Politics of Beauty

There is a well-known bias favoring taller and more attractive people, reinforced by two studies. A University of Florida study found that tall people outscore short people on job evaluations and even fare better on seemingly objective measures, like sales performance.  Tall people earn higher salaries as well. At the University of Texas, researchers found that good-looking professors consistently outscore their less attractive colleagues by a significant margin on student evaluations of teaching. And while the findings appear vague, a few of the study participants have implied that some professors give attractive students higher grades than they give less attractive students. The Texas study suggests that, at the very least, teachers are friendlier and more open to comelier students.

Although the findings tend to raise serious questions about the using student evaluations as a valid measure of teaching quality, it remains clear that both professors and students are not exempt from biases favoring attractive people.  Throughout history and across cultural lines - like it or not - looks play a part.

Dr. Judith Waters, a psychology professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, has conducted extensive studies about the relationship of physical beauty to aging, income, and work. She is quoted in a 1992 article in Harper's Bazaar about the 'politics of make-up.'

According to Dr. Waters, ". . . . wearing makeup is not just about attracting a mate; it's the political implications of the ritual that need serious consideration.  So integrated is the wearing of makeup within our social system that it invites value judgments based solely on the way a woman is (or isn't) made up. In the workplace, failing to wear what is considered the "right" makeup can have serious ramifications.

"Take the case of Teresa Fischette, a Continental Airlines flight attendant who was recently fired for refusing to wear makeup on the job. Although the case never went to court, the Massachusetts branch of the American Civil Liberties Union came out in her support. But this case is only the tip of the iceberg. One law school graduate describes how his top law firm interviewed for support staff and paralegals by determining whether they passed the so-called ha-ha test. 'That quite literally means that if their appearance made you laugh when they came through the door, then they wouldn't get the job,' says the graduate. And did makeup figure into this? 'Yes, definitely.'

"You have to look right for the job. If you look frivolous at a bank, then customers will think you'll be frivolous with their money; but if you're in advertising, then you have to look fashionable," says Judith Waters, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Wearing makeup and looking put-together can also indicate respect for your future employer or for the person with whom you are meeting. 'When I interview someone and she looks nicely made up, I'm flattered and influenced by the fact that she took the time,' says Evelyn Lauder, senior corporate vice president of Estee Lauder Companies."

And the lesson is . . . . ?

 In a perfect society, things would be different; every one of us would be judged on ability, merit, purity of spirit, and the shared-desire to make the world a better place.  Certainly I've tried to use these criteria in selecting my friends and have attempted to instill these values in my now-grown children.  But my personal wishes are not the grease that oils the axis of human bias.

Thin girls get the dates and wear the Prom-Queen tiara.  Even when lacking talent, dress size is often the final arbiter when casting the ingenue.  The heavy girl plays the comedic best friend or the grandmother.  Even when she is a brilliant thespian. 

Employment agencies were not computerized 30 years ago when I was job hunting in Manhattan.  The firm with which I was registered categorized all of their job applicants in respective manila file folders that either sported a pink sticker next to one's name or didn't.  I later learned that a pink sticker meant "FDA" or Front Desk Appearance.  (When I related this story to my late Aunt Bea, she shrieked, "My folder would be marked BDO - Back Door ONLY!")

I would like to change the world but do not envision that fundamental attitudes about appearance ("lookism") will disappear anytime soon.  Thus said, until the day when we all wake up color-blind, disability-sensitive, no-longer-fixated-by-weight, and free from beauty-obsession, I have committed myself to helping women look and feel better about their appearance.  To teach simple techniques to those who never learned about the things that do/don't work and - despite an occasional, feeble protest - really want to know!  I pledge to dispel the 'mystery' and 'hype' that the often-unscrupulous cosmetic industry has waged via targeted campaigns, deliberately designed to keep us confused and perpetuate insecurity in our gender!  Confusion, insecurity, fear, shame, and competitiveness ensure that the coffers of the bloated beauty industry remain swollen. 

In 2006 alone, British women spent nearly 14 billion pounds on anti-aging treatments!  While I would not tell another woman how to spend her money, I'm relatively certain that most of us have been affected in some way by the current economic crisis.  It is my contention that while a little belt tightening is in order for most of us, no woman should allow herself to believe that her appearance no longer matters merely because she is struggling or her husband is suddenly out of work. 

And while lipstick won't cure everything, feeling good about one's appearance is an admirable first step to discovering physical, emotional and even spiritual balance in many areas of our day-to-day lives.