Managers at Curry PC World took it upon themselves to demand that employee Scott Ayton-Laplanche remove the makeup he regularly wore to work.
But Ayton-Laplanche didn’t cave to their demands, instead pointing out that his female co-workers were allowed to wear makeup, and however much makeup they wanted:
The 20-year-old from Wakefield, West Yorkshire called his managers’ demands “discriminatory.” He’d worked at the computer store for several months, but the orders came after new management took over the branch.
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When he refused, he was then told to “tone it down.”
Fuming, Ayton-Laplanche wrote a Facebook post about the situation, and now it’s being widely shared.
He wrote:
“Before I explain my frustrations, you need to bear in mind that.. There isn’t any make-up policy at work.
Also, a lot of my female colleagues wear more makeup than I do.
With that in mind, I’ve been working here for about 8/9 months and I’ve never been reprimanded on my makeup before.
Actually quite the opposite.. some managers have supported me and complimented my makeup.
However recently we’ve had to go under new management.
Earlier on in the week I came to work as my fabulous self and was told to take off my makeup.
I was quite shocked… After I refused, I’m getting told to tone it down? Excuse me? Tone it down? You can’t tone down a masterpiece.
I felt this was discriminatory?”
After pointing out that his female co-workers were allowed to dye their hair red, wear bright blue eyeliner and green lipstick, he wrote that he didn’t take issue with their looks — just the fact that they could dress as they wished as women, but he couldn’t.
“But guess what?” he wrote.
“This is 2017, a time of year where we celebrate Pride throughout summer, and I look hella hot so deal with it! It’s wrong to blatantly discriminate for whatever reason that may be.”
A spokesperson for Currys PC World told the Independent:
“This was a local store level misunderstanding that is being dealt with internally. Scott takes pride in his appearance and Currys PC World is proud of its diverse workforce.”
That’s the sound of some serious back-pedaling.
h/t: Pink News
radiooutmike
He is fabulous!
davidjohng
Good for him! Gender role oppression and sexism being challenged.
MediaGuy
I think this guy might be a little gay.
Mack
You think? What gave you that impression?
RoughRugger
…and that has what to do with anything? I’m
Brian
I used to work for a conservative company with an official dress code. Men were not allowed to have any piercings anywhere on their body. The code didn’t mention women. As a result, my unseen nipple rings were a violation that could get me fired, but a woman could have 10+ visible piercings in both ears, eyebrows, lip, tongue, etc. That always seemed a bit hypocritical to me. People have very strange ideas of what’s “professional.”
amigay
Except they will find another reason to fire him. Corps know all the tricks.
Roan
I was coming here to say that. He needs to keep notes and records of all interactions. He’s in the UK, so I’m not sure what their laws allow.
Kangol
Good for him! Stand up for yourself, stand together, and say no to homophobia!
Danny595
How is this homophobia? Most gays don’t wear makeup and a lot of straight guys do.
batesmotel
How is it homophobia? They didn’t call him any derogatory gay names. They just said to tone the make-up down.
Terrycloth
It wasn’t the makeup that gave him away
It’s those manicured eyebrows….
Bryguyf69
I don’t think there was anything to give away…
Danny595
Makeup on a dude is not OK. Why would a self-respecting man do that?
pharaon.em.joe
And who are you to say it’s not ok? You are quite the hypocrite. Now respect yourself and stop with the prejudice.
dwes09
Let me correct that for you, obviously your tiny little mind could not construct the proper sentence:
“I am personally turned off by men in makeup. And it so pushes my neurotic buttons that I cannot deal with men who use it.”
There we go! Personally I also find makeup, manicures and “done” eyebrows to be detrimental to a man’s attractiveness. But I have friends who are into it and I am mature enough to realize that self respect is manifest in many ways. One of them is having room to treat people as people regardless of their personal style. I think you need to work on YOUR self respect and masculinity issues so as not to be threatened by others’ personal style.
seaguy
Halloween!
Prax07
Yeah, don’t see why this, the men wearing makeup thing, is becoming a trend. Several youtubers do it, and I think it makes them look ridiculous. One is an early twenties twink, very good looking guy, except for the days he decides to vlog wearing foundation and lipstick, or just lipstick. I don’t see the reasoning behind it other than doing it for attention.
mujerado
It’s becoming a trend because some men like it. Some, such as you, don’t like it. So don’t do it then. To each his own, right?
dwes09
All that shows is that YOU don’t understand it. There are no intelligent conclusions that you can draw from that, and even if they are looking for attention, what the hell is wrong with that? You dress to get attention, you speak to get attention….everything we do is to get noticed by others whose gaze we seek. You’re just not one of the others this guy wants attention from obviously.
gayjim1969
It is common knowledge among social scientists that young people are far more open to their outward expression, gender identity, and sexual experimentation than previous generations; the use of cosmetics among younger men is just one way they are expressed.
The young man used makeup to show who he is inside, make himself more attractive, and draw the right kind of people to him.
Seth
While I appreciate a well-beaten mug, the facial hair along with it is where it becomes a caricature for me.
Kris
He looks fantastic! His eyebrows are perfection!
Steven
You go girl!
avesraggiana
I faced this situation at work. Our company policy states that NO male employees in uniform may wear makeup or ear piercings. Neither sex may sport visible tattoos. Before beginning our work day, I told one of my subordinates to wash the foundation off his face, or else I’d find another employee to replace him. This is simple – it’s not “discrimination,” it’s complying with a stated company policy. If you don’t agree with the policy, work somewhere else.
dwes09
It is in fact discrimination. How exactly is it not? Are you so dull that it does not occur to you that a “stated company policy” can be discriminatory? Learn to think.
krazekat
That is the case when there is a policy. According to him, the company has no policy for make up.
Bryguyf69
Just because there’s “a stated company policy,” what’s to say that the policy isn’t discriminatory? If the “stated company policy” had said, “No BLACK employees in uniform may wear makeup or ear piercings” would you be okay with that? How about ” NO female employees in uniform may have any gray hairs”?
Study a little history and you’d see that there were plenty of “stated policies” in the Jim Crow South that any reasonable would consider discriminatory. Yet being “stated” is apparently good enough to you? Your “company policy” excuse is reminiscent of the Nuremberg Defense used by Nazis on trial: “I was just following orders…” Seriously???
THINK about it.
loulou2lou
Do they check for Prince Albert’s,too?
Chris
Since the company has no clothing policy, the only question should be: how does his appearance affect his job performance? If he’s in sales and people avoid him, then the company has a point. But if his appearance has no effect, then why make much ado about nothing?
mz.sam
Not only PAs and what about labia/vulva rings??
batesmotel
While I don’t personally care whether he wears make-up or not, some businesses require employees to have a professional image in places of business where you deal with customers or clients. They likely never had to face a man wearing make-up before so they’ll need to re-write the employee handbook. This guy doesn’t sound very professional though going on a childish rant that this is Pride Summer! The majority of the world doesn’t care. This is a place of business. Express yourself all you like outside of the workplace, most have a set of rules and guidelines of the image they want to present. Women wear make-up because they’ve been doing so for centuries. Men don’t typically wear make-up.
Stefano
He is cute. He’s too young for me but if i was 30 years younger…hummm (if he is a bottom, of course) 🙂
dwes09
Nor did men typically have visible tattoos if they were “professionals” until recently. Policies on that have changed except within the most regressive of companies. Men actually wore makeup not more than two centuries ago, and in some cultures still do. Style is style, has nothing to do with natural order, or makes any sense intellectually.
In a reasonable society people do not make stupid assumptions about personal style. They base opinions about professionalism on skill and performance.
Captain Obvious
Oh good god. Businesses are about making money. A guy wearing makeup might turn some potential customers off therefore less money. Not everything is a form of discrimination.
Funny how everyone thinks racism is over and doesn’t want to hear anymore about it but any time some kid wants to challenge random things for no reason it’s time to champion their cause. Boohoo.
Black people are told the hair coming out of our heads is unprofessional in the work place. Guess what… we change it or find work elsewhere. Pick your freaking battles.
dwes09
Uh, if a black person were told that “the hair coming out of their head” was unprofessional in the workplace, they would have grounds for a lawsuit, and rightly so. No business would demand hair be straightened or kept to a certain length unless there were safety issues with the latter. My manager has dreadlocks almost down to his knees and it has no affect on his job performance. You too often seem way to dull to have chosen that name for yourself.
RamblingManNJ
The only thing he needs to tone down is his diva attitude.
baggins435
Dude is high maintenance, but he has a point. There is a double standard with corporate dress codes. I worked where a guy was “asked” to wear a T-shirt under his shirt because you could sometimes notice his chest hair, yet women were allowed to wear tops that clearly showed their bras or the fact they were braless. And as mentioned by a commenter, no visible piercings on men while women could do what they wanted. My mother’s, and both grandmothers’, idea of make-up was that it shouldn’t be obvious you are wearing it. Less is more.
And when you deal with the public you do need to check your attitude at the door no matter how “fabulous” you think you are because your customers might not agree with you. I went to an out of state training class with a co-worker. We chose a nice restaurant for dinner and my older co-worker got really torqued and left after seeing our waiter had a tongue piercing.
Bradsman
He doesn’t need makeup, he’s beautiful.
ivanw222
If he is wearing makeup in that pic, I’m wondering where it is. If he isn’t wearing any, I’m wondering why they show a pic of him without it?
BriBri
He should work at Sephora, where they encourage their employees to wear as much make up as they want.
seaguy
Not sure why he feels he needs to wear makeup in the first place. Never been a fan of guys who like to put on their war paint but I applaud him for standing up to the discriminatory treatment they were giving him.
QGridster64
Only time will tell, but that doesn’t sound like back-pedaling to me. It sounds to me like the grown-ups weren’t aware that Large-Marge-In-Charge (aka the new local management team) had gone off on her own discriminatory rampage, and are making the necessary corrections.
I’d be very interested to know what “dealt with” means. I should hope that the local actor has been discharged, or at least put on Double-Secret-Probation. Also, if the young man does his job well I would think he has a fairly good amount of job security.
If it turns out that the company now takes nefarious measures to get rid of him, THEN it will be time to raise holy Hell and call out the company for its practices; but not before they actually make a corporate misstep.
gary69mike
Is the picture above with or without makeup? Damn, he’s cute!