TroubleMaker13

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Sexism

One of our cat, Lupe was cleaning herself. I took these in a series of pictures and put them together. No audio, so don't bother. Enjoy!

Sunday, February 01, 2009

I saw this when I was browsing Huffington Post. Click on link to go to the source.
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Female Bank of England Employees Must Wear Makeup and Heels from NY Mag

Well, this is appalling: Earlier this week, the Bank of England held "Dress for Success" day. On that day, they sent out a memo to female employees detailing just how they should dress for success, important now more than ever in These Economic Times, the worst financial crisis Britain's dealt with since the Depression. WWD obtained a copy of the memo:

“Look professional, not fashionable; be careful with perfume; always wear a heel of some sort — maximum 2 inches; always wear some sort of makeup — even if it’s just lipstick.” Shoes and skirt must be the same color. No-no’s include ankle chains — “professional, but not the one you want to be associated with;” white high heels; overstuffed handbags; an overload of rings, and double-pierced ears.

On behalf of all women at the BOE, excuse us? A woman can dress almost exactly opposite to these rules — in black flats, with gray trousers, no makeup, and a giant handbag — and still look professional and chic. We understand the need to enforce a dress code, but mandating heels of a certain color, makeup, and degree of handbag-filling is ridiculous. What about rules for the men? It wouldn't hurt BOE governor Mervyn King and deputy governor Sir John Gieve to wear ties that aren't so loud — set an example if you're so concerned about color-coordination, gentlemen. And while you're forcing women to wear two-inch heels, you should, too. Sarko does it, after all.
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I will be fine with this kind of memo IFF the memo also addresses men's dress code. But only women? And down to the very detail: "maximum 2 inches", "Shoes and skirt must be the same color". I don't see how the economic crisis has anything to do with the female dress code, unless the male employees are perverts.... Well, I guess I rest my case with my P.I.N.K. post....

Saturday, January 24, 2009

P.I.N.K.

MC and LL was here this past week and we got to talk a little. MC bought a Wii Fit for her son and she was looking for a silicon cover for the Wii Fit. We saw some blue, pink and clear cover. I suggested her to buy the pink one, just for kick. She didn't because her son is not going to like it. Last night, we were chit-chatting and one thing led to another, we noticed that the majority of male in western world has a learnt dislike for pink color. Given our academic background and the male population that we deal with, this dislike is especially pronounced.

I was telling MC and the rest that someday, when I finally decided to go into academic, I will make sure that the color pink is prominent in everything. For example, I will photocopy everything on pink paper, that includes the exams, course syllabus, homework assignment. The power point presentation background will be in pink color as well. I will also make sure that any homework that they submit in printed form has to be printed on pink paper. If the students have to present, pink shirt is the uniform, pink tie is optional, but pink shirt is required. Its either pink shirt or you do not present and get zero grade for the presentation.

I do not have special preference for pink, in fact, pink is not even close to be in my preferred color list. Call me sadist, masochist, sadomasochist or whatever you want, but this is my way of letting the male population know what its like for female to live in the world dominated by male and dictated by male. When you do not dress according to their dress code, you will not be taken seriously. If the your clothes look too much like male style, they perceive you as a threat; if it is too colorful or the cut is a little too complex, they see you as being 'female' and not serious about your job. The worst part, if your clothes are not conservative enough, i.e. a little revealing or it makes you look sexy, all they think about when they see you is "sex", its time for you to change your job. Well, I don't want to go on ranting on the glass ceiling that female has to face when working in the field dominated by male. I just know that as a female, in addition to the fact that you have to look 'right', you definitely have to be visibly better than your male counterpart if you want to win the job.

According to my boss, education is the key to reform. To right this wrong, we have to start with education. Like my boss says, education is the best way to change the world and that's why he is in education and not in industry. So my first step will be to teach them to respect female, to teach them other than the anatomical and physical differences, male and female are equally capable when it comes to brain power. I have to let them know and let them experience the oppressions that female experience on their job, such as dealing with the color pink, the least favorite color in the male population. Well, all in all, doing a decent job as an educator is a tough, and I am definitely not up for that challenge yet.

MC has a another idea. She is going to make all her students in her graduate class sit like a female. I will do the same too if the law in this country allows. But, this is definitely a good suggestion for future reference.

Saturday, October 04, 2008

Susan G. Komen Race for Cure

It was a breezy morning. NW, PA and I went to the Susan G. Komen Foundation Race for Cure in Lubbock. This is my first time attending. It was quite a big event. I wasn't paying much attention when the MC annouced the statistics, but I think I heard something like 7000 participants in this event this year. I was five minutes late when I arrived at the rendezvous. PA was there already. NW arrived 20 minutes late, because she had to find a good spot to park her car and that, took her 20 minutes.

Before the race, we checked out the vendor area. A lot of local restaurants, eateries and supermarkets set up their stalls and providing food and drink for free. We had some donut, coffee and McDonald's apple slices (yes, you got it right, its McDonald's apple slices). Ford as usual (according to NW) was giving out the "Warrior in Pink" scarf and of course, we picked up our scarf. We then walked over to the Covenant Mobile Mamogram bus because NW was interested in checking it out. We found out that without health insurance, it will cost $81 for a mamogram and there will be another consultation fee for a doctor to read and interpret the mamogram. The RN did not tell us exactly how much is the consultation fee.

We decided two against one that we will go for a one mile stroll (note: not walk) instead of a 5K run. PA insisted that we should go for 5K, since she went to bed at 3 a.m. and woke up at 7 a.m., we should get our time worth. We joined the crowd and stroll through the one mile. As part of our ritual, some one has to ask "Are we there yet?". This time, NW had the honor to do the job. We finally got to the end of the one mile, we did it in approximately 20 minutes. What a record.

After we got back, we had our real breakfast: grilled sausage, lots of yogurt (Yoplait, where if you mail the pink cover in, Yoplait will contribute 10c each to Komen foundation), more McDonald's apple slices, Keva juice, more sausages, ice-cream. On our way out, NW and I picked up a number of water bottles. It was a fruitful morning, though we didn't really exercise, we didn't sweat and we ate a lot for a breakfast, but it was still very enjoyable, especially when you are having funs with your good friends .

We didn't take any pictures this morning, since none of us actually thought of bringing our camera. However, I do have some pictures from the Race for Cure to share. This is also the reason why this post is a few days late. Here you go:

Fluffy for the Cure. She is wearing the Warrior in Pink scarf in these pictures. Fluffy supports the breast cancer movement as well. I am so proud of her!!

FYI: Susan G. Komen for the Cure is "the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures."