only women can dress sluttily

Well, this article on MSN cheeses me right the fuck off. It's an article in the "career advice" section about how "risqué outfits" can hamper advancement in the workplace. It addresses only women. It talks about push up bras and short skirts, gives cases of women who've been in court about their advancement and their dress. Mentions men only in an attempt to pretend that the article includes them.

And this is in the "general career" section, and purports to be gender-neutral. That's what pisses me off -- I totally agree that dressing sexily is not appropriate for most office workplaces, and that it's probably even grounds for not advancing. But the disgusting gender bias of the article really gets to me.

According to Eric Matusewitch, deputy director of the New York City Equal Employment Practices Commission, the courts consider "sexy" attire to be clothing that is particularly revealing and of extreme fit, as well as excessive use of makeup.

Do men have to worry about "revealing" clothing? There's not a whole lot of a man's body that's considered inappropriate to show -- the chest is fine, for one. "Extreme fit" can apply to men as well, sure, tight jeans would be "too sexy", but I'm guessing this one is aimed mostly at chests. And as for the last, I doubt they even considered men when writing in "excessive makeup" (which, I guess, would be any).

To those who argue that this discriminates against women, Matusewitch replies, "The code applies equally to both sexes. So, if employers require men to dress conservatively, they can require women to avoid tight, flashy and revealing outfits as well."

If the code applies equally to both sexes, why is there not a single mention in this article about how men have this problem, or how men can avoid dressing inappropriately for the office? Also, look at the language here: men should "dress conservatively" -- one word, and a positive action. Women should "avoid tight, flashy, and revealing outfits" -- three words, and it's a "do not". Real equal.

Despite this article's attempt to seem generic (it's not until the third paragraph that the word "women" is mentioned), the list of guidelines consists of the following categories: skirts ("too little is too much"), tops ("a bra should be worn"), dresses ("acoid overly-snug fits"), pants ("shun [styles] that expose the midriff"), shoes ("heels should be no higher than two inches" with the assumption that heels will be worn), hair ("avoid the teased, over-processed look" ?!), and makeup ("avoid heavy eyeliner or evening lipsticks").

I'm not even going to get into the shame and body-hatred inherent in the closing "If you want a job, dress the part. If you want to show off your body... well, that's what your free time is for."

UGH! MSN, if I ever had respect for you, it's so gone.