Last week, a female reporter was kicked out of the Speaker’s Lobby for donning sleeveless attire. The incident reignited a debate on the long-standing Congressional dress code.
The whole ordeal went something like this:
[insert line admonishing current state of journalism]
The whole tired trope was thoroughly debunked via use of Google and the accounts of those with Hill experience. Both of which conclude the following in the most basic of terms: Congress has a dress code. Congress has always had a dress code. Dress code violators have been removed repeatedly. These are facts.
But banning sleeveless attire is clearly sexist! No. It is not. It’s a professional expectation. Try wearing open-toed shoes and sleeveless shirts in the courtroom of a strict judge and let me know how that works out.
Just for fun though, supposing it were possible for the Congressional dress code to be sexist, it’s men, not women, who get screwed. Women have the option of wearing skirts and dresses to keep cool in the sweltering summer heat, men have no such luxury and no escape from suits and ties.
In any case, The Guardian…in what I can only assume is a pathetic attempt to troll the non-debate, Hadley Freeman has the hottest of the hot takes:
That’s what? At least three inaccuracies in the headline alone? We’re off to a great start here.
Freeman uses the debunked story not to discuss the merits of dress codes, their practicality, or whether they’re disproportionately enforced, but instead goes on one helluva disjointed diatribe using ever manner of boilerplate anti-Republican platitude known to internetkind, none of which are remotely relevant or coherent to whatever argument she thinks she’s making about sexist dress codes.
A sampling (I apologize in advance for what you’re about to read):
So, even though walking-Viagra-pill Trump, woman-shunning Mike Pence and shoulder-phobic Ryan often act like raging misogynists, clearly the problem is they just love women too much. They can’t trust themselves around them – that’s how much they love women. In fact, I don’t think this rule goes far enough: Ryan should ban women from being seen in public full stop, and all menstruating women should be sent to caves, those bleeding, irresistible temptresses, until they are clean again for their husband’s consumption. Clearly this is the only way Ryan and his fellow walking boners can cope, given they only need to see a clavicle to start rubbing their thighs. Hell, ban women, full stop! Only then will the United States be safe.
And how does any of this relate to The Handmaid’s Tale? Freeman neglects to explain that bit, but the cautionary tale had to make an appearance since it’s all the rage to claim everything holding women to an adult-like standard is theocratic misogyny, out to force women into the great, vapid nothingness of procreation (despite the fabulously self-unaware irony that women, void of any other purpose in life not related to ‘reproductive freedom’ (read:abortion) is exactly what neo-feminists expect other educated women to become when it’s time to vote).
Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY
