Hey all,
Anybody ever watch Legally Blonde and think, this feels like more of an indictment of “Professional Culture” than a one lampooning the patriarchy? What I see in that movie, specifically on how Elle is treated based on her clothing, is that “Professional Culture” seeks to suppress and destroy individual expression. The real villain isn't only the “patriarchy” which finds refuge in “Professional Culture”, but the elitism and staunch cultural conservatism which mandates how people should act during the working hours (which is most of our lives, unfortunately).
Leads me to my next thought, what IS “Professional Culture”?? Don't mean to get too postmodern about this, but is this not a culture dedicated to sustaining inequality within the work place? I'm all for punctuality and courtesy at work, but the fact that it matters how we dress, speak, and express ourselves is extremely unfair and antithetical to the motto of most workplaces. Seems to me a lot of “Professionalism” and what is or isn't “Professional” is extremely subjective, and up to senior members in the work place. By design, this seems exclusionary and discriminatory.
Mind you, I am aware that some white collar work places love when you dress 'out of the box'. Wear your pink blazers and green mohawks or whatever else you need to be you. They get to fetishize you and show off how 'open' their work culture is by having you. However, the buck stops at ideas and political perspectives. New neoliberal workplaces are breeding a group think, which can get you ostracized for having different ideas. Where it was once unprofessional to discuss politics at work, that is now the norm in a lot of new “progressive” workplaces. In exchange for wearing what we want, you have to give up how you think, all under the guise of “Professionalism”.
These ideas are just still some unformed early stage ideas. Let me know what you think? If any of this resonates with you, or if I come off as angsty and green and I'm just opining into the void.