My Lingerie Calendar Interactions at the University of California

Circa 1992 my first wife and I were Christmas shopping at a mall in Newark, California. Why we had to celebrate Christmas, especially the purchase of gifts, stretches my comprehension a bit as neither of us were religious at all. I don't like shopping very much, but I tolerate shopping when I need to buy something specific that I have in mind. Christmas shopping is particularly unpleasant because it is very crowded and noisy and one needs to buy something thoughtful; because it is the thought that counts (they say).

Despite telling my wife numerous times that I didn't want anything, she kept asking and I could see that I was not escaping the mall until she bought me a gift. When she asked yet again we happened to be walking past a Frederick's of Hollywood lingerie shop that was uncrowded enough that I could see a sign by the cashier advertising lingerie calendars at a small fraction of the original price. I seized the opportunity and told my wife that I would like a calendar. So, for one dollar and less than a minute wait at the cashier, I made my escape! I felt very clever indeed.  Anyway, I actually did need a calendar and, as a bonus, there were some fetching photos on the calendar.

Although a Los Alamos employee, I had a guest office at the University of California (Berkeley) in the Nuclear Engineering Department. I posted the calendar above my desk and all was well for about two weeks. One day I arrived and saw the department secretary (who had access to my office for administrative reasons) staring at the calendar. As a matter of courtesy and consideration, I asked if the calendar bothered her. She said no, she just liked to look at the lingerie. Had the calendar bothered her, I would have removed the calendar as a matter of personal courtesy. There are a lot of things that I would do out of personal courtesy for women, or men, for that matter.

Perhaps two months later, a female student asked to talk with me. She indicated that seeing the calendar bothered her. Attempting to be courteous and reasonable, I asked if it would be okay to move the calendar to another wall inside the office that was not visible from the hallway where she walked. She indicated that moving the calendar would be okay. I moved the calendar, but the first time the phone rang, I realized I needed the calendar close to the phone as before. So, I moved the calendar to its original location and covered the photo with a blank sheet of paper, leaving the calendar part usable.

The next week when I saw her pass my doorway, I asked if I could talk with her. I pointed out that:

1. The calendar was a gift from my wife.
2. I had to be in the office roughly 8 hours a day.
3. The calendar made my work space more pleasant.
4. She seemed to pass by my office perhaps twice a week (she accepted that frequency)
5. She knew the calendar was in my office, could she just not look into my office for the half second it took to pass my doorway?

She rejected my suggestion that she could simply not look into my office and allow me a pleasant work space. She explained that my calendar was somehow responsible for nearly every problem in society and seeing it made her uncomfortable. (The explanations seemed ludicrous to me, especially the claim that my calendar was somehow responsible for slavery?) Despite her intolerance, I was a guest in the department and did not want to make an issue the department would have to deal with. So, I decided to ensure that she did not have to be "uncomfortable." I kept the photo part of the calendar covered, though I was not comfortable kowtowing to her intolerance. Courtesy and consideration were part of my family upbringing; kowtowing to self-important and self-appointed tyrants exceeding their authority was not.

It occurred to me after about a week that covering the entire photo was not a good solution to the problem. Instead, I used "post-it" notes to cover what I presumed to be the objectionable parts of the women in the photographs. The post it notes looked a bit like an exceptionally modest bikini. When the student did not complain about my "bikini" solution, I was relieved. Problem solved. Confrontation avoided.

Although the post-it notes had been a good idea, it occurred to me after another week that the post-it notes could be used in an even better manner. I took the post-it notes and folded them 90 degrees at the glue border so that the glued portion stuck to the calendar and the remainder of the post it notes protruded outward at 90 degrees from the calendar's plane. The view from the hallway was now blocked by the protruding post-it notes, but the post-it notes were no longer obscuring my view of the calendar. Again, no complaints from the student. An all around great solution: She did not have to view the calendar and I could view the calendar!

One unforeseen side-effect was that a number of people would pass by my office, do a double-take on the protruding post-it notes, and ask to see what I had blocked from hallway view. I was happy to oblige.