The Tragic Plight of Smokin’ Hot Foxes On Wall Street
June 5, 2010 16 Comments
Via Ace, a very important story highlighting one of the most pressing social issues of our time:
Woman says she was fired from Citibank for being too hot
This seems like a joke, but the problem of Hot Women In The Workplace strikes me as a nontrivial one. The ‘feminist’ answer here seems to be that guys all just need to be professional and cannot and should not react to this woman in the way that comes naturally. That sounds superficially fair enough, unless one takes into consideration the (very real, it seems to me) possibility that if they had all indeed controlled their libidos, this woman and indeed many/most women who look like her may never have been hired into that job in the first place. So now what?
This is really unfair of me to say, because I don’t know anything about this woman, but if you had to guess what do you reckon were her major job qualifications for this banking job (whatever it was exactly)? If you had to make a bet as to what tipped the balance in her favor, over other candidates, which way would you bet?
Whether this applies to her or not, the fact is that good-looking women start out with a tremendous advantage, especially in a traditionally-male workplace such as a bank. Of course one always likes to think one hires and fires based purely on merit, on qualifications. On the other hand large consideration is also given to things such as whether someone will be a ‘team player’, whether someone will fit in with the group.
Now, what heterosexual guy doesn’t look at this woman and think to himself: Why, I think she’d fit in quite nicely around here, yes indeed.
And especially if the job is customer-facing, like in sales, then one way or another one’s personality and charisma and related qualities have got to be a consideration. But once you go down this road, how on earth do you separate a supposedly objective menu-listing of her ‘qualifications’ in that area from the fact that she’s a smokin’ hot fox who would have clients climbing over each other to have meetings with? In some businesses and contexts the latter can have a genuine, tangible, real impact. Of course the official policy of, especially, a fascistically-regulated place like a bank has got to be that such things are not taken into consideration whatsoever.
But does anyone really believe this?
In a way I’m glad that I’m neither feminist nor politically correct because I don’t have to control or edit how I react to stories such as this. For the PC, of course, this is a Civil! Rights! Issue! Except that, what if this woman got where she was because of her looks, and there’s some ugly but bright woman sitting at home unemployed right now because she didn’t get that job. Isn’t that also a Civil! Rights! Issue? And now this woman is complaining that the bank found her ‘too sexy’ – how does that make the less-sexy female colleagues feel, do you reckon? (Civil rights issue!) On the other hand if (as is highly plausible) this woman was genuinely subjected to intrusive, demeaning, sexualized comments on the job all day long, that can’t have been pleasant for her (Civil rights issue).
I’m so relieved I don’t feel the need to take sides here. I’m happy enough just to sit this one out. And observe. Let’s observe some more:
Can’t you arrange a job for her at your office?
More seriously: yes, it’s a good point but I’d argue that saying that since looks helped put her in her position then it’s acceptable for those same looks to get her fired is close enough to arguing that if a woman was hired in the hopes that she’ll put out she can be fired if she doesn’t. The explicit job requirements are what matters (or else that’s an arbitrary position I happen to feel comfortable with). If her job doesn’t explictly entail fuc*ing the boss, she can’t be fired for not doing so. A model can be fired for faded looks since the job is explicitly about looks. This woman appeal and demeanor help persuade her employer to take her on but once he does so, he owes her the opportunity to perform her stated role and not to mistreat her.
Having said which.. yeah, it is complex. If you don’t like someone’s face, can you not fire him? Should you have to work alongside people with nasal voices? If you are sullen but do a top-notch job, is it ok to fire you? I’d say yes, you can be fired simply because someone doesn’t like your face or how you talk; You can quit a job because you don’t like the atmosphere, people’s attitudes, faces.
it’s a tough world out there and rules will ultimately create as many problems as they solve so now I’m saying she can be fired for her looks but that she cannot be harassed because of them. Not very neat but it’s as close to a golden path I can find.
Good idea, I will try to put in a good word for her with my boss.
To be clear, I’m not saying that since her looks helped put her in her position that it’s “acceptable” for her looks to get her fired. Strictly speaking, from a purist point of view, neither is “acceptable”. In particular, if she were really fired because she didn’t put out, I’d be the first one voting to give her a giant settlement check.
But those don’t seem to be the facts we have before us. The claim is not that she was fired because she didn’t put out, but because she dressed too sexily and caused an office disruption. This is something I can believe, while at the same time thinking that ‘causing a disruption’ was probably one of the reasons she was hired. Let’s not pretend there aren’t certain females who are hired and advanced because they provide eye candy. Now, for all I know she wasn’t one of them, but the eye-candy component certainly seems to be there.
In the real world, guys like and are highly distracted by good-looking girls. Maybe my point is just that I don’t see the purpose of fighting this fact of biology rather than trying to work with it.
Good looking broad.
In 1991, I got hired to work on a development project for a mobile phone company not in the US. After we became friends, the boss – an Englishman who was the same age as I am now, and who became my partner in our next venture – told me that it was between me and a hot girl, and he chose me because he thought the girl would cause a disastrous meltdown in our sausage-fest nerd workplace. I was a little shocked that he would tell me that, habituated as I was to American legal praxis, but I think he was right.
PC is poison.
You remind me of something I thought of, which is that this woman will presumably have a hard time getting hired anywhere else. Fair or not, won’t everyone think she’s just a lawsuit waiting to happen now?
You asked: … if you had to guess what do you reckon were her major job qualifications for this banking job (whatever it was exactly)? If you had to make a bet as to what tipped the balance in her favor, over other candidates, which way would you bet?
I say: Yeah, most guys would want to hire her, but that does not mean she is not just as qualified.
And yes, the world is probably easier for someone who looks like this, but of course, while doors are opened, she always has to wonder what the ulterior motive is.
Women who look like this have to dance on the event horizon of the PC black hole just like we men do. In fact, the more “hot” a woman is, the more likely she’s going to get into trouble, and conversely, the goofier a dude is, the more likely he is going to get into trouble (you know, cuz sexual harrassment is unwanted flirting).
Yeah, most guys would want to hire her, but that does not mean she is not just as qualified.
Of course not.
but of course, while doors are opened, she always has to wonder what the ulterior motive is.
Exactly. On the flip side, guys trying to evaluate her objectively will always have to wonder if they are letting some ulterior motive slip through. There may be a tendency to overcompensate and judge her more harshly than other women. Which, itself, is ‘unfair’. Etc.
See how nontrivial an issue this is!
She was some kind of teller (female-dominated) and couldn’t even fulfill the basic requirements to hawk x amount of banking products.
She was lazy, expected to coast on her looks, and when that didn’t pan out, out came the litigation claws.
To be honest, ‘A Lady’ I couldn’t be troubled (what with my hectic jet-setting lifestyle) to follow the link to the actual story so I don’t know if she was a teller or not and since I can’t even imagine pressing on the link to find out I guess I’ll never know but somehow I doubt she couldn’t perform a simple job. She doesn’t look at all sloppy.
Um, if it pans out and you manage to have her hired, let me know if it seems solid and I’ll reconsider the moving to america option. There must be something I can do at your company! Not the obvious thing you probably have in mind.. am thinking more like making coffee, etc.. simple stuff. And think of the poor woman, probably destitute now that she’s out of a job. Hurts me to think about it. For the love of God and all that is decent, help her out!!
Strange that you wouldn’t click the link. Did I neglect to mention there’s pictures there? There’s pictures there.
I had a bank teller who was much more physically attractive than this lady, but could not count cash. It was pretty obvious why she was there, and it wasn’t to perform the simple job of bank teller.
Sure, send me her resume too.
You totally neglected to mention that! I can do pictures. So I clicked and um yeah. But no, I didn’t read. Only watched the video. I think she looks best (and at her most fetchingly professional) in the first photo you have up. Obviously I wouldn’t be making coffee wherever it is you work. I’d be fetching it from Starbucks. But she shouldn’t wear that tedious outfit she has in the Post article. Only the one in the 1st photo you have up. It might be best if you give your boss the feeling he has a choice, so perhaps also (as an option) suggest Lara Flynn Boyle (in her Happiness guise) or even better: both. There’s no reason why your office shouldn’t be a place that puts a spring in your step (and in mine).
The Iraq War Was Wrong.
Yeah, it looked terrible in a pencil skirt.
Is that a Pulp reference?
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