当美丽成为被解雇的理由

Op-Ed Contributor
Fired for Being Beautiful
By MICHAEL KIMMEL July 25, 2013
观点
当美丽成为被解雇的理由
迈克尔·基梅尔 2013年07月25日
MOST everyone knows by now about “lookism” — the preferential treatment given to those who conform to social standards of beauty. Research suggests that people who are judged physically attractive are seen as more competent and more socially graceful than those who aren’t; they have more friends and more ***; and they make more money. One economic study found a 5 percent bonus for being in the top third in the looks department (as assessed by a set of observers), and a 7 to 9 percent penalty for being in the bottom 9 percent.
现在，几乎人人都知道什么是“以貌取人”，即那些符合社会对美的标准的人，会得到优待。调查显示，比起相貌平平的人，那些被认为外表漂亮的人，会被认为更有能力，在社会交往中也更优雅自如。他们的朋友更多、桃花更多，就连赚钱也更多。一项经济调查发现，（在经过一组观察者的评判后）外貌能挤入前三分之一的人，能额外多挣5%，而外貌最差的9%人，则会少挣7%到9%。
All of which might come as a surprise to Melissa Nelson, a 33-year-old dental assistant in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Ms. Nelson, you see, was fired in 2010 by her dentist boss, James Knight, because she was too attractive. Mr. Knight, who is married, said he felt that Ms. Nelson’s beauty was simply too tempting to pass unnoticed and that he was worried he would have an affair with her. And so as a pre-emptive move (and at his wife’s insistence), he fired her.
梅丽莎·尼尔森(Melissa Nelson)听了上面这些话可能会感到震惊。她33岁，是艾奥瓦州道奇堡的牙医助理。你们瞧，2010年，尼尔森被她的牙医老板詹姆士·奈特(James Knight)炒掉了，理由是她过于貌美。已婚的奈特说，他感觉尼尔森的美貌太有诱惑力，令人无法忽视，他担心自己会跟她发生婚外情。于是，他先发制人（也是在他太太的坚持下），解雇了尼尔森。
Ms. Nelson sued on grounds of *** discrimination. Stunningly, an Iowa district court dismissed the case, contending that she was fired “not because of her gender but because she was a threat to the marriage of Dr. Knight.” Naturally, she appealed, but last week the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision (for the second time), maintaining its view that an employee “may be lawfully terminated simply because the boss views the employee as an irresistible attraction.”
尼尔森以性别歧视为由提起诉讼。令人吃惊的是，艾奥瓦州一家地区法院驳回了案件，表示她之所以被解雇，“并非由于她的性别，而是因为她威胁到了奈特医生的婚姻。”很自然，她上诉了。但是，上周艾奥瓦州最高法院维持了下级法院的判决，坚称“如果雇主认为雇员的魅力无法抵挡，雇主可以仅仅以此作为理由合法解雇”该名雇员。

Now, you might think that this case of reverse-lookism gives the gorgeous a taste of their own medicine. Better than being fired because you’re ugly, right?
现在，大家可能以为，这个逆向相貌歧视的案子，可以让那些漂亮的人自食其果。这总好过了因为长得丑被解雇，对吧？
But I propose that we think not about how such a case differs from its converse, but about how they are actually similar.
但我认为，我们不应当考虑这个案件与方向相反的歧视案件有什么不同，而应该考虑二者实际上有哪些相似之处。
Discrimination based on beauty is rooted in the same ***ist principle as discrimination against the ugly. Both rest on the power of the male gaze — the fact that men’s estimation of beauty is the defining feature of the category.
基于美貌的歧视与针对丑陋的歧视源于相同的性别歧视原则。两者都归结于男性凝视的权力，也就是说，男性的评价是“美丽”这个范畴的决定性因素。
I know you might think: “Not so fast. What about good-looking or ugly men?” And yes, handsome men reap the benefits of lookism and the short, fat and bald suffer its penalties. Lookism is gender-neutral.
我知道大家可能会想：“别这么快下结论。好看和难看的男人呢？”的确，英俊的男性也会因外貌而得到好处，而矮胖秃的那些则会蒙受损失。以貌取人不分性别。
The workplace, however, isn’t. Think of all those mannequin-thin sales representatives for pharmaceutical companies, whose job is to persuade physicians, a great many of them men, to prescribe their products. Think of companies like American Apparel, whose top executive, Dov Charney, has been accused of firing employees that he judges unattractive. The writer Naomi Wolf has called this the “professional beauty quotient” — a standard of beauty that tacitly operates as an occupational qualification (as flight attendants have complained). The glass ceiling is reinforced by a looking glass.
不过，职场却是另一码事。想想那些瘦得跟模特一样的医药代表吧，她们的工作就是说服医生（其中绝大多数是男性）开出自家产品的处方。再想想美国服饰(American Apparel)这类企业，该公司的首席执行官多夫·查尼(Dov Charney)曾因解雇他认为不好看的员工而遭起诉。作家娜奥米·沃尔夫(Naomi Wolf)称之为“职场美丽商数”，也就是心照不宣地被当作从业资格的美貌标准（正如空中乘务员抱怨的那样）。映照外貌的镜子，加固了玻璃天花板。
But the professional beauty quotient has now morphed into what we might call the Goldilocks dilemma. Like the porridge in that famous fable, you can’t be too cold. But as Ms. Nelson found out, you can’t be too hot, either. You have to be “just right.” But just right in whose eyes? Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but the beholder in the workplace usually has a Y chromosome.
职场美丽商数如今又进一步演化成所谓的“金发姑娘困境”（寓言故事《三只小熊》里的女主角——译注）。正如这则著名寓言里的粥一样，你不能太冰冷，又如尼尔森发现的那样，你也不能太火辣。你必须得“刚刚好”。但是，这是谁眼中的“刚刚好”？是否美貌或许取决于观者的眼光，但职场上的观者往往是有Y染色体的那些人。
After all, the case of Melissa Nelson rests not on her beauty but on Mr. Knight’s perception of her beauty. In his eyes, her beauty was simply too tempting, too potentially injurious. (Ever notice, the writer Timothy Beneke once asked, how the words we use to describe women’s beauty — bombshell, knockout, stunning, femme fatale — are words that connote violence and injury to men?)
毕竟，梅丽莎·尼尔森一案基于的不是她的美貌，而是奈特对她美貌的观感。在他眼里，尼尔森的美貌太诱人，造成伤害的可能性太大。大家有没有注意到，作家蒂莫西·贝内克(Timothy Beneke)曾经问道，我们用来形容女性美貌的词汇，怎么都会让人想到对男性的暴力和伤害呢？比如性感炸弹(bombshell)、让人倾倒(knockout)、目眩神迷(stunning)和致命美女(femme fatale)等。
What a pathetic commentary on Mr. Knight: his willpower so limp, his commitment to his wife so weak, that he must be shielded from the hot and the beautiful.
对奈特而言，这是多么可悲的评价啊：他的意志力太薄弱了，他对妻子的忠诚太脆弱了，以至于他必须远离性感美女。
Now, I ask you: Where have we heard that before — that men’s vulnerability to women’s ***uality and attractiveness is so great that women must be prevented from showing any part of their bodies to them?
现在，我再问大家：我们是不是在哪儿听到过这种说法？男性在女性的性吸引力面前太脆弱了，因此必须阻止女性向他们展示任何身体部位？
Yes, like some Midwestern Taliban tribunal, the Iowa Supreme Court permitted a male boss to fire anyone who might conceivably tempt him. Mullah Omar would approve.
是的，就像是塔利班的法庭来到了美国中西部，艾奥瓦州最高法院允许男老板解雇任何他认为可能诱惑他的人。毛拉奥马尔(Mullah Omar)会赞同这个判决。
Maybe we ought to reconsider the case of Samantha Elauf, a Muslim teenager from Oklahoma, on whose behalf the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Abercrombie & Fitch in 2009 after she was not hired because her hijab did not meet the retailer’s appearance policy. Maybe instead, the Iowa Supreme Court should require all beautiful women to wear burqas. With Ms. Nelson completely covered, Mr. Knight could pay full attention to his patients’ dental concerns — while ignoring the ethical cavity that mars discrimination law in Iowa.
或许，我们应当重新想想萨曼莎·埃劳夫(Samantha Elauf)一案。埃劳夫是俄克拉何马州的一名穆斯林少女，由于佩戴头巾不符合A&F公司(Abercrombie & Fitch)的外表要求，她未能被公司雇佣。公平就业机会委员会(Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)在2009年代表她起诉了A&F。或许，艾奥瓦州最高法院应当转而要求所有的美貌女性都穿上罩袍。如果尼尔森从头到脚都罩得严严实实的，奈特就可以把全部精力放到病人的牙科问题上了，同时还能避免暴露艾奥瓦州反歧视法的伦理漏洞。


[要查看本链接请先注册并登录], a professor of sociology and gender studies at Stony Brook University, is the author of the forthcoming book “Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era.”
 


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迈克尔·基梅尔([要查看本链接请先注册并登录])是纽约州立大学石溪分校(Stony Brook University)的社会学与性别研究教授，即将出版《愤怒的白人男性：时代末期的美国男子气概》(Angry White Men: American Masculinity at the End of an Era)一书。