Why Women have Affairs with their Older Male Bosses
Photo by New York Daily News
Bonnie Fuller wrote an article for The Huffington Post theorizing that David Letterman’s younger female employees fell for him because they fantasized about being whisked away by an older, established man. The theory might have some merit, though I imagine that most men and women have fantasized about getting involved with someone in a higher economic bracket at some point. I have a different take on the Letterman situation. As I told YourTango.com:
Young women in the work force have it rough both ways. Female higher-ups tend to be so fiercely protective of their place on the totem pole that they refuse to help younger women succeed, and male higher-ups tend to only be interested in helping female underlings if some kind of sexual activity is involved, even if it’s just flirtation. So it’s not surprising that a female employee will cozy up to her male boss. At least a male boss will engage. Female bosses often won’t even do that.
When bosses stop treating their employees like threats to their power or pieces of meat, maybe their employees will stop acting inappropriately. Then again, it’s possible these women legitimately thought Letterman was hot and didn’t give a what about the consequences. People have office affairs all the time. And, not that anyone’s asking, but if I had to get with a late night talk show host, I’d take Stephen Colbert.
