We traveled to Armenia in the summer of 2003 and worked in Ayroum, a small northern village, and helped construct a solar fruit dryer to assist the local economy. In the course of our work we came out, and not without incident. We were interviewed at the time in an Armenian-American ‘zine, and have reprinted the interview below.
Note that we remain friends with “Vartan” today. More on that at the end of the story:
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1. I know this is your first time joining a campaign with the Land and Culture Organization (LCO), how did you get involved with this organization?
I grew up in Los Angeles, where my parents sent me to Armenian Mesrobian School until I was 12 years old. At Mesrobian, I learned that one day there would be an “angakh ou azad Hayastan [liberated and free Armenia]” and that all Armenians in the Diaspora would move there and live together happily ever after. I wasn’t so sure about moving to Armenia, but the prospect of one day placing my feet on Armenian soil felt like part of my destiny. Read more →
Coming out at work can be cute when it’s presented in an animated video! Leeds Animation Workshop (LAW) in the U.K. produced this richly-textured and poignant video about a mechanic who comes out at work. The word “gay” is not once mentioned, yet the message is clear.
LAW produces animated films on social issues such as workplace equal opportunities, bereavement, and environmental issues, and runs introductory courses in animation, too.
Our sense is that the video producers bring their full wherewithal to their projects, because the Workshop’s films are all triple-threat: elegant, educational and entertaining.
The only problem with the video is Ryan’s mullet. Kidding, we find it totally endearing.
Today is Thanksgiving, and we’re grateful for the pioneers of bringing your whole self to work who’ve come before us. One such luminary is Joycelyn Elders, the former United States Surgeon General.
Back in 1994 a furor erupted over her response to a question about HIV and AIDS education. She said since masturbation is part of human sexuality, perhaps it should be taught in school. This sentiment led to her forced resignation as Surgeon General. What a high price to pay for being forthright and responsible as a doctor and health educator.
The publicity she garnered for being outspoken follows her today. She speaks across the country on public health issues, so she enjoys a national platform from which to share her wisdom and expertise.
Does it pay to be open about a strongly held opinion, when some people may be angered by it? In an interview with CNN in 2005 Elders stated,
“If I had to do it all over again today, I would do it the same way. I felt I did it right the first time.”
So, we’d say yes.
Have you paid a dear price for holding steadfast to your conviction(s)?
Comptroller Robert Hale | Sec of Defense Robert Gates | Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Mike MullenThe American workplace will likely be getting sexier. And more productive.
So the leadership of one of the largest and most powerful organizations in the world–which historically has forced its members into the closet–will be saying it’s OK to bring your sexual identity, of any stripe, to work.
What does this mean for the American workplace as a whole?
On an unconscious–yet very real–level, it will give the rest of us permission to bring our own sexual identity, of any stripe, to our place of work. It may take a while to experience, yet the freedom to exist as sexual beings at work may spark a wave of increased productivity across the nation.
Sounds crazy? Pop singer Ricky Martin felt “a floodgate of energy and creativity just really exploded” after he came out as a gay man, according to his producer Desmond Child. Proclaiming his sexuality to the public, essentially his work environment, has directly impacted his output. His memoir Me is currently among the Top 100 Amazon “Bestsellers in Books.”
One problem in considering the broader implications of bringing sexy back to the workplace is our inclination to quash feelings of sex on the job. Rather than prompting cases of harassment or extra-marital affairs, our sexual energy can be harnessed in service of our task, as long as we’re grounded in our humanity. This may take the form of bringing us closer to our colleagues or clients, for example, and making our day-to-day moments more fun. Imagine this!
Sexuality in the workplace is a complex issue, and one we will continue to explore.
In what ways have you accessed your sexual energy in service of a work task?
Camille Paglia (love her! sometimes!) writes in the New York Times about the perils of de-sexing ourselves, including in the workplace. For good measure, she throws in issues related to class, race, and gender. Her piece brings to mind Debrahlee Lorenzana’s plight, located at the opposite end of the sexy spectrum.
Consider Paglia’s analysis of the white-collar workplace:
In the discreet white-collar realm, men and women are interchangeable, doing the same, mind-based work. Physicality is suppressed; voices are lowered and gestures curtailed in sanitized office space. Men must neuter themselves, while ambitious women postpone procreation.
With all of its complications, it’s clear that we must bring sexy back to work, in service of our professional role and the function of the organization where we toil. The question is, how? And without getting into trouble!
This story has legs — last week’s Village Voice featured Elizabeth Dwoskin’s cover story “Too Hot for Citibank?” about Debrahlee Lorenzana, a strikingly attractive young woman who claims to have been fired from the financial services firm for being too sexy. Since the story’s initial publication, the New York Post, Gawker and The Early Show (whose video is embedded above) have joined the discussion, and yesterday in The New York TimesMaureen Dowd weighed in on how beauty can impact individuals in society.
Within all the chatter, however, a key question has yet to be asked: how can we work with our sexuality–rather than against it–in business?
According to Lorenzana’s story, it seems her physical appeal may have helped her build business. The Voice reports that in April 2003 the Municipal Credit Union named her “sales rep of the month;” in November 2003 the Metropolitan Hospital in Queens recognized her for “providing world-class customer service;” and in August 2006 she earned a Customer Higher Standards Award at the Bank of America.
At Citibank, she “went out every day and looked for business…then clients would come into the branch asking for her.” Yet in the office, ultimately her sexual energy was killed, as she was removed from the organization along with any potential new clients.
As human beings, we hold the spectrum of humanity within ourselves, and this includes sex. As a career counselor, I’m interested in how this aspect of our selves manifests in the workplace.
The complexities of Debrahlee’s story are difficult to acknowledge, since they hit on a number of hot-button identity issues. Dwoskin writes:
Lorenzana [is] five-foot-six and 125 pounds, with soft eyes and flawless bronze skin, she is J.Lo curves meets Jessica Simpson rack… [Her] mother is Puerto Rican and father is Italian [and she] came to New York from Puerto Rico 12 years ago. She was 21 and pregnant, and had a degree as an emergency medical technician from a technical college in Manati, a small city…
While the racial or ethnic identity of her colleagues is not referenced, it seems that we’re talking about working–or in this case, avoiding working–across differences of race, ethnicity, socio-economic status and gender.
It’s imperative for us to talk about how these dimensions of our identity come into play on the job, so that we don’t act on them unwittingly, and more important, so we can leverage all parts of ourselves to help solve the increasingly complex problems we face in 2010.
Lorenzana’s story contrasts with that of Danica Patrick, although there are significant similarities, to be explored in another post. As well, the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will influence how human sexuality impacts the world of work — also to be explored in an upcoming post.
What do you think about how we access and leverage our sexuality at work?
We traveled to Armenia in the summer of 2003 and worked in Ayroum, a small northern village, and helped construct a solar fruit dryer to assist the local economy. In the course of our work we came out, and not without incident. We were interviewed at the time in an Armenian-American ‘zine, and have reprinted the interview below.
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