In the 19th century, many American cities banned public appearances by "unsightly" individuals. A Chicago ordinance was typical: "Any person who is diseased, maimed, mutilated, or in any way deformed, so as to be an unsightly or disgusting subject . . . shall not . . . expose himself to public view, under the penalty of a fine of $1 for each offense." Although the government is no longer in the business of enforcing such discrimination, it still allows businesses, schools and other organizations to indulge their own prejudices. Over the past half-century, the United States has expanded protections against discrimination to include race, religion, sex, age, disability and, in a growing number of jurisdictions, sexual orientation. Yet bias based on appearance remains perfectly permissible in all but one state and six cities and counties. Across the rest of the country, looks are the last bastion of acceptable bigotry. We all know that appearance matters, but the price of prejudice can be steeper than we often assume. In Texas in 1994, an obese woman was rejected for a job as a bus driver when a company doctor assumed she was not up to the task after watching her, in his words, "waddling down the hall." He did not perform any agility tests to determine whether she was, as the company would later claim, unfit to evacuate the bus in the event of an accident.…
Beautyism in the workplace is discrimination in one of its most disguised forms. Employers get away with this form of discrimination everyday. Because someone is categorized as beautiful it doesn’t mean that they have all the knowledge they need to succeed on a job or neither does it validate that they are a better selection than the next person. Beauty is skin deep and outward appearance is not enough to justify someone’s worth to a job. It will not be outwardly talked about exactly how a person has really gotten the job if they were hired because of beautyism. An idea can be developed or an assumption can be made from the treatment that is given to the person who was hired because of beautyism. What will be noticed in most cases is the special treatment that is given that is not given to the rest of the hard working…
In conclusion, companies shouldn’t hire because of looks, they should hire for the experience of the person. Like Greenhouse argues that it is just a way of telling people know it is discrimination. I agree with him since this has been going for a long time, I think mostly everyone…
Another argument Cohen brings up is that retailers hire based on looks because it is smart and necessary. In the article “Going for the Look, but Risking Discrimination” by Steven Green gives a great example about Elizabeth Nill. She walks into Abercrombie stores and almost every time managers walk up to her and offer her a job. This proves that retailers hire only attractive people. This is discrimination because Abercrombie is only hiring white, attractive people. This leaves them vulnerable for criticism from the public.…
Jim is shorter than Kevin, and Lonna is less attractive than Merilyn. Research shows that compared with taller men and more attractive individuals, Jim will likely make less income and Lonna will receive poorer performance reviews and a lower salary. Appearance-based discrimination has been barred by…
To conclude my analysis of discrimination of looks, various federal, state, and local laws disallow discrimination against employees and job applicants in the relationships and circumstances of employment. In universal, the laws make it unlawful to treat applicants or employees less favorably or differently because they are included in certain threatened categories. This means all employment judgments should be based on legitimate business decisions.…
Through my reading and interpretation of this essay, I’ve come to realize that there will always be discrimination because of how a person looks, acts, and presents themselves, but I don’t think there should be a reason for individuals to get so distraught over the issue. Although looks and physical appearance shouldn’t be something one person should judge another over, I firmly believe there are certain standards for particular situations, and we, as people, should come to understand that. When Rhode brought forward the issue with the waitress being denied a larger uniform due to health issues, I felt sorry for her, almost to the point of pity. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the casino, just like any other business, had a certain image to uphold, and they had a certain standard for the way their employees should look and portray themselves. And even though she had a legitimate reason why she gained some weight, the waitress signed a contract with the casino which required her to keep an “hourglass figure” (247).…
Tovée, M. J., Maisey, D. S., Emery, J. L., & Cornelissen, P. L. (1999). Visual cues to female physical attractiveness. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B 266, 211–218.…
As everyone know, a good-looking people attract interviewers, get hired faster, are more likely to make more sales and get more raises. According to Daniel Hamermesh, an economics professor at the University of Texas in Austin, points out the benefits in his book, "Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful." that “attractive people seem earning an average of 3% to 4% more than a person with below-average looks. That adds up to $230,000 more over in a lifetime of the typical good-looking person. Even an average-looking worker is likely to make $140,000 more over a lifetime than an less attractive worker.”…
Does Beauty Bring You Farther? : The Connection between Physical Attractiveness and Success Theories have long supported the notion that what is beautiful is good (Dion, Berscheid, & Walster, 1972). In the study entitled “What is Beautiful is Good,” Dion et al. (1972) investigates the physical attractiveness stereotype in a broad study that looks at how attractiveness affects one’s perceived personality traits. The study also looks at whether physical attractiveness leads to a better life.…
Daniel S. Hamermesh is an established Professor in Economics, having taught at Princeton, Michigan State and Texas, whose expertise include applications of labour economics (to beauty). He also appears on national television programmes to discuss economic issues. Hence, he has the relevant knowledge and competency in writing this text. The source publisher, Princeton University Press, is credible as it is based from an established educational institution. Hamermesh (2011) discusses the economic effect beauty has on a company's profits, asserting that having a favourable pool of executives ranked by looks and ensuring that they specialize in tasks that leverage on differences in their looks will raise sales and profits (Hamermesh, 2011, P.97). He first states how appearances can affect employer's hiring decisions (Hamermesh, 2011, P.93), then discusses why good-looking workers raise the firms' bottom lines (Hamermesh, 2011, P.94) which is only applicable when they are in positions capable of inspiring their co-workers (Executives). Finally he evaluates how differences in those executives' looks can be exploited to raise sales and profits. Although some of his arguments are supported by credible evidence, others are supported by mere assumptions. This weakens his thesis as it exposes his arguments to fallacies. Furthermore, the prominence of assumptions made throughout cripples his otherwise structurally coherent thesis.…
People that say “looks don’t matter when it comes to business” appear to be totally wrong. In our society nowadays it seems that looks do matter. Besides knowledge and capabilities some looks tend to give you a higher salary or a higher chance of getting hired. Lots of researches proved this statement and there are different opinions on what exactly are those looks. One of the top debates are the differences between blondes and brunettes, fat and thin, tall and short and if you smile alot or not.…
Aristotle once said, “Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.” After thousands of years, this concept of beauty and its forthcoming advantages continues to hold. But first, what makes someone enjoyable to look at? There are some obvious and universal traits of beauty. According to Dina Spector, “High cheekbones, fuller lips, big eyes, and a thin chin are associated with sexiness in women, whereas a big jaw and broad chin are preferred in men. Smooth skin, shiny hair, and facial symmetry are also key aspects of beauty.”(3) Despite what many believe, beauty is not in fact in the eye of the beholder. In 1971, researchers at the University of Michigan created the first rating system in an attempt to quantify beauty. Participants were asked to rate others beauty on a 5-1 scale, whereas 5 equates strikingly beautiful or handsome, 4 - good-looking, 3 - average looks, 2 - quite plain, and 1 - homely. While the majority of people were ranked as average, all of the ratings held a surprisingly strong consistency within and across cultures. Daniel Hamermesh, Professor of Economics at the University of Texas and author of Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful used this system along with many others to further his study of “pulchronomics”, or beauty’s relationship with economics. In his book, Hamermesh explains, “I was not the first to look at the relationship between beauty and economic outcomes, that’s an old topic. I was however, the first to examine it using a nationally representative sample of adults and to do so in the context of economic models of the determination of earnings.”(4) He found that attractive people are typically hired sooner, get promotions more quickly, and are paid more than their less-attractive coworkers.…
Nonverbal Components of Delivery and Question-and-Answer Sessions By Angelica Joy A. Balanquit Nonverbal Components of Delivery The nonverbal components of a delivery are those aspects communicated through our BODIES and FACES. It has a powerful effect on the meanings exchanged between two people. Between 65% and 93% of the total meaning of a message comes to us through non verbal signals.…
Is beauty only skin deep? Furthermore, is the beauty truly in the eye of the beholder? Many people hold these time-tested axioms to be true; however, modern research has dispelled much of the credibility of these sayings. How others perceive and rate the desirability of a person’s physical features, i.e. their physical attractiveness, plays an enormous role in the formation of relationships and opportunities to climb the socio-economic ladder. The effect of physical attractiveness reaches across cultures and plunges into every age group. Diseases such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, which tend to effect young girls, can be attributed to their desire to enhance their physical features. Older people do not escape the vortex of desire for physical beauty either, seeing that they engage in face lifts and botox injections for their physical enhancement. Physical Attractiveness has been the cornerstone of several markets, including the fitness, cosmetic, and fashion industries. This could be explained by the vast advantages of being physically attractive. Physically attractive people are preferred over others, receive higher acclaim from colleagues, and obtain more job opportunities; especially in the modeling industry. Most of these unmerited rewards are based on false assumptions by modern society. One such erroneous assumption that society holds is that physically attractive people are more intelligent than lesser attractive people! Physically attractive people are also assumed to be more successful. Though there is no correlation between physically attractiveness and success, it is fair to say that people with more desirable physical attributes are given advantages that others are not. By having physically attractive features, one administers a positive influence on the attitudes of observers, which facilitates the creation of new relationships and job opportunities.…