Optimal post length: short enough to be interesting, long enough to cover the subject. Like a skirt! (Oh, boy.)

Here we go again.

Law.com today has a Duesy of an article about what constitutes professional dress in the courtroom. Apparently, 50+ yo male attorneys are getting distracted by their younger, more… female… peers.

Shocker.

Now, I’m on the record with where I stand about my favorite dress code, “office inappropriate,” the season for which begins this weekend (hooray!) and which I celebrate in my book trailer (starts at 2:08).

But, it is 2009, we are in the midst of an economic crunch, and we are still shedding jobs at a rate of 500k/mo or more, and everyone needs every edge they can get. So it seems to me the topic could use a refresher.

Here we go:

1. ISSUE: People are getting married later. People meet future spouses at work. Put these two things together, and you should expect inappropriate dressing to occur. Why? Because if you put any animal—including sophisticated, BMW-driving primates—around potential mates, it will engage in ritualistic mate-attracting behaviors. Such behavior is hard-wired into us. Scientists call it “instinct.” And the only way to override instinct is through enculturation.

    
   CONSIDER THIS: If you abdicate your responsibility of helping to enculturate the next generation (read: if you’re too gutless to call someone out on what you believe to be inappropriate dress), then you lose the right to complain about it.

   DO THIS: Say something. Try, “Huh. That’s an interesting choice of dress.” Wait for a response (typically, “What do you mean?”), then have an honest conversation about the impact of the person’s choice of dress on your impression of their professionalism, respect for others, and likelihood of being taken seriously.

2. ISSUE: Americans have an unhealthy relationship with sex. I can turn on my TV on any given night and see graphic violence, people degrading themselves for a buck, and political hacks spinning our nation into oblivion. But sex? That’s an outrage not to be tolerated. Never mind that without it, not a single one of us would be here.

    
   CONSIDER THIS: The “line of appropriateness” is actually a broad smudge that extends from naked on the one side to burkas on the other. If someone else’s dress excites you/riles you/distracts you, yes, that’s feedback about their judgment and priorities, sure… but it’s also feedback about you. Specifically, you’re not as mentally disciplined as you could be.

   DO THIS: Don’t judge and make your problems anyone else’s. Instead, say: “Huh, that’s an interesting choice of clothing,” while you think to yourself, “I need to work through some personal issues so I can focus.”

Dress code is one of those issues that becomes a lot more manageable if you attack it honestly and directly, so stop griping and start having that conversation. With yourself first, then with others.

Jason Seiden is Co-founder and CEO of Ajax Social Media, a training company that shows professionals how use social media to work more effectively.