Office Romances !

There seems no doubt that we human beings are hard wired to go in pursuit of sex from about the time we reach puberty.  In the dim past each and every sexual encounter carried the risk of pregnancy but the huge advances of contraception have removed that danger.

In today's world many couples live their lives together and raise children without the blessing of a marriage certificate.  In fact, nearly half those who choose to marry officially in a church also later terminate that union in a divorce court.  What used to be called "the courting scene "is now a constant combination of intermingling couples in search of that mysterious element called "love " !

The age of "feminism " has changed many of the courting rules.  Women are now more likely to show interest and start a relationship and often that is with someone they meet in their workplace.  Older and wise heads urge caution.  It is very hard to return to a platonic relationship once that attraction fades and often one of the partners feels the need to seek other employment.   These "office romances " are less harmful where both employees are of equal status.

One old shibboleth remains from the days of classical separation of the sexes in the company structure.  Society does not approve of romance between a person of higher authority and another who reports to that person.  In the majority of cases when such a liaison becomes known there are repercussions at both the company and personal levels.

Just such a case has been wending its way across the storylines of national newspapers.  The chief executive of a powerful media group and a woman who was a senior staffer of that company found mutual attraction and it is claimed that this led to regular sex.   When the attraction faded and the association became public knowledge it instigated an internal enquiry and the woman was offered a hundred thousand dollar separation contract fee to leave the company and destroy all evidence of these trysts.  That was later increased to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

The sticking point to the feminist movement is a decision by the company to exonerate and keep its chief executive because of his undoubted value by way of his grasp of company management.  The loser - in this and many other similar cases - is the woman and she has been accused of irregularities in the use of her company credit card.  At the same time, she has carefully kept her SMS phone messages recording trysts with her lover for her own protection.   Allegations of the use of cocaine surfaced when this affair went public.

Somehow these sort of liaisons project an image of an unfortunate woman being brow beaten into sex by a man wielding unlimited power.  That ignores the reality that many attractive women are attracted to the type of man who has risen to the top of the power pyramid and are the instigator of the first move in this game of sex for advancement.

Strangely, sex is also frowned upon when the senior figure is a woman  and the liaison is with a male who reports to her, and yet this does not generate the frenzy where this role is reversed.  There seems to be an assumption that the male is always the aggressor and holds an unfair advantage.  It becomes a win/lose situation.  Sex is a win for the man and somehow a defeat for the woman.

It seems that the feminist attitude to sex is very much tongue in cheek.   They preach sexual equality but fall back on the old stereotype image of the dominant male forcing himself on the defenceless and compliant female.    When will they accept that it takes two to tango " ?