The business-casual dress code is corporate ambiguity at its best. It’s a vague suggestion that lives somewhere between a full suit and your favorite pajamas. You’re supposed to look “professional,” a term that is often completely undefined and subject to the whims of whoever is in charge.
For women, that usually means they should look professional, but also, you know, nice. Not too nice, of course, because that’s distracting. But definitely not frumpy. For one programmer, the constant, unsolicited feedback on her appearance drove her up the wall, and she had to fight back.
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Sexism is alive and well in the workplace, and clothing is usually the first line of defense against the onslaught
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After being constantly harassed for her appearance, a programmer adopted a ‘weaponized frump’ style
Image credits: timmy09821 / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Her new ‘elderly librarian’ look successfully stopped the creepy comments, but her boss was not a fan
Image credits: Drazen Zigic / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Before a visit from executives, he asked her to stop looking so frumpy and to wear more ‘professional’ clothes
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She explained her new style was a direct response to the constant sexist comments on her body
Image credits: aWorkProblem0
Following the business-casual rulebook to a T turned out to be not provocative enough for her boss’s liking
A 23YO programmer found herself trapped in a company with a culture straight out of the 1950s. Despite being in a non-customer-facing role, she was subjected to a “business-casual” dress code and a relentless barrage of sexist comments about her body and appearance. Initially, she tried to play the game, wearing fitted slacks and fashionable blouses, only to be met with even more unwanted attention.
Fed up with the constant harassment, she adopted a brilliant new fashion strategy we can call “weaponized frump.” She started buying clothes several sizes too big, trading her tailored look for wide-leg slacks, oversized cardigans, and frumpy loafers. She was following the dress code “to the letter,” but her new “elderly librarian” aesthetic had the desired effect. Finally, the creepy compliments stopped.
This brilliant protest was working perfectly until a group of top executives scheduled a visit. Her boss, in a sudden panic, pulled her aside and asked her to “dress professionally,” gently suggesting that her clothes weren’t “carefully selected for [her] size.” She calmly explained that her current wardrobe was a direct response to the constant unsolicited comments on her body.
She was at a standoff. Her boss, while acknowledging the past harassment, clearly wanted her to go back to being visually appealing for the corporate visitors. She was left to decide if she should continue her frumpy protest in the form of malicious compliance or give in to the pressure to once again prioritize her male colleagues’ comfort over her own.
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Business experts at Indeed explain that the dress code is supposed to be about professionalism, not personal appearance. The fact that the woman’s initial, more fashionable attire invited a barrage of sexist comments highlights a deep cultural problem. Her clothing was not the issue; the inappropriate and unprofessional behavior of her male colleagues was.
Sadly, this is an all-too-common occurrence. A study highlighted by People Management found that a staggering one in four women have been asked to dress more “provocatively” for work. Her boss’s request is part of the same toxic spectrum where a woman’s appearance is treated as a professional asset to be managed for the benefit of male colleagues or clients.
The narrator’s weaponized move is a beautiful protest against a sexist and discriminatory system. Raliance highlights that dress codes often contribute to sexism by objectifying women’s bodies and creating an environment where harassment is normalized. By following the rules while refusing to be visually appealing in the traditional sense, she is brilliantly exposing the hypocrisy of her company’s culture.
The boss’s request for her to “dress professionally” for the executives, after she has explained her reasons for her new wardrobe, is a disgusting failure of his responsibility as a manager. Instead of addressing the culture problem she identified, he is asking her to once again make herself a potential target for harassment just to make a good impression. He is just sweeping the problem under the rug for a week.
Do you think the boss was hinting at something darker with his request? Share your thoughts below!
The internet erupted in applause for her brilliant approach to fighting against a toxic work culture
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