A few months ago I printed off a report from Diversity Inc. titled, "What's Appropriate for Women to Say at Work?" The answer was: only PG rated stuff.

I meant to write about it--add my two cents--for weeks and weeks, but it just didn't fit into the regular content of my own blog, so, it got shuffled beneath other papers and reports, and, ultimately, forgotten.

This weekend I decided to tackle the desk clutter. Not clean it up, mind you. Just tackle it. That means going through the top layer, the most obvious layer, and chucking outdated material. Lo and behold! there was the Diversity Inc. article and...remembering how annoyed the article was when I first read it, I decided this would be a good day, a good time, a good venue to get this subject off of my chest-- if I may be so bold, being a woman and all, where thoughts of 'chest' bring on images of-- bosoms???

According to this article, a young woman working at a Florida utility company was fired for saying the F-word. I'm a prude, I don't say the F-word, but...I'm also an American and my likes and dislikes are my own, I don't impose them on others. So, it angered me that this young woman could be fired for...spouting off. Especially when, in my experience, men are never chastized for their language--in or out of the office.

The article, and this is most disturbing, went on to agree with my assessment, saying, "Would the same thing have happened to a male employee? Hamburger (the young woman who was fired) says no and many high-ranking women executives agree." The emphasis is my own.

The thinking is-- and this is aimed directly at younger women who grew up around four-letter words much more so than we baby boomers-- that "...it doesn't matter if it's fair or not. You can control yourself a lot better than you can control others.!

Hello? Men get to curse and tell dirty jokes and the women are supposed to just put it down to boys being boys? Yet, if they elect to join in, they're ostracized or FIRED???? The report went on to note that curse words weren't the only language we ladies should be careful about. Phrases such as "screwed up" or "stay abreast" or "get it off my chest" are PG rated when men say them, but X rated when women say them--because they bring on sexual thoughts in the minds of the men hearing them!

Hello!!!

Personally I think four letter words used in an offensive way are all objectionable. Personally, I think everyone could use a good dose of not only common sense, but of respect. But, hey, that's just me. I get to be 'cocky' because I'm a writer...and this is the Internet...and I'm self-employed. I just don't get it when a company is allowed to apply standards to one gender that it doesn't expect the other gender to follow.