It’s telling that David Letterman chose his show to inform the world he slept with women who worked for him. The audience laughed, and why not. They thought this perpetual joker was joking.

And he was.

He has no inkling that sleeping with a series of underlings at work is dubious.

Well, he did call his behavior “creepy“ but it seemed it was all about getting laughs.

Chances are, few women would pay attention to Letterman if they met him on the street. But here he is this famous, rich man throwing his power around in the workplace.

This kind of power trip is exactly what labor laws in this country were designed to protect against. And it’s what many U.S. corporations are trying to quell when they write conduct policies mandating acceptable fraternization in the workplace.

If you haven’t noticed lately, women are still the underdogs throughout corporate America. There are few women in the corner offices, and the entertainment industry is no exception.

I know, women are responsible for their own behavior, and we gals have to start saying “screw you” when guys come on to us and we’d rather not go along.

But we are all naive if we think it’s some sort of nirvana in the workplace today.

Already I’ve gotten angry responses to my power-game assertion from men and women. This from Twitter: “Oh Puleeeezzzze! Women in Letterman case taken advantage of? Puleeeeze! It takes 2.”

It does take two. I agree. But in this case the two people are not on a level playing field.

I suspect Letterman knew that.

We seem to be giving certain behaviors a pass these days, and spend all our energies freaking out over what we perceive to be threats.

Recently I wrote about how women who want to help their careers need to stop being consumed by motherhood and I got an outpouring of outrage and criticism from moms. Hopefully I will see the same intensity from all of you regarding this blog post.

Why do we expect so little from people, especially those who have wealth and power?

I know, Letterman is a funny guy, but is this the way you would want your children behaving when they grow up? I’m sure Letterman doesn’t want his son to grow up and be “creepy.”