Saturday, August 14, 2010

Double Standard

In Seinfeld episode #106 from season 6 called "The Beard", George Costanza rails at his friends for setting him up with a bald woman. However, they could not understand what he was so perturbed about, after all, he was bald too. ... Hmmm ... I'm afraid that I must side with George here. I mean, it may sound like a double standard, but a man being bald is part of nature. A woman who is bald is just a freak show. You can yell at me, thrown dirt on my shoes, and kick my puppy, but deep down inside, you surely harbor the same opinion. What is acceptable and tolerated for a man is a big no-no for a woman in many ways. A good example is peeing. Men are decreed by nature to stand up when they pee, but if a woman is known to attempt this maneuver, she will certainly be removed as chairperson of the Rotary Club.

O.K., let's move on to another example. This is one that seems so obvious to me, but alas and alack, someone is clearly not getting it. There is a woman I know at work who, being a foreigner from another country, has a reputation for being classy and sophisticated. Some have labeled her as fashion conscious or fashion forward. She owns fancy european handbags and wears expensive shoes from Gucci and Ferragamo (or perhaps it is Ferrigno?). She can be seen one day with a handmade silk scarf and the next with a huge diamond brooch. It all just screams elegance. But something is now amiss, and I am at a loss. Perhaps it is the old double-standard coding in my male brain.

The issue is that every single day this week, she has worn the same dress. I would think that a lady of refinement and sophistication would dare not wear the same clothing twice in the same decade let alone five days in a row for fear of the fashion repercussions of having someone recognize it as a repeat! I am starting to think that perhaps I need to organize an intervention or something. I think somebody needs to set this woman straight. Of course, the same situation or judgement does not apply to men. I mean, I wear the same jeans to work day after day after day and nobody, as far as I know, has ever cast aspersions on me for doing this. But I mean come on! I would never dream of showing up to work even two days in a row wearing the same dress! Talk about your faux pas.