Most of you have heard about the woman who lost her job because she felt she looked too good and caused too much of a stir with the males at the bank she was employed with. As silly as this may sound (and shallow as well), this does happen in the workplace. As a former HR manager, I was privy to a situation in which a colleague was asked not to wear her hair down because it made her look “too exotic” and caused chaos in the office. The “I look too fabulous for my job” situation is indeed real.
In corporate entities, sticking out is not a good thing. Being too beautiful, or too handsome can sometimes be a burdensome reality that has to be dealt with. When interviewing for key positions, the young and beautiful have to sometimes hide this in order to be taken seriously. Why beauty means “aloofness” or “unintelligence” is beyond me, but I blame it on Marilyn Monroe.
Why?
Well, if you study Marilyn films and reconcile that with her off-movie personality and behavior, you are stumped. On screen, Marilyn cooed and giggled and often played the “dumb blonde” when in reality, most that knew her said she was very much not into being beautiful and rebelled against it. She was well spoken, intelligent, and articulate. You would’ve never known that from her movie roles.
Our society equates beauty and good looking folk as being great out the outside and dumb as a bunch of rocks on the inside. They are here to look good only, not to run the world. Of course, our latest heroes debunk that status—President Barack Obama and FLOTUS Michelle Obama are good looking folk with brains that border on genius. So we know that intellect and looks do no coexist, but we as a culture still have problems understanding that fact.
I could write this post and tell you to play down your beauty or your handsomeness or your looks, but that is not fixing the problem. My take? You need to be you in the office. And if you are beautiful, then that is their problem, not yours. If your employer is treating you differently because of your looks, then it may be time to challenge their thinking. Good work trumps anything they can throw their way. Achieving greatness in the office usually opens closed minds.
Beauty can also work the other way. It can be hard opening doors to those that are closed to the folk who are not considered “easy on the eyes” but that is another blog post for another day. Continue to fight the good fight in your office by turning in and producing good work, no matter what you look like. When you make yourself an asset, they are hard pressed to let you go.
What do you think? Can you be too beautiful or look too fabulous in the workplace? Speak on it!
I relate so much to what you’ve just wrote in this post. I think that is exactly what’s happening to me right now. I’ve just finished a Master’s degree in Chemistry and I think as I go for interviews, they look at this young lady and they wonder if I’m not a prank. My petite body structure also doesn’t give me justice.
This is such a shame that you are being judged that way because of your field. Are not so good looking people the only ones in science and chemistry? This needs to be debunked immediately. I hope they can see passed your looks at your work and experience.
Girl I have this problem EVERYDAY! LOL! I don't know what to do, looking this amazing is a real burden O_O
Ok seriously, I do think this is an issue, but not just in the office, in life. I once heard that studies showed that even infants favored "traditionally beautiful*" faces. It's almost like we're wired to pre-judge. Right or wrong, it happens. I'm also not gonna sit here and say being a 6'1" tall non-ugly (heh) chick hasn't "assisted" or "hindered" me in some ways. I like to go the route of ignorance…on my part that is … as in I just pretend it's not a factor in my life and keep it pushing 'cause ultimately what can I do? If the job judges me based on looks and doesn't hire me then would I want to be there in the first place? No. If they hire me based on looks how would I find out? And if I'm fired based on looks see rhetorical question #1 above.
In closing: It's hard out here for a Glamazini *HA*
*established by symmetry and other criteria