I recently had my desktop backdrop set to a recent image by Heida entitled "Free Spirit". Its a great image and I love just about everything about it.
I was told just the other day that I should remove it because it is an image that is "not safe for work" and that "it might be misconstrued as sexually insulting." "NSFW? Are you nuts?" Was my reply, but reluctantly removed it and replaced it with:
Have we, as a society, taken this topic too far? Have we become so over sensative that EVERYTHING is to be censored and treated as insulting/harrassing/explicit/biased?
Wow - there's a lot of images you come across that are questionable for the workplace - even on DPC which is relatively clean compared to say... PhotoSIG or Photo.Net. But this image doesn't strike me as being offensive in any way.
I guess offensive is in the eye of the beholder. If someone came up to me and expressed politely that one of my desktops bothered them I would be glad to remove it. But to make a sexual harassment type accusation for an image like this is a pretty clear sign of immaturity.
My gut tells me that in this society your best bet is to cave in (at work) and be expressive at home. I like your replacement image :)
Man, try to find the person who lodged the complaint or go see the person who "asked" you to remove your PC wallpaper to see what they have for wallpaper and tell them that you find THEIR image offensive, be a puppy shot, a shot of their kids or even just the plain background.
"Excuse me, but you'll have to remove that kitten image on your computer since I have a kitten phobia and your image is impacting the quality of my work experience. Please remove it or I may accidently piddle in your cubicle from fright"
Did you ask the complainer exactly what in the image he/she found objectionable? I would guess it would be the tatoo that grabed my attention to her ass. Now I dont find this image objectionable at all, but comapnies are very sensitive about these issues because of the possibility of law suit. A company I used to work for fired about 10 people from one department for passing along emails that contained "objectionable content." They don't want to risk the suits.
1.My "Diplomas" for completing some handgun courses were removed from my desk, but the person filing the complaint was not required to remove her pictures of Brad Pitt in wet jeans. I had those cetificates up for over 2 years when this occured. I think this could have been personal because I had turned this girl down several times. I was engaged at the time and I'm still married 8 years later.
2. A former employee of my company was fired because of nude pictures I did of her. She had another employee ask her to see them and then filed a complaint about it. I think she was targeted and this was an excuse to fire her. This poor girl had her life torn apart when one of the female managers started sleeping with her husband. The manager is still employed. This is an interesting story if anyone wants more detail on a PM.
I really like the replacement image. You should never give the employer 100% of what they want.
