http://money.cnn.com/2007/07/23/magazines/fortune/transgender_workplace.fortune/index.htm
The aftermath of his sex change . . .
“Rose kept her job as a technology manager. But she didn't get asked out to lunch much, and she was left out of the office football pool. "It was obvious that they weren't comfortable around me," she says, "and I wasn't comfortable with them not being comfortable around me." Before long, she quit.”
To be honest, I don’t know how I would personally react in this situation. While the liberal and open-minded side of me screams to react like it’s normal, or no big deal, it would be a big deal!!!! I would have no problem with the fact the my co-worker got a sex change, I would just feel like there would be this huge elephant in the room that everyone, including myself, would be wary to talk about.
Knowing me, if I knew them well enough, I would ask questions about the actual sex change, the process leading up to it, how they feel now, do they feel normal now? But I would do so at first very cautiously, I wouldn’t want to be nosy, or accidentally insult them, or make them uncomfortable.
Johnson talks about these situations, and how companies and corporations make efforts to develop programs that help teach people how to be accepting of diversity in the workplace in order to create a comfortable work environment. Many programs fail because they only deal with a crisis when it occurs, and then forget about it when the issues of privilege and oppression seem to have been dealt with.
When I think of corporations and big business, the feeling that comes to mind is how by the book and important being appropriate in the workplace is. This in mind, it’s hard for me to imagine a workplace in one of these companies that would be so laid back, and still politically correct, and yet deal with the issues of diversity, race, and sexual orientation in such a way as to not step on peoples toes, or accidentally go over the line, or insult someone.
I think many business’s see this and think How Can it be Done? And personally, I don’t blame them. Being able to address such touchy subjects in the context of a company sounds destined to create trouble.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Harajuku Girls Blog #2
http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/tokyo/harajuku_girls.htm
Obviously made popular by Gwen Stefani’s term for her backup dancers, and their impact on her own creative influences, these girls in Tokyo are the real deal. When culture, fashion, and creative little Japanese girls are put in a small area of Tokyo they become an amalgam of different cultures, resulting in their flamboyant and outlandish dress.
The U.S. has seen this kind of taste in style rear it’s head in different genres of music as well as suburban outbreaks of individualism used to assert independence from authority (as teenagers do). From punk rock, hair bands, gothic, grunge, rap, etc. and of course . . . pop, these girls take the entire mix and throw it together as an ensemble to be worn as everyday wear.
While it seems like these girls (from are westernized point of views) are dyeing for attention, or to shock people, this assumption would be missing some vital information on the average Japanese student in high school. All students and all schools (with the exception of colleges) in Japan require uniforms: skirts, knee-highs, vests, cardigans or blazers. Individualism, and independence is not stressed in the Japanese culture. Being self reliant, well put together, and keeping your outward emotions to a minimum are considered highly desirable traits in a person.
With this in mind, especially the information about school uniforms, I think it makes sense in retrospect, that a somewhat large group of people in the highly conservative country of Japan, started dressing, after school hours, in eye-catching and eccentric attire. I use the term ‘people’, because really this is a movement in Japan that encompasses both sexes. You will see similarly dressed boys with blue hair shaved in to a Mohawk, wearing flannel pants and a leather jacket, strolling along with a girl in a pink tutu, and black army boots- and not just in Harajuku!
As Hall points out in Among Cultures, change is almost always controversial, and since popular culture is usually obsessed with “the new thing” the changes popular culture always initiate, help keep popular culture in the maelstrom of controversy that it creates (pg. 311). “Popular culture not only reflects held beliefs, but it also challenges them and encourages people to adopt new beliefs . . . . . The views espoused in popular culture may well challenge traditional views within a community and often become vehicles for change” (Pg. 310).
I believe the Harajuku Girls, and the culture the help accentuate are strong reminder that not everyone wants to be a part of the crowd. As Americans we live and breath individuality, it is probably one of the most esteemed traits in our culture, as such, while we see the clothes and styles the Harajuku Girls wear, we should applaud their bravery and (our favorite trait) individualism. Which we helped to create because we gave them a lot of material to create their looks!
(483)
Obviously made popular by Gwen Stefani’s term for her backup dancers, and their impact on her own creative influences, these girls in Tokyo are the real deal. When culture, fashion, and creative little Japanese girls are put in a small area of Tokyo they become an amalgam of different cultures, resulting in their flamboyant and outlandish dress.
The U.S. has seen this kind of taste in style rear it’s head in different genres of music as well as suburban outbreaks of individualism used to assert independence from authority (as teenagers do). From punk rock, hair bands, gothic, grunge, rap, etc. and of course . . . pop, these girls take the entire mix and throw it together as an ensemble to be worn as everyday wear.
While it seems like these girls (from are westernized point of views) are dyeing for attention, or to shock people, this assumption would be missing some vital information on the average Japanese student in high school. All students and all schools (with the exception of colleges) in Japan require uniforms: skirts, knee-highs, vests, cardigans or blazers. Individualism, and independence is not stressed in the Japanese culture. Being self reliant, well put together, and keeping your outward emotions to a minimum are considered highly desirable traits in a person.
With this in mind, especially the information about school uniforms, I think it makes sense in retrospect, that a somewhat large group of people in the highly conservative country of Japan, started dressing, after school hours, in eye-catching and eccentric attire. I use the term ‘people’, because really this is a movement in Japan that encompasses both sexes. You will see similarly dressed boys with blue hair shaved in to a Mohawk, wearing flannel pants and a leather jacket, strolling along with a girl in a pink tutu, and black army boots- and not just in Harajuku!
As Hall points out in Among Cultures, change is almost always controversial, and since popular culture is usually obsessed with “the new thing” the changes popular culture always initiate, help keep popular culture in the maelstrom of controversy that it creates (pg. 311). “Popular culture not only reflects held beliefs, but it also challenges them and encourages people to adopt new beliefs . . . . . The views espoused in popular culture may well challenge traditional views within a community and often become vehicles for change” (Pg. 310).
I believe the Harajuku Girls, and the culture the help accentuate are strong reminder that not everyone wants to be a part of the crowd. As Americans we live and breath individuality, it is probably one of the most esteemed traits in our culture, as such, while we see the clothes and styles the Harajuku Girls wear, we should applaud their bravery and (our favorite trait) individualism. Which we helped to create because we gave them a lot of material to create their looks!
(483)
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