For years, women across America have dealt with glass ceilings. But now, women in Ohio have a new problem - glass floors.
A $105 million courthouse opened in Franklin County, Ohio, on Monday, but the builders seemed to have forgotten one thing - the bottom of the stairs, reports affiliate 10TV. The staircase is made of glass.
Dress wearers need to avoid taking the stairs, according to Franklin County Judge Julie Lynch, who wears dresses under her robes almost every day.
"I wear dresses because that's my personal choice," Lynch told 10TV. "When you stand under the stairwell, you can see right up through them.”
She speculates that men, who didn’t take half the population into account, designed the stairs.
Attorney Lori Johnson was startled by the transparent stairs. She worries not only about stares, but also how many cell phones have cameras attached.
“The next thing you know, you’re on the internet,” Johnson said, according to 10TV. “It sounds like a lawsuit in the making.”
While security guards warn women about taking the stairs, it seems most are just hoping people will be mature about the situation.
"They hope people will be mature? That's not a solution," Lynch said to 10TV. "If we had mature people that didn't violate the law, we wouldn't have this building."
this is dumb news, plenty of stairs have no bottom, less glass.
simple solution: frost the glass, nbd....now lets focus our attention to something more important like soldiers risking their lives everyday, or fighting world hunger and poverty
Fiona - What sense does it make for a security guard to warn women not to walk up the stairs, when the guard can plainly see there's nobody standing underneath the stairs to sneak a look? This is like some weird Candid Camera episode to see what stupid things people will do when instructed by an authority figure in uniform.
And, let's imagine you're right about the line of view - which I don't think you are. But even if you were, so what's the big deal? If some desperate pervert is stupid enough to stand and gawk under the stairs, in full view of everyone, I should think any woman would delight in watching him get nailed by security. I mean, what's he even going to be able to see? What can be glimpsed beneath those stairs while trying to get the right angle as the view is interrupted by moving shoes and clothing, and opaque stairs? And finally, if the courthouse has enough spare guards to inconvenience every woman by telling her not to walk up and down the stairs, wouldn't it make better sense to just let the women use the stairs in peace, and instead tell the occasional dope standing underneath gawking upward to get the hell out of there?
Utterly ridiculous.
I foresee a series, CNN! Follow up your insightful "Glass stair cases not dress friendly" story with "Open stair cases not dress friendly", "Sudden air currents not dress friendly", "Getting in and out of cars not dress friendly" and "Riding amusement park rides not dress friendly". It's your job to inform the people. Don't be discouraged by the naysayers who say this isn't news. THE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW!
God forbid someone catches a peek of your granny panties or that creature living therein. Heh... they'll report anything these days...
Just take the freaking Elevator!!!
This is a great reason for me to break out my lounge chair and a Pina Colada. Anyone got the address of this courthouse?
I think this judge flatters herself by imagining anyone desperate enough to squint at whatever lurks in the dark recesses of her robe. It'd take more than a couple dozen pina coladas to get me under those stairs . . .
OMG, this is so funny. LOL. You ladies all know you want someone staring up your dress, deep deep down you want someone looking up there.
How about painting the glass? Adding opaque panels to the risers? Tape?
Duh !
Frosted or colored vinyl, applied second surface will diffuse it enough so no one will get any cheap thrills. A good, fairly inexpensive fix. I love how she speculated that men designed this. "Clearly" no women could have possibly been involved (and simply just didn't think it through).
The designers knew full well what they were doing. Men are stupid, but not stupid when it comes to see-through anything.
EasyRemedy: make the stairs reflective from below, but not from above, then folks can look down and not be seen from below. If it's not been done before, it may win a design award. If it does I WANT MY CUT of the money involved.
Another article with no redeeming value.
The first step towards a civil society is trust. The second is innovation. It would be a shame to alter an artist's vision to appease some brittle women.