US Courts have been giving womens rights a pounding for several years now. In this latest incident a woman has lost her job because her boss found her "Irresistibly attractive".

Story Here

The court ruled 7-0 that bosses can fire employees they see as an “irresistible attraction,” even if the employees have not engaged in flirtatious behaviour or otherwise done anything wrong. Such firings may be unfair, but they are not unlawful discrimination under the Iowa Civil Rights Act because they are motivated by feelings and emotions, not gender, Justice Edward Mansfield wrote.

Personally I fail to see how this ruling could be deemed anything other than sexist.

Canadian_Coat

Brockville, ON

September 2008

DEC 24, 2012 06:29 PM

Americans are worried about illegal immigrants coming in for better employment. I think Canada should be preparing for illegal immigrants from the US coming for human rights.

Jesus Christ that's fucked up.

semiretiredpunk

USA

March 2007

DEC 24, 2012 08:47 PM

Such firings may be unfair, but they are not unlawful discrimination under the Iowa Civil Rights Act because they are motivated by feelings and emotions, not gender, Justice Edward Mansfield wrote.

Which is total bullshit. Unless the boss is bi,
gender has everything to do with it.

Would they argue that firing people for being black would be motivated by the feelings and emotions of a racist employer too?

MissyMalice

USA

May 2010

DEC 24, 2012 08:57 PM

semiretiredpunk said:

Would they argue that firing people for being black would be motivated by the feelings and emotions of a racist employer too?

Yeah, it seems like a stupid distinction to me. Racism, sexism, etc... are all emotion centered issues. So... what's the difference?

Otoki

SUICIDEGIRL

Minnesota, USA

DEC 25, 2012 07:13 AM

MissyMalice said:

semiretiredpunk said:

Would they argue that firing people for being black would be motivated by the feelings and emotions of a racist employer too?

Yeah, it seems like a stupid distinction to me. Racism, sexism, etc... are all emotion centered issues. So... what's the difference?

Not to mention that this would MOST LIKELY be statistically severely skewed towards women getting fired, not men.

Bill_the_Cat

New Zealand

May 2005

DEC 25, 2012 11:22 AM

Dear Iowa,
You're supreme court judiciary is fucked in the head.
Sincerely,
Reality

Sal_

USA

October 2009

DEC 25, 2012 01:08 PM

MissyMalice said:

semiretiredpunk said:

Would they argue that firing people for being black would be motivated by the feelings and emotions of a racist employer too?

Yeah, it seems like a stupid distinction to me. Racism, sexism, etc... are all emotion centered issues. So... what's the difference?

Because everyone knows when a married guy is attracted to a woman it's entirely the woman's fault and the man bears no responsibility whatsoever.
---said noone with a brain and half a brain cell ever.(note, may not apply to anyone who had gone to law school and/or serves as a judge in a court of law in Iowa)

I am seriously having to double check what year we are in over and over this year. Did we travel back in time and just not realize it?

priapos

San Angelo, TX

October 2005

DEC 25, 2012 01:36 PM

I believe this is the same Iowa that has such an oversized role in the selection of Presidential candidates.

r00kers

Nederland, CO

February 2003

DEC 25, 2012 04:13 PM

Not to mention that this would MOST LIKELY be statistically severely skewed towards women getting fired, not men.

Gee, ya think?

They have leaned heavily on the idea of 'employment at will' to make this ruling. The ugly part is that while Otoki is very correct, they have pretended that there is equality in the ruling.

Otoki

SUICIDEGIRL

Minnesota, USA

DEC 25, 2012 04:18 PM

r00kers said:

Not to mention that this would MOST LIKELY be statistically severely skewed towards women getting fired, not men.

Yeah it's disingenuous for them to act like this is sexually neutral. That's like arguing that failing to provide parental leave affects both male and female parents equally. Sure, both parents probably want parental leave, but GENERALLY it's going to be much more problematic for women to not get said leave.

Bill_the_Cat

New Zealand

May 2005

DEC 25, 2012 06:15 PM

Bill_the_Cat said:
Dear Iowa,
You're supreme court judiciary is fucked in the head.
Sincerely,
Reality

*your

fuck

priapos

San Angelo, TX

October 2005

DEC 25, 2012 08:23 PM

Stream the video of the oral arguments, here.

... but put something soft on your desk first.

TimmyGee

United Kingdom

June 2012

DEC 26, 2012 06:49 AM

I'm just sorry this means I will never be allowed employment in the USA!!

Ahem.

Looch

Reno, NV

November 2008

DEC 26, 2012 10:06 AM

TimmyGee said:
I'm just sorry this means I will never be allowed employment in the USA!!

Ahem.

TimmyGee

United Kingdom

June 2012

DEC 26, 2012 11:09 AM

Looch said:

TimmyGee said:
I'm just sorry this means I will never be allowed employment in the USA!!

Ahem.

hahahahahahaha!

Jamila

SUICIDEGIRL

Oregon, USA

DEC 28, 2012 06:52 AM

I'm torn on this. On one hand, I would never be fired because of this. On the other hand...what? Insane!!!

CoyoteMike

Iowa City, IA

May 2006

DEC 28, 2012 07:03 AM

Jamila said:
I'm torn on this. On one hand, I would never be fired because of this. On the other hand...what? Insane!!!

And, thus, "I would totally fire you!" becomes a compliment?

BDeyeD

Toronto, ON

January 2007

DEC 28, 2012 04:31 PM

Coyote_ said:

Jamila said:
I'm torn on this. On one hand, I would never be fired because of this. On the other hand...what? Insane!!!

And, thus, "I would totally fire you!" becomes a compliment?

I'm totally torn on this, too. On the one hand, I was to unleash the doomsday device and blow up the world. On the other hand, maybe I'll just hire a master assassin to take out the judges, the dentist, the attorneys who represented the dentist, and anyone who comments online in support of this decision. Or I can just get completely loaded and yell at strangers on the internet inbetween looking at pictures of kittens. So many conflicting emotions...