U.K. court says calling a man 'bald' is sexist
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A court in the U.K. has said calling a man "bald" is sexist. The judge in the court said using the word could break equality laws. The judge said this was because the word bald is "inherently related to gender". This means that because most people who are bald are men, it is wrong to use the word against a man. This sex discrimination case came after a worker took his company to court. The boss called the worker bald. The worker said he had an argument with his boss. The boss angrily called the worker "bald" and fired him. The worker won a case of unfair dismissal in the court. The judge said the word bald was harmful, and that using it was sexual harassment.
The court had to decide if the word bald was simply an insult, or whether it was harassment. Lawyers for the boss' company said calling a man bald was not sexual harassment. They said that women can also be bald. In court, they argued that: "In order to be related to sex, it would have to apply to that sex to the exclusion of the other sex." They said that because women can also be bald, it could not be harassment. A court judge disagreed with the boss' lawyers. She said that commenting on a man's baldness is the same as a man making comments about parts of a woman's body. The lead judge said the word bald was related to gender. He said this was because more men than women are bald.
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