NobodyAskedForThis · @NobodyAsksForIt
14th Nov 2014 from TwitLonger
I landed a craft on a meteor and I'm a terrible person.
Today I landed a spacecraft on a meter traveling at insane speed with gravity much lower than that on planet earth. I had to send instruction 28 minutes ahead of time to take into consideration the amount of time it would take to send/receive instructions. Just the other day, people were celebrating my tattoos, saying I was an example of how, just because of the way someone looks, it doesn't mean they're capable of less and can accomplish just as much as any clean shaving, white collar individual.
Then I got dressed.
Suddenly women were telling me I was a sexist. Men too. I was setting back women's rights and objectifying them. I was forced to apologize for daring to dress in such a way in public. I can accomplish anything, no matter how I look. But that doesn't include how I dress.
I feel like I need to dress according to how other people tell me. As if my appearance should be decided by what offends others.
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Today I went to work. I'm a woman who works in a research lab and I have a myriad of jobs. Gene sequencing, collecting RNA samples, tagging specimens. But today I was called into my bosses office.
He told me I was dressing inappropriately. I was wearing a baby doll tee under my lab coat that read "Future Back Problems" across my bust. I was told it was distracting for other male employees and that it brought down the tone and credibility of the research lab I was asked to dress more appropriately at work from now on. I ended up wearing a shirt the next day with shirtless men on the front and was written up on the spot.
I recorded the conversation & incident and took it to the Internet and garnered instant support. Telling a woman how to dress based on what men find arousing or uncomfortable was clearly sexist and I shouldn't be shamed for my choice of clothing. My boss was reprimanded and demoted, especially when it was discovered that I was asked to submit an apology for choosing to wear the clothes I did.
I feel empowered and like we are living in a time where we can expect greater equality. Like I can express myself and my femininity through how I dress without fear of shaming and negative backlash.