Bill Maher made a pretty compelling case that lots of rules against consensual sex in the workplace are not only ridiculous ... they're harmful.
The "Real Time" host challenged companies that require immediate notification if 2 employees are banging and prohibit sexual relationships between supervisors and their subordinates.
He concedes, if there's a workplace relationship between a superior and a subordinate, it should be watched ... but not banned.
As Bill says, work is where most people spend most of their waking hours, and that's also where they get to know people ... and sometimes they catch feelings and even fall in love.
He ticks off a list of people who have been fired for their consensual relationships. He points to former CNN honcho Jeff Zucker, who was fired for having a consensual relationship with a 49-year-old CNN executive -- as if the company needed to tell the 49-year-old exec it wasn't right because of a power imbalance, even though she didn't think it was a problem.
How 'bout this point he raises ... if these rules were in place back in the day, Barack and Michelle Obama wouldn't be married. He was a summer associate at a law firm and she was his supervisor. Bill says she was literally banging the intern, and good for them!
He point out the hypocrisy ... Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde hooked up during the shooting of "Don't Worry Darling," and when you shoot a movie a director is not only boss, she's God.
And how 'bout this as a capper ... there's an epidemic in this country among young folks -- loneliness, and it causes lots of physical/mental problems. So, he says, how smart are we to close off a major avenue to abate the problem?