welsch@houxu.UUCP (09/10/83)
Occasionally I find an article that is so upsetting that it must be replied to and refuted. The article I am referring to is by "rlgvax!thanh" and entitled "leg/armpit hair must be shaved if shown at work" which appeared in net.women.only. I am posting this reply in net.women because I am dealing with wider issues than just hair. The real problem I have with the article is the intolerance and prejudice shown by "thanh" to individual differences as shown by the following quotation: Well, well, well, if everyone in this society/ country creates his/her standard, it sounds to me this society will become a circus where each of you are a clown. Just be sure that there is *not* only you in this world, and it (this world) is *not* a jungle either. I got news for you. I happen to like diversity! Hair and shaving or cutting of hair, be it facial hair, armpit hair, leg hair, chest hair, back hair, shoulder hair, happens to be one of those things that really does not make one hell of a lot of difference in this world. Just for the record I have hair all over. I am proud of it. No I am not a clown nor has anybody ever called me a clown. Yes! there were some jobs I did not get cause I wore a beard before it was "acceptable." Frankly, I am glad I didn't get those jobs. I really do not want to work for an intolerant company. By the way a "jungle" is one of the few places where I would shave my hair. Hair serves a very important function, body temperature control. In the hot summer hair provides more surface area for sweat to evaporate and cool my body and in the winter it helps to keep me warm. My beard provides a natural place for my breath to frost on and keep sub-zero temperatures from hitting my face directly. I have never been frost bitten and have frequently skied when it is below zero. Now for some comments on removing hair. Shaving effectively removes the outer layer of skin. For people with a tough skin this may not make much of a difference. But I have sensitive skin. Run a razor across it and it gets red and cuts easily. Shaving is just plain unhealthy for me. Let's talk about appearance. The following is a quotation: I believe that one's appearance is a very important factor to show yourself, make other people to have nice impression about you before they hire you for a job or offer you their assistance for anything. I hardly hear anyone who says something like: "That dentist has a bad breath and a dandruff hair, so I try him. Who knows he may be a best dentist in the world", or "This applicant here, whose clothes he/she wears for interview haven't washed for a year, is a potential candidate for our marketing management position." If there was such person working at your site or company, I would like to know and thank god that I was not *lucky* enough to work there. Yes appearance is important. How a person chooses to wear or style one's hair has nothing to do with washing or dandruff. Quite frankly, I look better in a beard than without one. The beard lengthens my face. I would prefer a woman with hair on her legs to one with nicks and scratches from shaving or a woman with red legs from a depilatory. The point is that projecting the "best" image may not be conforming to some set of standards. Not everyone looks best shaved!! Next, let's talk about work. Frankly personal appearance doesn't have a dam thing to do with work. When I interview someone the only question on my mind is can that person get the job done. I am a programmer. I am not impressed with someone who comes in wearing a three piece suit neatly shaved who doesn't know the difference between recursion and iteration. It doesn't matter how good a person looks, if the person doesn't know the field then she/he cannot sell/develop/manufacture the product. A salesperson doesn't have to dress well, she has to be able to sell. If the job is to work with machine tools, long hair and a long beard might be a consideration. I would ask the person how they kept the hair from being caught and tell them this is may be a problem to be solved. I'd still hire them and then solve the problem. Finally I want to talk about diversity. DIFFERENCES are healthy. Almost all creative ideas and inventions come from people who are "different." Frankly I wouldn't mind a third sex, imagine the variations available with three different types of potential sexual partners. I think of the work environment of the 50's with white shirts, narrow ties, only male colleagues, and only female secretaries as boring and unstimulating. No, jeans aren't for every one, three piece suits and ties are for some people, jeans for others, dresses for yet other people. Sameness, is to be avoided. Yes there are standards for health, but why promulgate standards for other reasons. Regularity where it serves a function is good. For example, being able to find a room is a large building is easier if it is regular. The ideal we should enjoy people for being themselves. We should enjoy people with hair and those without for those very attributes. We should be able to enjoy women for being female and men for being male, blacks for blackness and whites for whiteness. Without the "difference" this is not possible. How can we enjoy people as individuals if there are no differences. "VIVALA DIFFERANCE" Larry Welsch houxu!welsch