Senator’s Sexist Event On Teaching ‘Feminine Presence’ Unsurprisingly Canceled

5:15 pm, July 3rd | by Laura Donovan

In high school, some of my distant male relatives suggested I enroll in finishing school to be more “ladylike.” But they had nothing to say when I raised a valid point: That a person couldn’t find any finishing schools in the bay area, as people there are evolved enough to know how absurd and, to borrow a phrase from She’s the Man, “archaic” those courses can be.

Yet Senator Marty Golden, who set up a career development event on “Posture, Deportment and the Feminine Presence,” doesn’t get it. Though the old school gathering has since been removed from the calendar, the fact that someone even thought to schedule it is worrisome. The canceled gig would have taught participants how to “sit, stand and walk like a model” and “walk up and down a stair elegantly.” Because it’s never too late to pursue modeling, right?

While I agree having good posture is important, especially for desk-bound employees, slouching affects males as well as females. Let’s not gear an event specifically toward women if the provided information is just as applicable to dudes. Democratic Sen. Liz Krueger put it best when she said, “Perhaps this would be appropriate on Mad Men, but not in New York in the 21st century.”

[Via Politicker]

TAGS: marty golden