And then there are women like me who wear skirts most of the time because we have difficulty finding pants that fit right. Ones in my size are often too short. Of course, I am of the feeling that one should be able to wear whatever one wants and so I probably would have been indignant right along with you.

Like Dagny, I also tend to wear skirts when I have to wear a suit because pants don't fit me well. (But unlike Dagny, it is because I am too short, not too tall.) But I remember advisers or whoever in law school telling us that women are supposed to wear skirts for interviews, and I was pissed. I'll wear whatever I want, thank you very much.

I would save the "Mama's home" story for the 87th date. Maybe the 86th, depending on how it's going. =)

I just have to say that starting any story with "Today in Sex Discrimination" is high-larious. Like Sex Discrimination is the name of a dance club or something.

I refuse to wear skirts. I hate them. I also despise pantyhose, and find that I lose the ability to think, work, or create when forced to wear skirts, hose and heels and sit with my knees primly clamped together all day.

Sorry, future employers, but if you want my creative talents to flow freely, my body can't be constricted.

I'm totally with you on this issue. If I go to an interview and they decline to hire me based solely on the fact that I'm in pants, then I don't need to work there.

Which is why I plan to be self-employed. ;-)

On the Big Reveal (I have five cats, two horses and I knit/weave/spin), I say just get it all out there. Again—you don't like my cats/horses/hobbies, we don't need to be together.

And I wonder why I'm single and jobless. LOL!

I'm finding that men with their own cats present a unique challenge--they would love my cats, but they also love their own cats, so whose place do we stay at? And at some point do we need to talk about step-cats?

As a "lady attorney" (yes that what I am called in an all male firm)in Denver, Colorado the skirt myth is true. Here the profession of law is very conservative and skirts, slips, hose, camisole, blouse, jacket, heels and jewelry will get you treated with more respect. Doesn't really make sense if you think about it.

I am wearing slacks today though... boss is in trial.

I want an embroidered tea towel.

When I ponder this question, I can't help but think about the summer after my second year (shortly before the time that I came to my senses and decided that I didn't want to be a lawyer). I was clerking for a federal judge. All of his summer interns were women. We all wore the requisite suit with skirt. Thing is the pumps were killing us so we had a tendency to run around chambers in stocking feet -- literally. The men were not happy. We basically told them to suck it up. They did. Oh, and I'd like to point out that one of those suits that I wore. Magenta, baby.

YaY! I am very happy to report that I wore pants to my interviews against the advice of my career center and just about every gal I know. I live in a bastion of conservatism as well as go to a school that doesn't have the same employment options as some of the others, but guess what? I still managed to get a summer clerkship. Maybe it's because the interviewers were listening to what I had to say rather than checking out my legs.

Conservativism? Con-serv-a? Whatever. It's really conservative where I live...and I'm really tired.

Dagny, I feel your pain. Except the long legs part, lucky lady.

-R-, sadly, that cat (ha! cat!) is so out of the bag.

LG, ha! I love that. Perhaps I should have added the word "class" for clarification, but I like your reading much better.

Jeane B., right on, sistah!

Anne, that is a world I have not yet considered. I am scared of melding cat worlds, and I wish you luck. My cats made it through living with a dog briefly, so I'm sure it will all work out!!

Aimee, I am sorry for your panty hose plight. And slips and camisoles! I had never even considered that people still had to do that -- you are a brave woman.

Gloria-- yeah, right after I finish those dishrags in pink and green for you.

Ana-- I think conservatism is a word, but I am too lazy to look it up. In any case, I use it in solidarity with you, my pants-wearing comrade.

There was an excellent article on this in the WSJ last week. It talked about how men find it easier to dress casually, as a woman who tries to do so is seen as ceding some perceived authority. So, in response, women have to figure out how to casually accessorize the business "uniform."

I will say that LA is definitely not the place to be discussing this. I know a pair of married lawyers who work at a top firm in Century City. The guy wears polo shirts (or a tieless dress shirt) every day, unless he's seeing a client. Then he just puts on a jacket. The wife wears a simple blouse and pants to everything.

Oh, and about those cats. That's a "first date" piece of information, so good call by outing that right up front.