A judge has ruled that calling a man ‘bald’ is sexual harassment, likening it to commenting on the size of a woman’s breasts. In an employment tribunal ruling, a panel of three male judges said that because hair loss is more prevalent among men than women, dubbing someone ‘bald’ is a form of discrimination.
Readers, open the wine for this one (it’s Friday anyway).
It all starts with Tony Finn, who worked for the British Bung Company for almost 24 years before he was fired in May last year. He took the company to tribunal claiming he was a victim of sexual harassment after an incident with the factory supervisor, Jamie King, who had referred to him as a ‘bald c*nt’. The comment on his appearance is what upset Finn, not the use of a misogynistic insult.
The allegation made for intense debate about whether or not remarking on someone’s baldness was just insulting or actual harassment. Led by Judge Jonathan Brain, the three male judges – who apparently complained of their own hair loss during the tribunal – decided it was, in fact, sexual harassment.
According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the legal definition of sexual harassment is as follows: 'Sexual harassment occurs when a person engages in unwanted conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of violating someone’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them.'
While some may question how pointing out someone’s baldness relates to comments of a ‘sexual’ nature, the judges concluded the following:
‘We have little doubt that being referred to in this pejorative manner was unwanted conduct as far as [Finn] was concerned. This is strong language. Although, as we find, industrial language was commonplace on this West Yorkshire factory floor, in our judgment Mr King crossed the line by making remarks personal to the claimant about his appearance.
‘In our judgment, there is a connection between the word “bald” on the one hand and the protected characteristic of sex on the other… [The company’s lawyer] was right to submit that women as well as men may be bald. However, as all three members of the tribunal will vouchsafe, baldness is much more prevalent in men than women. We find it to be inherently related to sex.’
This is where they started talking about boobs. Referring to a previous tribunal case where a man was found to have sexually harassed a woman by commenting on the size of her breasts, the ruling stated that, ‘It is much more likely that a person on the receiving end of a comment such as that which was made in [that] case would be female, so too, it is much more likely that a person on the receiving end of a remark such as that made by Mr King would be male.’
‘The tribunal therefore determines that by referring to the claimant as a “bald c*nt” … Mr King’s conduct was unwanted, it was a violation of the claimant’s dignity, it created an intimidating environment for him, it was done for that purpose, and it related to the claimant’s sex,’ the judges concluded. Finn is now in line for compensation to be determined at a later date.
So, there you have it guys – going bald is officially, legally part and parcel of being a man, just as much as us having tits. Feel free to sink the rest of that wine now.