I couldn't believe it when I read this news report.
The all male Iowa Supreme Court ruled that is was legal for a boss to fire an employee because he found her physically irresistible? This really strikes me as male privilege. Would the court have ruled differently if they had some female judges?
The boss consults with a senior pastor at his church who advises he fire the woman to "protect his marriage?" Seriously? A Christian pastor believes firing the employee is the Christ like way to handle the situation? The boss subsequently arranges a meeting between his pastor, himself, and the woman and tells her she's fired?
She had worked for him for 10 years.
According to the article, the woman didn't do anything wrong. Her boss just found her physically irresistible and he decided to fire her rather than deal with it. I'm not a legal expert, but couldn't his behavior be construed as sexual harassment?
"Dr. Knight acknowledges he once told Nelson that if she saw his pants bulging, she would know her clothing was too revealing," the justices wrote.
What about the text message asking how often she experienced orgasms?
I hesitated to write this diary. I understand how much it hurts to have people make fun of you, look down on you, and not want to be around you. But I don't have a woman's perspective. Therefore, I wasn't sure I should write the diary.
I don't fault Dr. Knight for finding someone physically attractive or even irresistible. This can and does happen in thousands of workplaces. I fault him for how he handled it. He was arrogant enough to make the comments he did and to think he had the right to tell her what she could and couldn't wear, and being heartless enough to fire her on top of it. I fault him for receiving and failing to recognize what I consider to be bum Christian counseling.
I not a psychologist or relationship expert either. If this happened to me, I would have gone to a professional counsoler and asked for help in dealing with this if it interfered with my work that much. I would have been humble enough to recoginize this would require work on my part, not firing the employee who had nothing to do with this.
Any thoughts? Hopefully positive discussion.