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It sounds stupid, but isn't really.
Mar. 22nd, 2005 08:44 amA Harvard librarian claims she was passed over for promotions because she was too pretty and dressed too sexy.
I have no other knowledge of the case. I have no idea who is in the right or the wrong. But I find it entirely plausible that she could be correct.
I don't know if anyone else experiences this, but it can be weird being a female scholar. There is a definitely sense, at least in the sciences and engineering, that anyone who is "too pretty" isn't taking her science seriously. It partly stems, I think, between confusion over female formalwear (work) and female formalwear (dress). (Consider that female scientists and engineers often have just as much fashion sense as their male counterparts, and do not have the fallback uniform of a suit and tie. Trust me, there is confusion.) Wearing party clothes to work is not the best way to seem professional, but I have seen dresses better suited to tea parties worn by conference presenters. It partly stems from the old geek distrust of any of the "pretty and popular" crowd from high school. And it's probably also partly from social conditioning.
In my office building, the best-dressed women are, without fail, the administrative staff. The more "serious" you are about research, the more jeans and sweatshirts figure into your wardrobe. Taking the time to groom oneself seems vain or pointless. Geek society claims to value to mind over the body, so paying attention to the physical is suspicious. Isn't your mind up to snuff?
And I'm not blaming just the guys on this one. I have to fight this tendency to be dismissive of "pretty" women myself. And I obsess over packing for conferences. Always present in a suit! But what about the days I'm not presenting? Is this too young? Too old? Too informal? Too formal? Is this an engineering or an AI conference? Do I look neat and professional, but heaven forbid, not too pretty/sexy... feminine?
I have no other knowledge of the case. I have no idea who is in the right or the wrong. But I find it entirely plausible that she could be correct.
I don't know if anyone else experiences this, but it can be weird being a female scholar. There is a definitely sense, at least in the sciences and engineering, that anyone who is "too pretty" isn't taking her science seriously. It partly stems, I think, between confusion over female formalwear (work) and female formalwear (dress). (Consider that female scientists and engineers often have just as much fashion sense as their male counterparts, and do not have the fallback uniform of a suit and tie. Trust me, there is confusion.) Wearing party clothes to work is not the best way to seem professional, but I have seen dresses better suited to tea parties worn by conference presenters. It partly stems from the old geek distrust of any of the "pretty and popular" crowd from high school. And it's probably also partly from social conditioning.
In my office building, the best-dressed women are, without fail, the administrative staff. The more "serious" you are about research, the more jeans and sweatshirts figure into your wardrobe. Taking the time to groom oneself seems vain or pointless. Geek society claims to value to mind over the body, so paying attention to the physical is suspicious. Isn't your mind up to snuff?
And I'm not blaming just the guys on this one. I have to fight this tendency to be dismissive of "pretty" women myself. And I obsess over packing for conferences. Always present in a suit! But what about the days I'm not presenting? Is this too young? Too old? Too informal? Too formal? Is this an engineering or an AI conference? Do I look neat and professional, but heaven forbid, not too pretty/sexy... feminine?
