OpinionsEditorials

Playboy’s place in workplace

editorial cartoon by Yasuyuki Nagasawa
editorial cartoon by Yasuyuki Nagasawa

What would an executive say if he/she walked into the office one morning to find employees lounging with the latest copy of Playboy or Hustler? Probably not much that could be printed. But what if the employees lived at their office? Ate and slept together? What then? What about their personal rights?

Such was the dilemma recently tackled by the federal courts, when Judge Stephen Wilson overturned a 1992 Los Angeles County Fire Department policy that banned fire fighters from reading sexually explicit magazines at county fire stations.

The furor began in 1992, when a female firefighter challenged the department after witnessing her supervisor, Fire Captain Steven Johnson, reading and discussing the contents of an issue of Playboy magazine. Finding the incident offensive, the firefighter demanded action. The department responded with the ban, amid talk of sexual harassment allegations and possible litigation.

In response, Captain Johnson filed suit against the fire department, claiming that the ban violated his First Amendment right to read the magazine during breaks in his shift at the station. Thus the case came before Judge Wilson, who in turn overruled the ban.

The Campus Times is in full agreement that employers do have the right to ban potentially offensive reading materials from the office during working hours; however, this particular case does present extenuating circumstances. Fire fighters can work up to 72 consecutive hours in any given week, some of which does consist of free time. Unlike most places of business, however, fire fighters are not free to leave the premises during their breaks, since the fire department is always on call.

Additionally, the simple fact remains that reading Playboy, Playgirl, or any other sexually explicit publication, while some may find it disgusting and/or immoral, is perfectly legal. It seems that certain members of the general populace still have trouble grasping the fact that the United States was founded on the concept of individual rights (remember the Declaration of Independence?). This means that, just because an action offends one personally, does not mean that it should be banned. Hence the freedom of speech and religion, the right to a free press, et al.

As for discussing publications’ contents, Judge Wilson stated in his ruling that the physical or verbal flaunting of explicit publications, termed “nonconsensual sharing,” is prohibited, as is the public display of the materials. Both perfectly reasonable restrictions. What is not reasonable is the amount of taxpayer money and federal court time this case wasted.

In the struggle to be politically correct, officials too often panic before using simple common sense. The resulting legislations—and cost—of their hasty actions are just as offensive to the general public as any magazine could possibly be to a single firefighter. Instead of making laws to please a few, legislators would do well to perform the duty that is the foundation of their elected post—protect the rights of the majority.

Other Stories

Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the Campus Times Editorial Board.

Yasuyuki Nagasawa (above) and Lisa Scott are the two artists whose ideas of painting a mural last spring were snubbed due to controversy on where to paint it. The wall behind Nagasawa was the original site for the mural. / photo by Veero Der-Karabetian
Yasuyuki Nagasawa
Other Stories
Previous article
L.A. County Fair returns
Next article
Reaching for wrong pocketbook

Latest Stories

Related articles

Community News

Firefighters battle Kellogg fire

Firefighters from the Los Angeles County Fire Department clear dead brush and construct fire lines during the Kellogg fire on Tuesday in Pomona.
LV Life

Spooky festivities take over San Dimas

The city of San Dimas on Saturday hosted its annual Halloween Spooktacular, where the community was invited for “Trunk-or-Treat,” games and a “haunted hall” at the San Dimas City Hall.
News

Shooting in Pomona leaves one dead and 5 injured

A Pomona warehouse party last Friday, attended by University of La Verne students, turned deadly when shots were fired, leaving five wounded and one dead.
Editorials

Ubisoft, Activision must be held accountable for sexual harassment

Sexual assault and harassment in the video game industry is a wide spread problem and recent cases in some of the largest companies have brought the issue to light.