Men are always thinking of one thing: hard-learned truth, or destructive gender stereotype? Discuss.

[eclectic_boy]

"the consequences of this widespread belief that boys and men are constantly addled to the point of harm, is, of course, to punish girls and women"

And, because I ought to start with my own thoughts, I'm trying to weigh the unfairness to both the dentist and the dental assistant. What protected-class status should be given to looks? Should the dentist's attraction be considered a disability, and what accommodations are appropriate for ameliorating such a disability? Relatedly, when I think about the argument for telling the dentist to just control himself and deal with it, I get strong resonances with the notion of telling someone with depression to "just cheer up".

Comments

[randysmith]

Isn't the issue one of responsibility? I'm not sure whether it's societal conditioning, genetic inclination, or a little bit of both, but I'm inclined to believe that men in this society are on average somewhat more distracted by/pulled by an attractive member of the appropriate sex than women are (and yes, this is the most shallow description of the pattern--there are all sorts of mainstream interactions initiated from both sides that come from this that I'm not digressing into). But even assuming this asymmetry, who has primary responsibility for someone's feeling of attraction; that person, or the person to whom they are attracted? The answer strikes me as obvious, but our society doesn't seem to agree.

[randysmith]

(Having actually read your thoughts rather than just the article) It's not so much telling the dentist to just control himself and deal with it as it is saying that he's the person who has to find a solution (which might be "just deal", might be installing CCTV cameras that his wife can watch, might be negotiating with his assistant for her to leave voluntarily (with extra pay?)). It's not his assistant's responsibility. It's not fair to him looked at in isolation, but it's the least unfair thing overall. If I'm depressed and hire employees, they don't have the responsibility to deal with my depression (unless that was why I hired them, i.e. they're a therapist).

[eclectic-boy.livejournal.com]

Well, it's *an* issue. But things are rarely *the* issue. In this case, another issue is whether a private employer is allowed to fire someone for any reason, for reasons excepting those involving a protected status, for only reasons directly related to their proven performance, or what.