Women At Merrill Lynch Were Instructed To Seduce Their Way To The Top, Lawsuit Alleges

[octoberlib]

New details have emerged from a bias lawsuit filed by three former employees of Merrill Lynch against the company, which alleges that during training they were instructed to read a book called “Seducing the Boys Club: Uncensored Tactics From a Woman at the Top” and emulate its advice.

The tips in the book, published by New York Magazine’s The Cut, are truly shocking. “I play on [men's] masculine pride and natural instincts to protect the weaker sex,” says a section of the book advising women on how to get men to do their work. “Unless he is morbidly obese, there is no man on earth who won’t puff up at this sentence: Wow, you look great. Been working out?” suggests a portion on diffusing tense situations.

The book also tells the story of a woman who tried to get in with the men in the office:So she stocked her mini fridge with beer along with her designer water; she kept a big bowl of candy on her desk, she brought in games like boggle and checkers. Pretty soon the boys were hang out in her office, and when they discussed things of business interest, Maggie was right there with them.

According to the New York Post, the women “were also pressured to attend gals-only events on topics like ‘dressing for success’ and ‘preparing healthy meals while working full-time.’” The women also report being told to be more “perky” or “bubbly,” and one even says a manager told her to “stick to her knitting” when she tried to bring in a client

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/07/26/2362461/merill-lynch-sexist/

[FiveGoodMen]

1. "Well I wouldn't be much of an executive if I was sleeping my way to the BOTTOM!"

-- Jane Seymour in Head Office

[PCIntern]

2. One of the great films of the 80's

and it is unheralded...

the scene where they're trying to decide whether to kill the guy rather than deal with him is remarkable. The look of horror on the young exec's face is priceless, since he had made what he thought was a humorous suggestion to murder the guy.

Many many other vignettes were riotous.

[CindySessoms]

3. It's not what we know, it's who we know.

[Mnemosyne]

4. Apparently it's who you blow now. Welcome to DU, Cindy!

[HiPointDem]

5. now? i've worked several places where some favored woman was having sex with the boss.

nothing new.

what's new is that there's more hypocrisy involved now.

[Mnemosyne]

6. Most bosses I've had were dumber than stumps. Never dreamed of getting 'close' to them. Eww.

Hypocrisy is rampant in the US and too many just do not notice nor care.

Sad state of things...

[Egalitarian Thug]

7. For my entire life Merrill Lynch has been busted time after time after time.

When is somebody going to rid us of this monstrosity?

[GiaGiovanni]

8. I don't think it's talking about literal sexual seduction

From that I can tell, the book is really about understanding, manipulating, and managing the sewer of male business culture so that you can get into management. It's demeaning in some ways, but there might be some helpful tips. The idea of having candy on your desk, for example, is something that one female exec I know has done forever. It draws people (both male and female) to her desk and she keeps up on office gossip that way.

Here's the Amazon link