Why This Man’s Post About Women Wearing Yoga Pants at Work is Total Garbage

It’s 2016, which means we’re long past the point where men should have stopped policing what women wear, but alas, here we are.

Andrew Martin, a business developer/recruiter/blogger/douchebag has taken it upon himself to educate us poor stupid women of the interwebs about appropriate workwear in a seriously awful LinkedIn post.

In case you didn’t know, ladies: yoga pants are totally unacceptable in a professional environment.

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If you’re still scratching your head as to why this may be the case, don’t worry! Our pal Andrew breaks it down into five simple reasons.

They’ll damage your skin and give you fungal infections, Martin writes. He also says they give off the impression you don’t care about your job, and that it will make it difficult for you to perform your job well (because God forbid, you be successful and comfortable at the same time)

But the best/worst reason is #3.

“Yoga pants put excessive emphasis on your body (especially since they are often sheer). Is your workplace really the place you want to show off your glutes? You can wear what you would like to work, but what you wear is a signal to other people about who you are. (I am not saying that what you wear gives anyone the right to disrespect you; I am just making an observation.),” writes Martin.

Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.

It’s actually quite a feat how Martin manages to fit so much sexism into one little post.

First of all, as one commenter pointed out, I think most women know that athleticwear – unless you work in a gym or at Lululemon – can not really be considered workwear, so I’m not sure who this post was directed towards.

However, the really problematic point is not about whether this item of clothing is appropriate or not, it’s about how, as he points out, yoga pants put “excessive emphasis on your body.”

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What I believe Martin is really trying to say is, “don’t wear yoga pants because I’ll probably be a creep and stare at your ass all day.”

Similar to how these Utah cheerleaders were told not to wear their uniforms to school because a male student was having ‘impure’ thoughts, and how the internet called this Atlanta teacher ‘inappropriate’ for wearing form-fitting clothing, the issue isn’t really about clothes at all.

It’s about how men feel entitled to women’s bodies.

For centuries, the onus has been put on women to dress and act a certain way in order to make men more comfortable, rather than on men for sexualizing women’s bodies regardless of the situation. And frankly, it needs to stop.

I don’t need a man to tell me what to wear, and I certainly don’t need him writing a whole essay on the topic, because last time I checked, what I wear on my body has nothing to do with my intelligence or ability to perform my job.

And so, to quote Beyonce, all I have left to say is this: “Boy, bye.”

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