Turns out female cadets at West Point were being secretly filmed when they were naked in the shower.

Some sick men want to leer at young women but when women get to a certain age, not so much.

Take Madonna. For some reason people are surprised that at age 54 she’s still wearing sexy outfits.

This from a male reporter in the Style section of the Wall Street Journal today:

“The look can come off as desperate, embarrassing, a little sad. Madonna may be doing what she feels she must to remain relevant and compete with the likes of Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Britney Spears and Rihanna.”

No, Madonna is doing what she’s always done. Dressing sexy and pushing the envelope. Why people think she should suddenly get her muumuu on is perplexing.

I never heard anyone question why Liberace was still wearing his ridiculously flamboyant outfits well into his sixties.

Clearly women are seen as objects by many men in a male-dominated society — whether they’re leering at young women naked or judging older women naked. Maybe you think this is a minor annoyance, but I argue this type of attitude undermines all women in many aspects of their lives.

If we’re objects then whatever we do will be judged because objects are meant to be objectified not respected.

Don’t be surprised when you read stories like this article in Health24.com titled “Work by female scientists gets judged more harshly.”

This from the piece:

Researchers at Ohio State University found that scientific studies written by men were viewed as higher quality than identical studies listing female authors. This gender bias, they noted, is significant and will have important implications over the course of a woman’s career in science.

“There’s still a stereotype in our society that science is a more appropriate career for men than it is for women,” said study lead author Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, associate professor of communication at The Ohio State University.

Yes gals, science isn’t appropriate for women scientists, and fishnets aren’t appropriate for women entertainers.

The Career Diva posts that got the most people reading in 2012 were all about the stupid things employers do.

Here are the top ten posts of the year:

Turns out many of you are upset about performance reviews, and you have good reason to be. The experts say such reviews are arbitrary and utterly useless.

And quite a few of you agreed some human resource departments can be clueless, especially when it comes to employee benefits such as family and medical leave.

Another workplace problem that gets under everyone’s skin is the rise in employers trying to get under your skin and find out how healthy, or unhealthy workers are.

A disturbing trend during 2012 was the growing number of employees holding multiple jobs.

It turns out if you’re a tough white woman or tough black man you can’t get a break.

What got job seekers angry this past year was the endless amount of interviews hiring managers think they need to decide on a candidate.

And women are still facing the perpetual problem of not supporting each other. Who cares how much Kelly Clarkson weighs? Quite a few of us, it turns out.

Employers are still asking job candidates how old they are, and they’re not always breaking the law when they do it.

My standing desk is still my back’s savoir, and a popular topic for many of you.

And finally, the Diva post that got the most readers reading was actually about a story I didn’t write. Lesson for 2013, don’t believe everything you read, especially work-at-home success stories.

Happy New Years everyone!! Looking forward to hearing from you all in the new year with your job/career questions. (careerdiva@verizon.net)

It’s a question that comes up often and it came up yet again yesterday: “Can an employer ask a job candidate how old they are?”

A colleague of mine at MSNBC.com, economy reporter Allison Linn, got this type of question from a reader on Facebook and we both pondered whether it was legal or not.

My gut feeling was this was a no no under the nation’s labor laws, but it turns out it’s not that cut and dry. (more…)

Andy Rooney is leaving “60 Minutes” at age 92 and some workers out there may be jealous he was able to hold onto his plum job for so long.

A growing number of middle-aged workers are finding it hard to hold onto their jobs, or find new ones, and they haven’t even reached retirement age.

There’s been a flurry of cases in recent weeks that point to a growing reluctance to treat 40 plus employees fairly, and many of my emails in the last few months are from readers who feel their age is holding them back.

Some of you have told me you lost your job because you were the oldest and among the better paid at your companies. Others searching for work said you believe you’re taken out of the running for jobs when hiring managers realize how old you are, either after the interview or before getting through the door because of extensive work histories on resumes.

Clearly age discrimination happens, as recent federal statistics attest to. According to the federal government, the recession brought with it a record number of complaints about age bias, more than 20,000 every years since 2008. And the cases can be rather egregious. (more…)

I answered career questions during a live chat on TheTodayShow.com last week and I was struck by a few questions submitted by people who called themselves old and were fearful of age bias. What struck me were the readers who considered themselves old at age 40.

That’s why I wanted to share this guy’s story, David Seidler. He won an Oscar last night for best original screenplay, “The King’s Speech,” at the ripe young age of 73, and this after a life of struggles as a stutterer and many years trying to make it in the movie biz.

His reaction:

“My father always said to me I would be a late bloomer.”

Seidler first got to Hollywood at age 40. 40! Read his story here.

I know it’s a cliche that you’re as old as you feel, but in this case it’s a valid saying. And we all have to stop buying the bull that we can never make it in this world if we don’t go under the knife or dress like Lady Gaga. Yes, be hip. But first and foremost, be yourself.

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