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

[fiddledragon.livejournal.com]

I feel like working with someone you're attracted to is something most people have to deal with sooner or later; it's not exactly a protected status. If the dentist's wife was worried about their marriage being threatened just by her husband being attracted to someone, I have to wonder how stable it was in the first place.

[eclectic-boy.livejournal.com]

Just to clarify: I wasn't pondering whether infatuation should be given some support through protected status, but whether appearance should be -- whether differential treatment because of attractiveness, ugliness, vocal timbre, personal odor, or anything in that realm should be legislated against.