Jaylon Booker
Kane
English 10
1 December 2017
“Going for the Look, but Risking Discrimination”
Looks can be quite deceiving, but what is behind the face shows true meaning and expression. This article, Going for the Look, but Risking Discrimination by Steven Greenhouse is simply about lookism. Lookism is basically choosing looks over knowledge. In this essay, I will explain the way lookism works, and how it shifts around just about anywhere you can think of.
It is certainly a good idea to hire good-looking and smart people as brand representative because no one would want to shop at a place full of elderly. They would want to shop at a place full of college like younger students. Especially if it is a clothing & accessory store like Abercrombie & Fitch. For example, “Retailers defend that approach to hiring is smart and necessary, and industry experts see their point” (Greenhouse,16). This swiftly breezes by another good point in lookism which is the fact that when hiring, they at least try to find a good balance between looks and experience. But of course, they focus looks over experience.
As many may not know a line in (Greenhouse,20) stated, “Last month the commission reached a $5,000 settlement with 36th Street Food and Drink, a restaurant in St. Joseph, Mo., after accusing it of age discrimination against a 47-year-old waitress. The waitress, Michele Cornell, had worked at the restaurant for 23 years, but when it reopened after renovations, it refused to rehire her because the commission said, she no longer fit the young, trendy look it had adopted.” Here you can tell how the company president wanted his brand representatives to appeal to the customers he wanted to draw in.
On the other hand, hiring using lookism can promptly make you run into multiple negative consequences. Everyone may feel a different way about certain things. Because of course, everyone is not built the same way. No one is identical. “If you’re hiring by looks, then you can run into problems of race discrimination and even disability discrimination” said Olophius Perry, director of the Los Angeles Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commision. This quote shows how there is a negative side to lookism, and consequences that may follow behind the lack of lookism. Even though you may want to have the best looking workers working for you, but always consider the amount of experience one has.
In conclusion, this strengthens the point of lookism over taking knowledge. Although it may attract more customers, it still won’t bring the type of performance one might have with years of experience compared to months.
