How rights can go wrong...

[Velvet]

Exotic dancer files age discrimination complaint

Last Updated: Monday, November 3, 2008 | 9:57 AM

Kim Ouwroulis doesn't believe her age should be a barrier in her chosen career: exotic dancing.

In an unusual test of age discrimination laws, the 44-year-old Toronto-area woman has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, alleging the owner of a strip club fired her because she was too old.

Ouwroulis says she and three other women were fired last summer, allegedly for the same reason. The owner of the club has not returned phone calls from CBC News.

"I was told by a manager, 'Your time is up here,'" she said. "At first I was speechless. And I said, well, 'Why am I being fired — my age?'

'The boobs and the blond hair, usually you can't go wrong in a strip club with those two things.'—Kim Ouwroulis, exotic dancer

"I was told they were going in a new direction with younger girls," said Ouwroulis.

Ouwroulis started her exotic dancing career four years ago, and says she raked in thousands of dollars each week. Since her dismissal, she has found work at another establishment.

"I'm a bubbly blond with a good personality. The boobs and the blond hair, usually you can't go wrong in a strip club with those two things," she said.

Denise Reaume, a University of Toronto professor who specializes in discrimination law, says the complaint explores uncharted territory.

"These kinds of cases don't get litigated very often and so there's not a lot of hard thinking about them," says Reaume.

Under the Ontario Human Rights Code, employers are barred from treating a worker differently because of their age.

But while age discrimination cases typically examine the person's ability to perform their job, this case will look at how appearance, as it relates to age, plays a part.

Reaume says the respondent's underlying objection doesn't have to do with the quality of the dance, but rather the general appeal and look of the dancer.

"The question is going to be whether this employer can defend the argument that sex appeal is the essence of the job. … This is tricky because sexual response is as variable as human beings are."

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/11/03/dancer-ohrt-complaint.html

[d_rawk]

"How sexual exploitation can cause cognitive dissonance..."

[AD]

"You clap for the dancer, even though she shouldn't be a dancer"

[Davey Boy 2.0]

I think the real victims here are those loyal patrons who are missing out on the boobs and the blond hair and who are no longer able to give her thousands of dollars each week

[Schwa.]

think of the children!!

[Big Wooly Mammoth]

don't you have to audition and have a *certain* look to get a job like this. If you weigh more than a certain amount you ain't gonna get a job as a stripper either.

[Thorgnor]

think of the children!!

awesome

[phishtaper]

Wasn't there a King of the Hill episode about this?

[bouche]

hmmm.... would the complaint be valid for a butt-ugly stripper

[balogna pogna]

"I'm a bubbly blond with a good personality. The boobs and the blond hair, usually you can't go wrong anywhere on planet earth with those two things," he said.

You could replace the words "in a strip club" with just about any place name ie "in the office", or "at the poutine stand".

[balogna pogna]

Or; "in the music industry".

[Schwa.]

Bob's Wet & Wild - "We hire Uggos!"

[balogna pogna]

"Backstage at the Nickelback concert"