Doubler said:
Susan Arendt's argument in the hypothetical hiring question is problematic because people can have problems with a wide range of personal characteristics, including but not limited to gender, race, sexual preference, religion, political affiliation, the kind of car they drive, their sense of humour, you name it. As such disqualifying people on such characteristics is arbitrary at best, and can be outright malicious at worst.
Ultimately the only thing that really puts the workplace dynamic at risk in these cases is someone with such convictions not being professional enough to put them aside in the workplace. It's a problem with them, not with the people that they are offended by.
Never said it was a problem with the "offender," as it were. But whereas you can't choose your gender, race, sexual preference, you can choose whether or not you appear nude in a magazine. And you're absolutely right that there's always a risk of personality clash in an office place, and you can only work around it so much, but my point is if you have so many candidates to choose from, and they're all capable of doing the job, and there's an issue in place that you *know* might cause problems, why would you not simply go with a candidate that comes with less baggage? Again, let's be clear - this isn't about should you hire this particular person, it's should you hire this particular person when you can hire someone else who will do it just as well?
As for your comment about disqualifying people based on such characteristics being arbitrary...you're right. But when you have one open position and literally hundreds of qualified applicants, you will look for
any reason to thin the herd.
I was also making the point that it's utterly naive to think that certain life choices will have no impact on your hireability - or, perhaps more accurately, advertising those choices. This case is somewhat unique in that posing in a magazine is a public thing to do, unlike many of the other personal preferences we're talking about. Whether or not that's fair is irrelevant - the fact is that it is true. Should anyone give a damn about your sexual preference, or if you have mental health issues, or were a juvenile criminal, are a staunch Republican, or any number of any things that have no bearing on your ability to do your job? Of course not, that's your personal life and none of their business. But people are people, biased and predjudiced. As an employer, it makes sense to try and minimize friction inasmuch as possible and practical.
NoTroll said:
Susan's arguments and browbeating about the nude posing question is pretty offensive. Bowing to the will of people who impose their morals on other is loathsome.
Who's imposing morals on anyone? I personally couldn't care less what someone does in their off time until/unless I have to consider how that might impact their ability to function at their job. (And that's only in the case that they're my direct problem.) You seem to have misunderstood the question being raised. But that may simply be because I didn't do an effective job of explaining it.
Some people find open displays of sexuality morally offensive. That is a fact. Should they? Completely irrelevant to the discussion at hand.
Formica Archonis said:
Doubler said:
As for other people? Ehh, I can't imagine a person would sexually harass an ex-Playboy model and be all angels and cupcakes to every other woman on the face of the earth. Maybe less obvious about it, but not different. A mature and normal person doesn't magically transform into a socially retarded five-year-old because Miss July is within 40 feet.
Sexually harrass? Perhaps, perhaps not. If you've followed any of the #1reasonwhy comments, you might reconsider just brushing that aside as being so unlikely. I don't think that would happen in the vast majority of places, no. Even if nothing like that happens, coworkers being extra awkward or even downright hostile? That I can see, yes.
Also, let's consider situations like Jade Raymond, who was simply pretty while talking about a game. The public reaction was at times, utterly disgusting. (Go ahead and search for the comic about gamers ejaculating all over her. It's delightful.) So even if the problem doesn't come from coworkers, it can come from the audience.