The Cow wondered whether they could afford any, appropriate or not. And not just because of policies; there were also the attendant health risks, productivity risks, and economic risks to consider. But it was easier to hide behind the policies than admit to those. Troubled, she reported the incident to Gramsci.
"Is political correctness the new fascism?" Gramsci asked. It seemed like an odd question, conflating historicity and political philosophy and vernacular use of terminology in mind-boggling ways. She wished she had a drink at hand, hoping to trigger some link to IQ.
On reflection, she recalled a recent meeting where an academic had called for closer interrogation of the messages being put out on the public spaces on Campus, and had gone on to cite an example from her - the lecturer's - own recent experience. She had, she told the meeting, just been teaching a text on rape, and making the connection to the students between the way women's bodies were portrayed and sexual violence. She'd then walked to the Library, where she was confronted with two young women in extremely short skirts handing out flyers. This portrayal of women's bodies immediately brought to mind the text she'd just been teaching, leaving her with a great sense of unease.
At which point, the Cow rose to chair the next session. Dressed in a rather short skirt.
It wasn't quite a call for a dress code - unlike Prof Ritalin's. Nor did the lecturer actually say that women who dressed in short skirts were responsible for their - or someone else's - subsequent rape. But the message was out there - short skirts were not good. Exposing women's bodies was not good. Women's bodies were not good? Perhaps.
"So is raunch culture liberating or oppressive?" sighed the Cow. Opinion was divided on this, it seemed. Even - or especially - feminist opinion. She longed for the Old Days, when the enemy was easy to identify by the dangly bits between his legs, or what he drank, or where he lived. These days, it was all much too complex. Perhaps a dress code would make things simpler. If everyone dressed the same, looked the same, thought the same...
Gramsci shrieked. "You're suggesting a return to adolescence?!?" he gasped in horror. The Cow pondered. Hmmm... Yes, perhaps middle age was a good time for a midlife crisis. She should make the suggestion to Prof Ritalin...
MAMAs => Middle-Aged Male Academics