State Employee Faces Discipline for Looking at Porn Insulting Obama at Work
Posted on | January 1, 2010 | 88 Comments
Stereotypes are harmful and one would be promoting a sexist stereotype to say that women have a habit of forwarding “cute” e-mails, no matter how many times your mother-in-law does it. However, not all junk-mail is created equal:
DENVER, Colo. – A Colorado Department of Transportation employee could face discipline for forwarding an email with a photo depicting President Barack Obama shining the shoes of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
The 73-year-old woman, whose name was not released, forwarded the email to at least four co-workers, among other people, on Dec. 22 using her state email account. At least one recipient complained.
The person who originally sent the e-mail, who isn’t a state employee, wrote “It appears he (Obama) has found his niche.”
See, that’s just wrong. Maybe that photo is funny to 73-year-old women, but the rest of us? Blehh. If we’re going to get fired from our jobs for looking at pictures that depict people in insultingly demeaning roles, we’re going to get our money’s worth. Colorado state employees, consider yourself warned that you may be fired for looking at the offensive, degrading stereotype depicted below if you click “Read more.”

From Our Legal Department
If you are threatened with firing for looking at a scantily-clad French maid while at work, you could defend yourself in several ways:
- This was intended as political commentary, and is therefore clearly protected by the First Amendment.
- You are taking a night class in women’s studies at the local university, and this was research for your term paper on mid-20th-century misogyny.
- The person who sent this to you was herself French, and obviously did not mean to suggest that all French women are domestic servants.
- You are a deputy district attorney, and this photo is evidence relevant to an investigation.
When in doubt, “intentionality” is the way to go. It’s satire.


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