Response to Fabio Bashing

August 1995; Last Edit August 16, 1999

RE: Fabio Bashing (sent to People magazine, November 2, 1993)
Quoted in LA Times, November 1993
I read the letters bashing Fabio with a bit of amusement that, in a country so mired in economic disasters, you should crucify a man who had clearly identified his market niche and his target audience, and then delivered exactly what the customer wants. We are taught that this is good business practice and he has demonstrated that these principles do work. We could learn something here.
Your Fabio cover was gorgeous, it made me renew my subscription and buy five extra copies. However, the man is more than his pictures. He has manners (how unique these days) and is polite enough to make you cry. He is focused and articulate. He knows what he is selling and delivers it, with enough charm to melt rocks.
Since I have advanced degrees in engineering and have spent thirty years in my profession, I can state that what routinely goes on in the male-dominated high-tech industry makes Tail Hook look like a tea-party. How refreshing to find a non-threatening man who can look you in the eyes and speak to you as a person, who tells you that you can really be anything you want to be and makes you believe it. No wonder we all want to be 20 years younger and 20 pounds thinner.
I do not go to bed at night dreaming about the manager who wanted me to take dictation, the vice president who patted my fanny, the company CEO who called me granny when I began to turn gray, the lab manager who wanted to run his hands up my legs because he liked my nylons and "wanted some for his wife", the personnel director who wanted me to wear a tee shirt and the co-workers who planned to use spray bottles if I did, the department head who started rumors that cost me a job when I refused to sleep with him, or the vice president who had me leave one job because his friend liked the position I had created and wanted it for himself. These men do not inspire dreams, just disgust. Instead, I dream of Fabio.
You may use my name. My co-workers know my attitude about sexual harassment and discrimination.
They also know I have a framed autographed picture of Fabio prominently displayed on my office wall. It keeps me calm.