Unpopular opinions

On Thursday, Dear Author posted an article about a high school girl's basketball coach who'd written a how-to guide for women on how to make a man love you. In it, he makes claims that have infuriated a lot of women. Many readers have weighed in on their opinion of this, and most tend to agree that he should be fired. That his misogynistic attitude is too creepy to be allowed near high school girls because he wrote the book as non-fiction, claimed workplace experience with women, and used his real name.

I have to admit, I don't agree with the popular opinion on this one. While I intensely dislike his attitude, as well as the admission of so-called real world experience (though he never cites the students specifically, that's an inference everyone is making, and honestly, how do we know he's not referring to all the female teachers he's worked with over the years), unless he's in some way inappropriate with the kids, I don't think there's fair basis to force him out of his job. To me, it wouldn't be any different than firing a female teacher who wrote erotic romance. A judgment is being made about him that may or may not be correct, and frankly, firing someone just because they're an asshole isn't right. Any one of us has worked with people we thought were awful, women who were catty bitches, men who were chauvinistic pigs. That doesn't give us the right to take away their job, just because we don't like or agree with them.

I understand that he works in a profession that demands higher standards regarding his personal life than others. Odds are good that he'll be held accountable for it. But you know, I can't agree with it if this is the sole reason used for his firing. It would make me a hypocrite since I would get equally outraged at a woman getting fired for writing erotic romance. Would I like his coaching my daughter? No. But unless his attitude is bleeding into his job performance - and nobody can say it is at this point - all I can do is make sure that I've done my role as a parent and taught her to recognize acceptable behavior and mores.