Male Judges Advise Women Lawyers to Lose the Distracting ‘Ally McBeal’ Look

I’ve often commented on what I thought was a double standard in courtroom dress. Men all know what to wear: a suit and tie. Some men go to court appearing color blind, uncoordinated, and committing fashion faux-pas like brown belts and black shoes. The only time I have ever seen a lawyer appear in Court without a tie was when he was in a full arm cast that held his arm up to the side, and the Judge still ribbed him about it.

Most women attorneys appear professional, of course. But the way women diverge in attire is much different than cheap materials and bad coordination. There’s just a wide divergence in what happens. It’s just an observation. I’m surprised that male judges are the ones speaking out and I find it weird… creepy even that they call it “distracting.”

If you get “distracted” by the female form, maybe that’s your problem. My problem is that the decorum isn’t there. I think there are hundreds of different ways I could dress that would not be “distracting” that would still be inappropriate for a court. But the reality is, we all put on a certain uniform.

Maybe an example will clarify. If I work at Taco Bell, I might find it “distracting” if a female employee wore a short skirt, but it wouldn’t be inappropriate if she had a Taco Bell uniform shirt on. If she came to work in the most undistracting figure concealing clothes ever, but didn’t have her Taco Bell uniform on, how is that ok?

Anyway, this is what you get when you blog. I’m sure I stepped in it here, but oh well.

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