly diabolical repression of the Taliban in the 1990s in the lead up to 2001. Sadly, that repression has returned.

However, the reality is some women are revealing so much that it is taking a toll on their credibility in the workplace because it casts doubts on their judgement. I know some of you will be horrified to hear me, as a professional woman who served in leadership for several years, say this but it is an unavoidable fact. It’s simple to say that young women should be free to dress as they want because they are entitled to their own choice. They well may be entitled to the choice but they ought not be surprised to hear it can have consequences. Revealing attire can distract from the professional accomplishments of those women because of assumptions about their work and about how they are treated.

Just week before last, the seemingly ubiquitous LINKED IN, highly influential in business networking, noted that many young people don’t know how to behave who in an office. The gist was that because so many worked remotely immediately upon graduating from their educational institutions so they missed some of the traditional socialising. We can discuss specific incidents but I can guarantee a part of that discussion focused on inappropriate dress.

Men are capable of dressing inappropriately as well but it’s considerably more difficult for men to how as much skin in a distracting manner as it is for women. It simply is.

One aspect of the emphasis on showing so much is the visibility of tattoos. I confess I will irritate many of you further as I am not a tat person. I again do not question one’s ability to to choice permanent make up, as one Annapolis locale proudly calls it, but I do question the judgement in showing so many just as I do about women showing too much cleavage. The choice to show so much of the body in either case can be taken as manifesting insensitivity to the norms of an office. It’s subtle but hard to erase once the perception is there.

My objection is tattoos is personal based on remembering history. I grew up reminded that the overwhelming majority of men who had tattos had served in World War II, which was honourable and not a big deal. My uncle definitely had a Navy tattoo which we saw regularly.

But I also recall those who had small numbers tattooed on their wrists as permanent, painful reminders, as if needed, of their status as survivors of the Nazi death camps. These magnificent Holocaust survivors left a distinct impression on me as a child, as did their clothing that I saw years later in Jewish history classes at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Any time I see a small, relatively fine number today my mind returns to the horror of the camps.

I don’t mean today’s tattoos were supposed to be linked in any way to the camps; it never would occur to the overwhelming majority of young that the Holocaust, if they know if it, involved permanent numbers on wrists.

That is me, perhaps not many others. But, I have to wonder how many people would reconsider tattoos if they knew more about the history of its pain. Then again, history is not something that seems to appeal to many young folks as it is just too old or something.

St. Agnes outside her church near Grand Central Station. #thezenoflight

I realise that generations change the norms on everything over time, as I was part of a generation that followed my predecessors. I embrace the value of change wholeheartedly but it is foolish to assume it is without costs. I don’t mean we should never have change! I do believe we should all remember, however, that actions may have consequences that are not immediately obvious nor welcomed by everyone. The consequences, sadly, can be personal rather than abstractly educational.

I am not asking that we keep the doors closed! FIN

#thezenoflight