6 ms·
Both. The entire concept of "professionalism" is based around the idea that certain people should be dishonest about themselves in public, for the sake of other
by Brananarchy 3y ago
Both. The entire concept of "professionalism" is based around the idea that certain people should be dishonest about themselves in public, for the sake of others' comfort.
- JohnFen 3y agoI entirely disagree with that being what the concept of "professionalism" is based on, but I'm also not entirely sure what you're alluding to here, so grain of salt.
- Brananarchy 3y agoPrimarily, I'm alluding to it being considered "unprofessional" for queer people to be themselves in the workplace, as that is the particular thorn I've been pricked with. But there are other fun ways "professionalism" has been used to oppress people - from the way Women are expected to dress, to Black hair being treated as unacceptable.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- JohnFen 3y agoOK, so you aren't really talking about professionalism. You're talking about people using a phony excuse to enable outright discrimination -- which is itself very unprofessional behavior.
- kube-system 3y agoIf someone isn't capable of being honest without making their coworkers socially uncomfortable, I don't think the honesty is a redeeming quality.
- Brananarchy 3y agoIf a coworker can't handle a woman wearing pants instead of a skirt, can't handle a black person wearing their hair in a way that's comfortable, or can't handle a queer coworker dressing in queer ways... They're the problem. Not the person who's "unconventional". All of those things have been called "unprofessional" as a way to oppress minorities.
- strken 3y agoCovertly flirting with your female colleague in ambiguous ways after she asked you not to and then pretending you didn't do anything, asking your black colleague if he "knows any rappers", and wearing a dress to a company dress-up party when you are in no way trans then claiming to be "trans until tomorrow" and laughing loudly are also all unprofessional.
- Brananarchy 3y agoHow is any of that related to the issues I raised? I never argued that any of that was acceptable. I'm not arguing that anyone should be able to do anything in the workplace, and that is a bad-faith reading of what I said. People are assholes. And assholes need to be dealt with. But the term "professional" is consistently abused as a tool to oppress people. I am arguing that the general (American) expectations of "professionalism" are deeply influenced by hateful people, and we should question those standards.
- strken 3y agoMy point was that general expectations are exactly what professionalism is and they reflect the broader society you're in, and there's nothing wrong with professionalism as a concept that isn't also wrong with everything else. We shouldn't question professionalism in isolation because there's no point to doing so: it's just a convenient mirror of broader society used to beat on workplaces for doing what everyone else is also doing.
- siddle 3y agoThat last one may well be professional enough to win you business awards, if you do it boldly enough - as in the case of Credit Suisse director Pips Bunce: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/outrage-male-bank-director-who-13293001 https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/outrage-male-bank-dire...