🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <9107300638.AA11696@wubios> david@wubios.wustl.edu (David J. Camp) writes:
>Do you know of any women that are offended with a comment like
>"bright-eyed and pretty?"  Is it an attempt to dominate the recipient?

Yes, yes.  A comment like "bright-eyed and pretty" in a professional
context (are you an undergraduate, or what?) is wildly inappropriate
and most women programmers/engineers I know *would* be offended.  In
fact, when I was leading a group at one of the national supercomputer
centers, one of the operators commented on how great it was to have
all these "pretty girls" around (there were several women in my group).
One of the women in the group asked me to talk with them about the
inappropriateness of the comment.  The reason that it's an attempt to
dominate the object of the comment is that it trivializes her.

BTW, your definition of feminism is not widely accepted.

>I find women very attractive.  That I express it gives me no shame.

At the extreme, this leads to sexual harrassment.  Women are *not* in
the profession in order for you to comment on our appearance.  That you
have no understanding of appropriate professional behavior should be a
source of considerable embarrassment.
-- 
                  Software longa, hardware brevis
Melinda Shore - Cornell Information Technologies - shore@tc.cornell.edu