Suitability and Propriety

1
We work out our moral sensibility through sitcoms.

I remember seeing many TV episodes in the 70's that dealt with women who had posed for men's magazines and were struggling with the pictures coming out after they'd achieved some notoriety, or were marrying a man that was getting some notoriety, like a politician.

Invariably the story portrayed the woman as young, naive, needing money, and just making a poor judgment call; other characters would sympathize and tell the woman not to be ashamed, the human body is a beautiful thing.

Popular media is often a reflection of popular sentiment, and the 70's saw a lot of debate on pornography; episodes like this captured our anxiety and tolerance of the infant porn industry.

Those story lines were edgy for their time, but now seem naive, like Mrs Brady finding a pack of cigarettes in Greg's jacket, or Sheriff Taylor teaching Opie how to box so he can defend himself from a bully, or Barney Miller arresting a gay man and less enlightened characters thinking they can "catch" whatever he's got that makes him gay. [1]

[2010-10-26]

2
Say something else in that ear.

"God in his infinite wisdom has at every turn thwarted my attempts to gain an exaggerated sense of self-importance."

--Clarence 0ddbody

[2010-10-23]

 

3
Dress Codes

My office is business casual. Like most modern businesses, it has a very generous dress code that allows comfort and flexibility and conceals a cultural discomfort with certain parts of the human body.[2]

One of the rules is that you cannot wear jeans except on special days; these days are rare and often associated with large sporting events or business goals.

You can, if you wish, wear denim above the waist. Just not below.

I mentioned this fashion bipolarity many years ago to some colleagues that are no longer with the company. One responded with a good-natured laugh.

He saw the irony, but not the absurdity.[3]

[2012-10-23]

c0

[1]
I'm not gay, but had an abiding sympathy for characters like like Jack De Leon on Barney Miller, played by Marty Morrison. I didn't laugh at them, and they weren't scary; I wanted to get to know them; they somehow seemed gentle and safe. Perhaps there was a gay man in my youth that sensitized me to this; I don't know. There was no homophobia in my house, just as there was no racism or intolerance of other kinds; there was, however, a strong sense of right and wrong, and homosexuality was considered a sin. I do not share that view as an adult.

[2]
Social anthropologists 1,000 years hence will have a very clear picture of what those parts are by analyzing these rules. They have enormous cultural and linguistic value; they reveal how weather affects our dress, for example (which is practically unnecessary in a climate-controlled building), and how we use euphemistic language to refer to things we're uncomfortable addressing directly.

[3]
I suspect, but cannot be sure, that the prohibition against jeans stems from the large number of business leaders who rose from modest means and associate denim with manual labor. I believe my Grandpa Grandy, LaVerne E Grandy, probably fell into that category; as you may recall, he went from farm boy to SVP of GTE in the 1970s.

If you asked Grandpa why jeans shouldn't be worn to work, he might say something to the effect of, "Well, I don't know, probably for the same reason I don't wear my dress slacks when I'm gardening." It would be a matter of suitability, not propriety, at least not most of the time.

c0