I’ve been roaming the internet for a class, reading media articles that discuss recent employment-law related disputes over dress or appearance codes.

What I’ve found is astonishing. What I’ve found makes me feel sick.

The first story I read about involved a woman named Lauren Odes who claims she was fired from a New Jersey lingerie warehouse because her male employers “felt she was too busty and dressed too provocatively for the workplace” (from Reuters). I became increasingly disgusted with the media’s portrayal of the situation as I continued to read.

One article (http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2012/05/22/lingerie-worker-claims-she-was-fired-for-being-too-hot/) ends with this statement:

“Whether or not these women are successful in the courts, they should probably be thankful that they were hired in the first place. Some studies have found that attractive women are less likely to get the job.”

Indeed, what a woman looks like and how she dresses may matter in today’s environment, and scientific study may prove that it matters a great deal. But the fact that a reporter of some sort has the GUTS to say that women should be “thankful that they were hired in the first place” because they are too attractive, what, for their bosses to take them seriously? Because they are so attractive they will be a distraction to their coworkers so they should be THANKFUL that they were hired in the first place. THANKFUL. THANKFUL. I cannot get over that. How insulting! How boorish! How offensive! How disrespectful, to all women! To all people!

When I google Lauren Odes, google completes my inquiry with “Lauren Odes pics.” “Lauren Odes bra size.”

How shallow are we? Is this really how we measure the value, the importance of half of the people in the world, in terms of their physicality and in terms of a bra size?? Is this how we value them?

How limiting.

I came upon a second story – that of Debrahlee Lorenzana, former Citibank employee who claims she was fired because she was too good-looking.

The title of the Forbes article is “Debrahlee Lorenzana: Is the Ex-Citibank Employee Victim or Villain?” The title makes me feel sick. I don’t even care really who Debrahlee is, what she did, whether she is ‘victim’ or ‘villain’ as they say. I feel sick because it really shouldn’t matter! It just shouldn’t matter at all! But the media has been all over this story.

There is an entire SLIDESHOW on one site of pictures of Lorenzana (http://www.villagevoice.com/slideshow/too-hot-for-citibank–30014985/). WHY? To allow viewers to assess whether she is too sexy for the job? To show people she is too sexy? That she isn’t? The entire situation is inappropriate. The fact that we are all obsessed with whether or not a woman’s attire makes her a distraction in the workplace is inappropriate.

Here’s a fantastically degrading (in my opinion) description of Lorenzana: “J.Lo curves meets Jessica Simpson rack meets Audrey Hepburn elegance.” (from Forbes article 6/2/2010).

When I google Lorenzana, I get articles like “Debrahlee Lorenzana, buxom banker who sued Citibank…,” “Is This Woman Too Hot To Be a Banker?,” “Debrahlee Lorenzana (PICTURES): ‘Too Sexy for Citibank’…” The only people who claim that the entire issue has nothing to do with how she dressed are her employers at Citibank, who claim she was fired because of job-related performance, and it is kind of assumed that they would say that publicly, regardless of the actual reasons. She may very well have been wronged, and she may very well have not. Citibank may very well have treated her poorly, and she may very well have turned this situation into a hugely public ordeal. Here, I want to focus on the media’s portrayal of the case, which I find atrocious. They hardly focus on the concept of workplace attire at all and spend most of the time describing Lorenzana’s body with delight and providing pictures for the viewer. Such media portrayals only reinforce the popular perspective that woman’s body is her most important asset, a perspective which I find disgusting and limiting.

I mean I shouldn’t be surprised, I am reminded that popular culture and our American society publicly values women in terms of their bodies. I see it every day in our commercials, our movies, our news outlets, how we treat one another, the clothing, the makeup, the expectations, but it still revolts me. I saw this fantastic slam poetry piece on Upworthy (http://www.upworthy.com/watch-a-student-totally-nail-something-about-women-that-ive-been-trying-to-articulate-for-37-years-6) that reminds us that society has taught women for thousands of years to stay small and quiet and unassuming and defenseless and not imposing so that there is more room for the men to be men. And I realize in my daily life how aware I am of my body and of how it interacts with others. I am consumed so often with trying to take up less space, with trying not to bother others, trying to stay out of others’ way. But I don’t even realizing I am doing it most of the time; it’s become second nature to take up less space, to think of others’ needs before self, to try to be an inconspicuous and unassuming as possible.

Think about the way many women sit much of the time – with their legs crossed. Indeed, it is often considered inappropriate for women to sit with their legs uncrossed. But men, men can sit with their legs uncrossed, sometimes even with one leg bent and resting on the other knee effectively opening their legs – this position takes up space. If a woman sat that way, it might be considered provocative, inappropriate, un-lady-like, or unusual at the least. So the woman crosses her legs; bends her legs into herself, makes herself smaller, less threatening.

My intent is not to throw darts at men or mankind or any individuals; my intent is to expose a greater cultural problem here that is perpetuated by the media and by our interactions with one another. There is rarely a single ‘bad person’ to blame for these phenomena.

And of course I know that there are many thousands of people who do not follow the media’s example, and I am quite well aware that the few articles I have read are by no means representative of the entirety of the human perspective of women.

Regardless, this is inappropriate. This obsession with women’s bodies to the point that it has become acceptable for the media to resort to debating whether a woman is indeed too sexy for the workplace is, to me, revolting.