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Comment by nicenewtemp84 | Hacker News Reader

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This would make sense if we were lizards, but it turns out we're humans with agency. The way that you describe it, the only way men can control primal instincts of having orgies on the streets is to make everyone wear a burka.

Everyone likes looking attractive. Just because a guy works out doesn't means that he's ready for quickie in the bathroom.

We definitely are humans with agency. I use mine to mostly avoid women at work.

Women use theirs to accent colors in their hair, brighten their lips, make their smell travels several feet around them, color their nails, and wear tight clothing that accents their body.

>"Women use theirs to accent colors in their hair, brighten their lips, make their smell travels several feet around them, color their nails, and wear tight clothing that accents their body."

Weird how this is the only thing you seem to point to women doing, and then you project all this back onto them as it being the only thing they care about. Wooooooof.

In my experience, the women I work with primarily do their jobs. Some of them, incredibly well.

That's up to you. I personally find it fun to meet people and I prefer being near nice smells. It doesn't mean that a rose perfume makes me uncontrollable.

Most perfumes aren't even naturally sexy smells. It's not like people are pumping pheromones in the air.

I think it is perfectly possible and normal to expect men to act decently despite whatever sexual urges they may feel, and the same goes for women.

1) no one is perfect. That's why there are locks on executive doors and drawers, even though companies 'trust' their employees.

2) even men acting 'decent' can be a problem. What if the men are so decent, so often, that it makes the woman uncomfortable. I help my male coworkers once in a while. A beautiful young girl I might help much more often. Multiply that by every male employee and this woman will be drowning in 'decent' attention.

1) Right, you have locks on the doors. You don't not hire entire genders of employees because they may or may not steal...

2) lol, no.

1) you avoid hiring thieves. Companies do this everyday through background checks. Similar to how this company avoided hiring an extra hot woman. Since you can't not hire men, you have to resort to removing the problem from the other side.

2) lol, yes.

1) So according to you, the entire gender is the issue. That's facially gender discrimination. I'm not sure what's so difficult about this for you to understand.

2) No. You are the problem. You have a backwards perspective that barely grants women agency, let alone treats them as equals. And you are incredibly hung up over the fact that some women ARE attractive. For most normal people, that doesn't get in the way of us working. Not sure why it's a problem for you.

You seem to have trouble with words or basic logic.

Almost every post on this thread here talks about many women making choices to sexualize the workplace. I did not say I have a problem with people with breasts. I have a problem with someone accenting their breasts, and showing the top portion of them, at work. This isn't a gender issue, it's an actions issue.

2) I do think women have agency. You're the one acting like they are soulless blobs that can't make proper decision on how to look in the work place. And I have zero problems with women, but there are all types in a company and you shouldn't ignore that.

For example, I don't steal. But I wouldn't leave a laptop on the passenger seat of a parked car. This has nothing to do with my own personal actions.

You are projecting, again. You view women’s appearance as sexualizing the workplace. And everyone else views it as them… showing up to work. The problem is in your perspective and your assessment of your female colleagues, which so far you’ve only described as being capable of focusing on their tits, their asses, and other sexual displays in the work place. It speaks to your focus and not reality. I work with women all the time and don’t have literally ANY of the problems you describe (and, not coincidentally, I also do not have your troubled view as to what women actually spend their time thinking about and doing)..

I’m not acting like women are soulless blobs. You have determined what you think is an appropriate way for women to dress (weird) and then get angry when women don’t comply with it! Not sure what that has to do with me at all, let alone my view of women, to be perfectly honest.

That's just inhumane.

That is a ridiculous response to what I wrote; it's not in any way an injustice to be required not to sexually harass other people.

Both women and men are very capable of interacting normally and forming productive working relationships with members of the opposite sex, regardless of how attractive they are.

Definitely they are capable. Proof is obviously the fact that the world goes on and pretty girls have successful careers and jobs. But it's not without its risks. Even Bill Gates can't keep his hands off employees or young girls he met through Epstein (the Russian bridge player that came out a few days ago)

Wait - you think this is all a reason why you can behave the way you described? There is something deeply troubled with you. I'm sorry that I'm so rude, but it's obviously true. And for what it's worth, as rude as this post might seem, it pales in comparison to the estimations of the entire female sex that you have expressed in this thread.

> If a man wore clothes that accented his groin.

Can you explain this more? I'm curious why that specifically is used as an example. Walk me through the line of thought if you don't mind.

Women often wear clothes that accents their breasts and butts, which have strong sexual connections. The most similar example I could think of was a guy showing off his penis the way women show off their breasts.

Men demonstrate their sexual power differently: 1- confidence 2- intelligence 3- ambition, 4- sense of humor, etc. Physical appearance is just one among many attributes (attractive people are attracted to attractive people, other people may emphasize other attributes—just an observation).

And this groin accent, this is something that women find distracting in your culture and it would give men a competitive advantage?

Yes I do believe women would find it very distracting if mens penises were outlined closely at work. Mostly for negative reasons, because women find most average men unattractive in general.

Yes I think it would give attractive men with large penises a competitive advantage.

Somebody please come put their incel back in its box. Please.

I've 38 years old and been with approximately 50 women, just so you can recalibrate your incel meter.

It's not changing anything of my view about you, considering what else you wrote here.

This is basically your #1 fault. You make a stupid claim. I tell you more details and ask you to adjust your worldview based on the info you've received. You then say "nope, not changing a thing!"

There's actually nothing stupid about maintaining the fact that you come off like an incel, despite you insisting that you've gotten laid.

Or, your idea of an incel is incorrect. To me, you are close to an incel type because lameness makes women disgusted. I guess we'll never know...

No, it's pretty spot-on and you are espousing many of the ideas. That you once allegedly gotten laid, or even a few times, doesn't really change that. You don't actually need to never have had sex to be an incel. It's a mindset. You can disagree with me all you want about that. I don't really care because you have not posted ONE reasonable point in this entire damn thread!

> To me, you are close to an incel type because lameness makes women disgusted.

It's not a surprise you think that. All your posts here are reactive nonsense, "flipping the script" almost literally sometimes in order to defend your regressive views that don't comport with today's society.

We have a great opportunity here- the revival of the codpiece!

Or at least the use of packers. Oddly, enough we don't seem to see men utilizing these apparatuses too often. Given their supposed advantage, I wonder, why is this?

There is some historical evidence this is possible within societies. See Léon Cogniet's Louis Philippe I[1]. However, I don't exactly have any evidence that our society today, specifically in the workplace, that this holds true.

1. Painting, 1792. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L%C3%A9on_Cogniet_-_...

You don't see them because men would be fired for sexualizing their sexual organs the way women do.

Why don't you subscribe to the more reasonable explanation that accenting male genitalia doesn't confer an advantage and instead seem to be advocating for a "it does, but it's illegal," stance which doesn't seem to be rooted in reality?

Based on your comments, what seems to be driving your position instead is an assumption that there is a grave social injustice aimed at men. Is it not?

My main point is that women are already so coddled, and allowed to use their sexuality in the work place so much, that OPs company not hiring one chick is basically irrelevant.

Is this unlike the idea that women's bodies are inherently sexual? The idea that women's sexuality has power over men (usually as described by men) comes up a lot in discussions about the sexualization of women's bodies. Is this something different than that?

Is the idea that women spend an absurd amount of money to look hot at work similar to the idea that womens bodies are sexual in the first place? I think women sexualize themselves for the most part. Obviously there are some conservative women, and some full on prostitutes with day jobs, so sure all types exist. But in general I think women use their sexuality too much at work.

> I think women use their sexuality too much at work.

When you mention "using sexuality at work," what is your mental model for this?

Is it something other than:

- A woman does something that I perceive as sexual

- She benefits from this because either my peers or myself respond to this favorably

- This connotes an advantage she has over them or myself

- This puts me at a comparative or direct disadvantage compared to her

Let's refocus back on the codpieces, folks, we have a good idea here.

Your immediate go to is to blame this hypothetical woman for what she is wearing.

That strikes me as troubling.

I didn't blame anyone for anything. I asked why it's ok for women to accent sexual features at work.

I'd guess that for many of the folks reading this page, your focus on their sexual features is more curious than whether you're blaming anyone.

Even in the full knowledge of the purported origins of lipstick, it's interesting that you think a woman getting dressed for office in a traditional, largely expected fashion, is trying to "mimic sexual excitement".

What's your reasoning for this?

I'm not sure how padded pushup bras, glossy lips, and tight fitting clothes became "largely expected". I don't think any father or husband pushes the women in their lives to do this, so I have to assume it's done by women for their own reasons.

I like to think of women as intelligent people so I assume they are aware of what they are doing.

You are aware when your coworker wears a padded pushup bra? Are you measuring her breasts? I'm so confused by your statements.

>I like to think of women as intelligent people so I assume they are aware of what they are doing.

Uhhh, I think we found the problem, and it's you.

Are you saying me thinking professional working are intelligent and know what they are doing..... Is a problem?

No, that's an absurd characterization of your perspective, one in which the entirety of your dismissal of female agency and equivalence as individuals is minimized in order to treat them like walking sex objects whose primary function is to make you horny. It's called projecting.

To play devils advocate: I don't think conscious intent is relevant to the argument

How often do you see a woman in office without a makeup? (personally--never, therefore the question on why is it considered appropriate stands)

> Is there any way to fix one of the main biological drives of the majority of your employees?

What a weird world you live in when this is considered a reasonable defense...

"Your honor - she had big hoo-ha's, and I'm a man" - that's YOU

That wouldn't be a defense to get away from your actions. But it could be a reason or contributing factor.

If you get a DUI, it doesn't matter than you found out your wife was cheating at you. But it could explain why you went to a bar after work.

So? It's completely irrelevant to the DUI... you wouldn't be able to bring it up in court. It has no bearing on any fact in dispute.

That was my point. It obviously doesn't get you out of the bad action you did.... But bad actions don't always come from nowhere. People are flawed.

Except - that’s not a winning point here. There is no expectation that people not be flawed - there is the expectation that you don’t drive drunk. That’s what the law requires. Similarly, the law doesn’t require you to be perfect and not have flaws in the office, the law requires you to not sexually harass people in the office. It’s pretty simple but you manage to repeatedly try and make it seem complicated by bringing in irrelevant factors like whether people are flawed or not - there was never any question as to whether or not people are flawed.

It's not biological.

It's social, and learned behavior.

Men liking 22 year old fit healthy women is a social construct, not biological?

Parent is making a comment that male behavior is socially mediated in terms of which behaviors are socially acceptable and which ones aren't. This is because we're talking about changing the company culture. Company culture is partially a set of context-specific social norms and values.

No one is talking about moderating the cognitive experience of males which is where this confusion originates. Everyone else is talking about male behavior. The assumption I'm specifically tackling is the assumption that, "male cognition overrides social norms," which is patently false.

It's not about being attracted, it's about how you act towards someone.

I guess OPs company just didn't want their employees to have to act like they they arent attracted to someone 2000 hours a year when they are. Similar to how most tech company employees have trouble acting decent to a coworker wearing a trump hat at work. Ideally we could all be neutral cyborgs at work, but we just aren't.

Weird - do you have trouble walking down the street when an attractive woman is present. Do you have to talk to her? Howl like a wolf? Bark like a dog? I don't understand what exactly happens when an attractive woman is present that you suddenly cannot behave normally?

I behave perfectly normally. But this isn't a thread about me, it's about the employees at OPs company. The management team must have known that with the amount of men they have hired, atleast a few might be prone to getting weak for women. So they took action.

I also dont steal. But I know thieves exist.

So if you can behave perfectly normally in the streets - why can't you behave perfectly normally in the office? You are the one saying that it's actually normal that men react this way, but I don't think so. My experiences don't match that at all. I work in an office with women, they don't get harassed and we've never not hired someone because they are or aren't attractive. So you can keep pointing to vague truisms that have nothing to do with anything (I don't steal but I know thieves exist). Yeah, I don't steal either, and when someone does, I call the cops. I don't live my life in fear of people stealing. I don't treat entire categories of people (you here perform the incredibly ridiculous task of equating the entire gender of women to 'thieves' because apparently all women think the same according to you...) based upon that notion, yet you do.

I'm tired of all your confused points. Nowhere did I say I have trouble at work but not on the street. Nowhere did anyone say anything about women in general not working at OPs company. It was clear this was an attractive woman by these guys standards, not some average woman.

My points aren't confused, buddy. You are. You are very confused about women and what they think about you, what they spend their time doing, and why they do it.

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