> Outside of IT, nobody ever comments on low cut dresses?
In the workplace? Not if they want to keep their job.
Seriously, in most industries nobody would blink twice if someone was fired on the spot for saying that they were going to sit across from a woman wearing a low-cut dress so that they could ogle her breasts.
IT has, comparatively, incredibly low standards of professional behaviour.
I have to disagree. This shit happens everywhere. My mother was a kindergarten teacher, this was normal stuff when dealing with school officials. Same thing with my gf who works in advertisement. Or many of my friends who work in the fashion industry. It also happens in restaurants, kitchens, normal office environments, lawyer partnerships (!) and so on.
I don't know the US, so I can't comment on that. I just suspect that getting comments about their cleavage is something women experience in all aspects of life, not only in IT jobs (and I don't want to excuse it or anything, I just assume it is what happens - not sure what to think about the "boiling breasts" issue, though). I just wonder, before taking those anecdotes about sexism in the industry at face value, if she mixed up her problems as a woman in general with the problems of annoying programming jobs.
In the workplace? Not if they want to keep their job.
Seriously, in most industries nobody would blink twice if someone was fired on the spot for saying that they were going to sit across from a woman wearing a low-cut dress so that they could ogle her breasts.
IT has, comparatively, incredibly low standards of professional behaviour.