Colleague posts picture of herself in underwear on social media

[adel9216]

I feel sooo uncomfortable everytime I see her social media posts. I have nothing against women body positivity, far from it. But she's a first time instructor this term, can easily be found her social media by name, and yet, she posts pictures of herself in underwear (and has even posted some of the tools she uses to masterbate on social media many months ago).

I am assuming someone has told her. I really hope someone did. Trully, she can't do that while being a professor or intrucctor. It will ruin her career. I don't understand how she doesn't have these professional boundaries. This will become a topic of discussion that will distract from her actual intelligence and brillance in a university context, I even fear she may get fired by the university.

I am not close friends with her, but I genuinely feel it's incredibly risky and not professional to do that online. Especially if she doesn't have a private account to do that with a pseudonyn (and even then, she could easily be found).

If she was a close friend, it would be a different story and I would've told her right away that it's not a good idea to do that. But how do you do that without body-shaming someone or without being sexist to an almost stranger? I'm scared to be called out if I even attempt to kindly tell her it's risky to do that.

[Wahoo Redux]

Unless you are a really, really, really, really close friend, leave this one lie.  Something's not right upstairs.  Better just to be like Sergeant Shultz on Hogan's Heroes.   "I see noooothing! I know nooooothing!"

[ciao_yall]

Unless you are a really, really, really, really close friend, leave this one lie.  Something's not right upstairs.  Better just to be like Sergeant Shultz on Hogan's Heroes.   "I see noooothing! I know nooooothing!"

Agreed. She knows. She's an adult.

[adel9216]

I think you're both right. So uncomfortable to see. I cringe everytime I see her social media posts. And yes, I do think she knows better. She's definetly asking for trouble...

[Ruralguy]

If she's not a close friend, then stop looking at her posts. You know they are cringeworthy. Run away.

[polly_mer]

If she's not a close friend, then stop looking at her posts. You know they are cringeworthy. Run away.

This.  Good choices are either you tell her about professionalism to help a colleague or you distance yourself from the whole situation.

[mamselle]

Mute your "following" options for her, and stop spending time on social media.

M.

[Caracal]

I am assuming someone has told her. I really hope someone did. Trully, she can't do that while being a professor or intrucctor. It will ruin her career. I don't understand how she doesn't have these professional boundaries.

I guess it might, but it  shouldn't. It certainly isn't wise, but is it really objectionable? Why is this worse, for example, than posting about feuds with family members? Unless you're teaching at a very conservative religious school or something, I can't imagine it would threaten her job, at least not immediately. Any school that fired a professor just for posting underwear pictures would be courting a lawsuit.

[adel9216]

If she's not a close friend, then stop looking at her posts. You know they are cringeworthy. Run away.

I don't specifically look at her posts. They appear on my feed every now and then. I think I will use the option of "muting" them while not unfriending her entirely.

[adel9216]

Mute your "following" options for her, and stop spending time on social media.

M.

I am not always on social media just to be clear. But yes, I will mute the following option. I jump every time I see her posts, I don't understand how she can see that it's not something she should be doing because of her work position. She's been posting these stuff for multiple months. And I share my profound discomfort here, because I don't want to share it with people who actually know her or who may know her because that would be unprofessional on my part. I prefer pretending I've seen nothing.

[adel9216]

I am assuming someone has told her. I really hope someone did. Trully, she can't do that while being a professor or intrucctor. It will ruin her career. I don't understand how she doesn't have these professional boundaries.

I guess it might, but it  shouldn't. It certainly isn't wise, but is it really objectionable? Why is this worse, for example, than posting about feuds with family members? Unless you're teaching at a very conservative religious school or something, I can't imagine it would threaten her job, at least not immediately. Any school that fired a professor just for posting underwear pictures would be courting a lawsuit.

What I am saying is that it will make people talk. And she will lose control of her classroom as well. I just feel it's asking for trouble, even though it is technically not illegal.

[spork]

Spend less time obsessing about this person's social media feeds and more time working on your own career.

[Caracal]

I am assuming someone has told her. I really hope someone did. Trully, she can't do that while being a professor or intrucctor. It will ruin her career. I don't understand how she doesn't have these professional boundaries.

I guess it might, but it  shouldn't. It certainly isn't wise, but is it really objectionable? Why is this worse, for example, than posting about feuds with family members? Unless you're teaching at a very conservative religious school or something, I can't imagine it would threaten her job, at least not immediately. Any school that fired a professor just for posting underwear pictures would be courting a lawsuit.

What I am saying is that it will make people talk. And she will lose control of her classroom as well. I just feel it's asking for trouble, even though it is technically not illegal.

Not remotely illegal, and I very much doubt it is against any university rule. If she's not making these posts public and friending students, it would be pretty unlikely that students would ever see the pictures. Even if they did, you seem to be making some gendered assumptions. If someone sees a picture of their professor in underwear, that means she can't effectively run the classroom?  I agree with you that it is TMI and not a good idea. But I think that about the way lots of people use social media.

[Caracal]

Also wait, is this a grad student?

[adel9216]

Spend less time obsessing about this person's social media feeds and more time working on your own career.

To be honest, I am absolutely not obssessing about her. Like I have mentionned, those posts appear on my feed every now and then and have been for multiple months. This is someone that I know and have met on multiple occasions in a professional capacity.

To say that I am not working on my career is the most ridiculous thing ever.