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‘I dye my hair brown to be taken more seriously at work’

bbc.co.uk

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Re: ‘I dye my hair brown to be taken more seriously at work’

#31

Post by api »

hasenj wrote: post #29
api wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh sure you can hack these things. That's why the woman in the article dyed her hair brown and got glasses. It's depressing that it's necessary. If two people present something to me I should be evaluating the something, not the shoulder girth of the people presenting it. But inside my head there is a monkey that doesn't know what geological epoch this is.

Well, these are signals. Our minds are programmed to send signals and expect others to do the same. These signals helps us understand where we stand with people and where people stand in relation to us and each other. You might think we don't need these signals anymore, but I think you would be gravely mistaken to assume that. Instead, it's better to (re-)learn these things and adopt them. Think of it as a form of po…

What if the signal is something you can't control?

Sucks to be you then, eh?

Re: ‘I dye my hair brown to be taken more seriously at work’

#32

Post by CJefferson »

orbifold wrote: post #19
orbifold wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you question every story you hear? Generally speaking yes, especially if it us told to me by someone with a clear profit motive and not backed by evidence. Obviously the only reason this story works is because it is easy to believe that a typical VC has the stereotypical view of blond women you describe. That doesn't make it true or relevant. Also imagine someone wrote a profile about Ursula von der Leyen, the c…

Also just BTW I'm just getting a haircut because I will be speaking at a meeting with important people attending, so I want to look as professional as possible, which according to male stereotypes means short hair, no beard and no glasses.

I've never heard "no glasses" being a required part of professionalism, maybe it's a thing in different countries?

Also, the point here I feel is for women that also includes (possibly) change hair colour, which is a much more serious, and expensive, undertaking.

Re: ‘I dye my hair brown to be taken more seriously at work’

#33

Post by changchuming »

api wrote: post #31
hasenj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, these are signals. Our minds are programmed to send signals and expect others to do the same. These signals helps us understand where we stand with people and where people stand in relation to us and each other. You might think we don't need these signals anymore, but I think you would be gravely mistaken to assume that. Instead, it's better to (re-)learn these things and adopt them. Think of it as a form of po…

What if the signal is something you can't control? Sucks to be you then, eh?

What can you really control though? Your genetics and your environment determine who you are. Nature and nurture. We all have to make do.

Re: ‘I dye my hair brown to be taken more seriously at work’

#34

Post by tomp »

api wrote: post #6

My wife dyed her hair blonde once and noted a noticable change in how she was treated. She described it as people being nicer to her but also sort of taking her less seriously. She also got hit on a lot more. She went back to her normal brown pretty quickly. It's not just the obvious things like race. There are thousands of little prejudices. For guys I've read studies from sales about how men with broader shoulders…

Prejudices? I don't understand why you find it surprising or depressing that people treat those they're attracted to better. Even in professional settings, "personality fit" is often placed very high. Inasmuch as being friendly and being attractive are both equality irrelevant to getting things done, and both make people feel better around you and hence like you more, they're pretty much equivalent.

Re: ‘I dye my hair brown to be taken more seriously at work’

#35

Post by toomanybeersies »

lucozade wrote: post #28
czechdeveloper wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That also stood out to me. She is just changing already not-original look from trying to be more attractive to be more serious. I really don't understand how this is interesting enough for full article.

It's most probably a placed piece. It's unlikely that it's coincidental that the article is a diversity story about someone who runs a company in the diversity field in a news outlet that is currently running a diversity campaign. Also, sexism in SV is topical so her coming from the Bay area probably helped. I might be being too cynical but I doubt it. I mean, it's the BBC. They hardly needed to cross the Atlantic to…

This thing happens yearly as BBC runs their BBC 100 Women series.

As much as I love the BBC for their news reporting, their gender diversity reporting tends to be very contrived.

Re: ‘I dye my hair brown to be taken more seriously at work’

#36

Post by notjesse »

jpatokal wrote: post #4

One point not mentioned in the article, but obvious from the photo: her natural hair is black, and the blonde hair was also dyed.

Not necessarily. My mother is a natural blonde and her roots come through similarly.

If you do a quick google, you will see there are many natural blondes with this issue for a variety of reasons.

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