Today Penelope Trunk, CEO of brazencareerist.com and self-styled career advice expert, posted the video of her appearance on CNN on Tuesday, in which she defended her controversial decision to tweet about her miscarriage in a board meeting last week. While I haven't changed my mind (even a little) about the wisdom of announcing such private information in a professional setting (and, yes, her particular Twitter account was a professional setting and she framed it as career advice from an expert — this was not a woman venting to her friends; this was, essentially, a press release), I now believe that if this highly unusual exchange is what resulted, maybe the whole weird thing was worth it.

Aside from the entertainment aspect of watching Rick Sanchez basically throw up his hands in defeat here, Trunk's matter-of-fact way of talking about abortion is so unheard of that it's jarring even to the ears of a die-hard pro-choicer. I've heard women talk about abortions this way with their friends, of course, but never on national television. And honestly, it's refreshing. Sanchez starts the interview by calling Trunk "young lady" and asking if she has any shame. Trunk takes it from there:

"Whether or not you believe women should have the right to abortion, they do in this country." Wow. While I still think I would find it difficult to respect a boss, male or female, who announced the details of his or her bodily functions in the workplace, and while I firmly believe that it was terrible career advice, if Penelope Trunk had to lose some people's respect to get us talking openly about abortion access on national news, then more power to her.

My Miscarriage - On CNN, ABC And AOL [CNN]

Earlier: What Was Penelope Trunk Thinking Twittering About Her Miscarriage?

When a friend told a group over drinks this past weekend that Penelope Trunk had "tweeted about having a miscarriage in a board meeting," everyone's first response was to ask if she meant it as a metaphor. I mean, we've all been in those kinds of meetings, right? But no, she sent this tweet last week:

"I'm in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there's a fucked-up 3-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin."

It seemed like a joke, but apparently it wasn't, because when people started blogging and emailing about it, Trunk took to her blog to defend it...or try to. After claiming that "most miscarriages happen at work" (based on the number of miscarriages, the number of working women, and the length of the average miscarriage), she gets into, uh, this?:

"To all of you who said a miscarriage is gross: Are you unaware that the same blood you expel from a miscarriage is what you expel during menstruation? Are you aware that many people are having sex during menstruation and getting it on the sheets? Are you aware that many women actually like period sex?"

Trunk ultimately tries to put herself in some kind of martyr role, arguing that we should be talking about this because women will never be truly equal until we can talk about our miscarriages in the workplace. Except, no, because do you want to hear about your male co-worker's hemorrhoids in the workplace? Or the details of his wife's miscarriage? And, unfortunately for everyone, now that this has gone national, the context and way in which Trunk framed this confirms the worst and most fantastical ideas of the anti-choice movement: that women (especially career women!) who have abortions all do so casually and callously on their lunch breaks, the way one might get a manicure. If Trunk thinks she's done anything to help women in Wisconsin get better access to abortions (her defensive post asks readers to donate to Planned Parenthood), she obviously doesn't know anything about how the anti-choice movement works.

I'm trying to be sensitive here, because it seems like she's is going through a difficult time, but I don't think most people have a problem with Penelope Trunk's inner thoughts and complicated feelings about her miscarriage. We just can't fucking believe she fucking Twittered them.

UPI summarizes the University of Minnesota study, which makes the point that the stereotype of sexual harassment focuses on women being manipulated by higher ups, but women supervisors seem to be bearing the brunt of the harassment:

Fifty percent of women supervisors, but one-third of women who do not supervise others, reported workplace sexual harassment, U.S. researchers said. "This study provides the strongest evidence to date supporting the theory that sexual harassment is less about sexual desire than about control and domination," study primary investigator Heather McLaughlin of the University of Minnesota said in a statement. "Male co-workers, clients and supervisors seem to be using harassment as an equalizer against women in power."

In addition to this grim news, the study also includes more disturbing information about the second most prevalent type of harassment:

The sociologists found that, in addition to workplace power, gender expression was a strong predictor of workplace harassment. Men who reported higher levels of femininity were more likely to have experienced harassment than less feminine men. More feminine men were at a greater risk of experiencing more severe or multiple forms of sexual harassment (as were female supervisors).

In a separate analysis examining perceived and self-reported sexual orientation, study respondents who reported being labeled as non-heterosexual by others or who self-identified as non-heterosexual (gay, lesbian, bisexual, unsure, other) were nearly twice as likely to experience harassment.

Strangely enough, there just is not good advice for workers dealing with harassment in the workplace. Women already have to deal with the to-bitch-or-not-to-bitch conundrum, which holds that women supervisors are too emotional to lead and when they do show initiative are seen as overly aggressive or mean. Or, we are self-sabotaging ourselves by being too nice, while we are trying to distance ourselves from the bitch label.

Even Pink, the only magazine I am aware of that focuses specifically on women in business internalizes the criticism, admonishing women to "Polish Your Act: Does Your Management Style Need a Makeover?"

These types of articles don't attack the reasons behind harassment, only noting that it occurs and it is helpful to try to deal with it as best we can. Pink published another article, specifically dealing with harassment noting:

FORGET THE TIRADE. Rather than huff and holler when slapped with a discriminatory comment, take the high road in the moment. "My goal is to appeal to the reasonable people in the room and handle myself with class," says Theragenics CEO Christine Jacobs, who recently dealt with one inappropriate remark by remaining silent at the time but later reporting the behavior to the company's chairman. Other people complained as well and the offender was reprimanded.

EDUCATE WITH EMPATHY. When confronted with an inappropriate comment, calmly reply, "How would you feel if someone said that to your daughter?" That's what one former trade magazine editor wishes she had said when her boss jokingly suggested she lay across his lap during a photo shoot. "It shook my confidence," recalls the woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "It was also revealing. I could never look at him the same way and believe he was truly championing me."

However, in the same article, an expert Pink quotes explains that men have problems seeing women outside of the realm of wives, mothers, and daughters. Would invoking the idea that men in the workplace should treat women in the way they would (hopefully) treat their daughters actually help associate women with the daughter/mother/wife roles we are trying to break out of?

The most straight forward advice about dealing with harassment comes from Penelope Trunk, who doesn't think you should report your harassment. She points out that human resources is going to try to protect the company, and most of these cases are very difficult to prove. She also warns career women about the threat of retaliation, and rightfully illustrates explaining that what you lose by taking a stand often outweighs what you gain. However, her ultimate solution leaves me cold. Trunk suggests leveraging the sexual harassment in your favor to move up the corporate ladder. But Trunk also makes the assumption that the harassment is tolerable, which may not be the case.

Ultimately, as long as sexual harassment has been a problem, I am amazed that the onus is always on women to change or adapt to the behavior. Where are the anti-harassment guides aimed at men? And where are the articles that advise men to stop using sexual intimidation to retaliate against successful women in the workplace?

Study: Sexual Harassment Not About Sex [UPI]
Female Supervisors More Susceptible To Workplace Sexual Harassment [Eureka Alert]
Polish Your Act [Pink]
Attitudes toward Women As Managers: Still The Same - Few Women Hold Executive Positions - Women In Business [BNET]
Women Managing Women - Problem Areas Women Leaders Encounter [Inc.]
Sweating The Small Stuff [Pink]
Don't Report Sexual Harassment (In Most Cases) [Brazen Careerist]

Trunk says: Get out of a job when you're done doing it

We know that the old ways of managing a career aren't working. But it's so scary to try something new. For example, you know you should job hop, but it's not what careers used to be. And it's scary. People are constantly telling you you'll destroy your career if you job hop. [...] I like that Palin refuses to kowtow to the idea that you have to finish a job just because you started it.

We say: Get out of a job before you start it

Actual duties are for losers. Real mavericks "hop" from job interview to job interview, with no actual service in between. The more titles you can amass without actually performing any of the tasks involved, the more successful you are.

Trunk says: Ideas matter, not your resume

We don't need to elect someone based on their resume because the world changes too fast for experience to be a huge factor. On top of that, the internet makes most information available to everyone, so putting in long hours gathering knowledge is not as valuable anymore. [...] Palin knows this, so she's not afraid to break resume rules – like leaving a job in the middle, and aiming for a job largely outside of her experience.

We say: Build your anti-resume.

As commenter egg cream explains, "An anti-resume is composed of anti-achievements, which have the same mass as achievements, but are actually failures." So start collecting anti-achievements, like getting continents confused with countries, being unable to name a single newspaper, and misquoting both Plato and General MacArthur. Get failin'!

Trunk says: Careers are built on teams and networks

Palin knows all this instinctively. She is ditching the governor's job, which, by nature, is about helping people in Alaska, and she is making herself available to help a wider range of people. So smart. She is campaigning across to help people she respects.

And she's building a team, which makes sense because the best way to sidestep the need for experience is with teams.

We say: Get other people to do stuff for you

If you don't know anything and have no experience, get other people to have experience for you. And if the people you're "helping" aren't important enough, ditch them and get new people — people who can provide the qualifications and know-how you so courageously lack. So smart.

Trunk says: No one controls your career except you

She could do what she's supposed to – finish up her job, focus on state-level politics, and talk to the press about ethics problems. But that's not what she wants to do.

We say: Don't let "doing your job" get in the way of just doing whatever the fuck you feel like

Sure, maybe you're "supposed to" check those coolant rods in the nuclear reactor or help those schoolkids cross the street, but is that really "your vision"? What if you feel like making the kids dodge some SUVs — or just knocking off and going fishing? Go for it, maverick!

In general, the more closely your job description resembles that of an inanimate object, the better you're doing. Oh, and if you know anyone named Levi, you might want to act fast and have them sent to Siberia. We hear that's pretty close to Alaska.

Sarah Palin's Resignation Inspires Me [Brazen Careerist]

Legal ramifications notwithstanding, it seems that the potential for collateral damage to children is a good reason for divorcing couples to keep their dirty laundry for margarita-laden dinners and phone conversations with friends. But blogger Penelope Trunk, author of the Brazen Careerist blog, defends the notion of mothers talking smack about their ex-husbands online. Trunk, who has written a lot about the demise of her 15-year marriage on her blog, tells the Times: "The bloggers who are doing the best are those who are injecting their personal lives. We think it will be a big deal, but it won't be to [our children]. By the time they are old enough to read it, they will have spent their entire life online. It will be like, 'Oh yeah, I expected that.' "

Child psychiatrist Irene Goldenberg disagrees with Trunk's assessment. "It is not good for children to get personal information in that way. And people have to consider doing things in the heat of the moment. The way they feel now will not be how they feel in two years, and there is no way it can be retrieved."

I had dinner with a acquaintance last night who likened his parents divorce to breaking a bone: it's so common, you think it can't be all that big a deal so you never realize how much it's going to hurt until it happens to you. With so much possibility for pain in the immediate aftermath of a divorce, is it really worth potentially breaking that bone years after it's healed for the sake of your freedom of expression?

[Image via Broadway World]

Earlier: Why Marrying A Rich Old Dude Who Won't Fuck Will Not Solve Your Problems

Working for a man is probably the only thing less fun than working for The Man. Both are probably going to end badly. But look: You're still trying, penning inflammatory columns to try and ramp up the Google Analytics score so you can get back into the career columnist game that just months ago left you abandoned and alone. Glad to see you've still got all that audacious hope! But here's the reality: look around. How many people do you really expect to die fully satisfied with their lives? One? Three? Now, what about the ones who are freezing their eggs. Do they probably have the worst odds of all of them? Yeah, like we discussed last week, a recession is coming. Everyone just needs to lower their standards. Life is pain! XOM

Want To Have A Baby? Now's The Time [Boston Globe]
Earlier: Want A Better Job? Stop Working Right Now And Get Your Nails Did