Reading the Daily Star at work is “sexual harrasement” whines charlie_grrl

The Daily Star IS Pornographic

Posted by charliegrrl on July 22nd, 2007

The Daily Star is a national daily newspaper, which is sexist, includes topless photos of women on Page 3 and most often a near naked woman on the front cover. Not the sort of newspaper which is work friendly…right..?

Up until a few months ago, I worked for the Dept. of Work and Pensions. When I first started, I received excellent training on diversity and equality, so I felt optimistic that I had found an employer that takes gender equality seriously. So, in my first week of training, when I saw a male security guard reading The Daily Star at reception, I thought this must be a one-off and that if I complained it would be sorted straight away. I thought that the DWP would sympathise that it is not acceptable that I should have to walk past topless and near-naked photos of women on my way into work. Well…you’d think so. Instead this was the beginning of a 10 month battle with the DWP against sexist imagery in my workplace.

I soon realised that it is common for men to read The Daily Star in work. I could not understand why these men felt it was acceptable to bring into work and read openly a newspaper that not only has topless photos of women on Page 3, but has also near naked photos of women on the front cover. I thought this must be a sign of the times, that pornographic imagery is so normalised that men don’t consider anything wrong in looking at topless women in the office. My daily experience of walking in and out of work was seeing pornographic imagery of women. Obviously this made me feel fustrated and angry.

So I complained to the people in charge of Diversity at our centre. They were sympathetic and said it would stop. But it didn’t, even after two more complaints. So I made a formal grievance. My (male) team leader and my (female) union rep said that The Daily Star is a national newspaper so they can’t do much about it. It isn’t top shelf pornography so what’s the big deal, they implied..? To which I said, The Sport isn’t a top shelf publication either, but is it acceptable to bring that into work? In meetings with them, I ensured I had a copy of The Daily Star with me as an example. When I actually confronted them with the images, they were obviously uncomfortable and seemed to understand my view. I argued that the DWP should ban The Daily Star from work premises because it is sexist and pornographic. If any colleagues looked at similar images on the internet, this would be an act of misconduct; if any colleagues pinned these up on their wall, this would be considered sexual harrassment. So the same goes for newspapers. Women at work should not have to put up with daily seeing pornographic imagery on people’s desks. I considered this to be a form of sexual harrassment, as it made my workplace uncomfortable for me as a woman. If the DWP had a commitment to the Gender Equality Duty, they would ban sexist imagery from the workplace.

Well ok well it wouldn’t be right for people to be reading porn in the workplace. But the Daily Star is hardly Playboy is it?

And walking past people looking at a newspaper which features a few topless models hardly constitutes “sexual harrasment”.

Charlie_grrl moans that she shouldn’t have to put up with seeing “sexist” images at work. Well if she will make a point of looking at them just so she can be offended and have something to complain about there isn’t much help for her.

Lol!