Skirting the issue

A strange juxtaposition of stories on the front page of today’s National Post. One alleges “a growing outcry over ‘sexualized’ dress codes in the workplace” led by government apparatchiks talking to journalists interviewing sociology professors. The burning human rights issue is women wearing skirts and men wearing pants while working in restaurants. And the solution is men wearing skirts. No. Just kidding about the last part. The solution is of course women wearing pants because men are the template for human beings and “Why can’t a women be more like a man?” is the battle cry of feminism. On the same page we read that Justin Trudeau is… hold me, I’m dizzy… visiting Washington where he will host a reception to which someone has invited the “Grammy-winning Toronto artist” The Weeknd whose “morose blend of profanity, sexism and proscribed behaviour will add to the impression that Canada has changed; that this is not the boring little brother in the attic bedroom Americans have grown complacent living alongside.” So suddenly profanity, sexism and proscribed behaviour make you cool instead of a threat to social justice?

Apparently so. If a woman wears a skirt it’s traumatic, patriarchal and oppressive. But when you sing about… OK. This is awkward. In order to explain the problem here I actually have to quote some of the incredibly obscene, disgusting lyrics that have made this person a star and secured him an invitation to meet with Canada’s Prime Minister. I’d rather not, and if you’re willing to take my word for it don’t read on. But the weirdness, even horror of the juxtaposition of the two stories is precisely that the usual suspects are having PC conniptions about skirts. Yet when this guy sings about… you are warned and here we go… “f**ing b**ches” and “she ride it like a f**ing pony” and “We don't need no protection” and “Let me see that ***/ Look at all this cash/ And I emptied out my cards too/ Now I'm f**king leaning on that/ Bring your love baby I could bring my shame/ Bring the drugs baby I could bring my pain” (do not see the site http://www.azlyrics.com/w/weeknd.html for these and more, without the asterisks, if you have anything resembling good taste) he’s proof that Canada is cool and gets to hang with PM Selfie instead of facing the Ontario Human Rights Commission complaint that might loom if you said dresses look elegant on women but silly on men.

Oh well. I guess it’s all this progress we’ve been having lately.