Too Sexy For Her Job?

Can a woman be too attractive for her job? Bring on the sexist debate baby, er, my lady. Maybe you’ve also noticed the recent rash of females beleaguered by their good looks. The issue is far-reaching these days. From sports to business, America to England, Ines Sainz to a Silence Of The Lambs reference, headlines continue to ask if that girl is just too beautiful for her workplace.

Debrahlee Lorenzana: Fired for being her

The first of the business bombshells burst onto the scene this June when Debrahlee Lorenzana lost her job at Citibank for being too hot to handle. Apparently none of her coworkers or supervisors could focus on their work because her appearance was too distracting. I’m assuming these are male co-workers. I can’t speak for the lesbian community because, for those of you who can’t see me, I’m not a lesbian. Or a woman.

I can, however, speak for the male community, and boys you have no leg to stand on. It’s like the time I sat next to the homecoming queen all semester in college algebra. I can tell you a whole lot more about the red tint of her hair than quadratic equations or whatever else those math weirdos do. Anyway, no one listened to me when I explained that I couldn’t focus on polynomials while sitting next to a less than standard form.

Oh yeah, and then there’s the part where you can’t shun someone because they are too pretty. So if Ms. Lorenzana was doing anything wrong then by all means fire her up, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. According to the Village Voice, the fired femme fatale said her bosses “…ordered her to stop wearing turtlenecks. She was also forbidden to wear pencil skirts, three-inch heels, or fitted business suits.”

If you make turtlenecks and fitted business suits too seductive then more power to ya. I mean, when I started college I had to wear a sweater under my turtlenecks just to fill them out.

Donald: Probably not behind this firing

So as a result of all this hotness hoopla, Ms. Lorenzana was stripped of her, wait, what? Oh, stripped of her duties and then fired. If I understand the basic legal argument here it’s that men in her workplace can’t focus on their job without wanting to have intercourse (the sexual kind) with her. According to her friend Tanisha Ritter:

“Men are kind of drawn to her. I’ve seen men turn into complete idiots around her. But it’s not her fault that they act this way, and it shouldn’t be her problem.”

No word on whether or not men also turn into idiots around Ms. Ritter, but I’ve seen plenty of men turn into complete idiots with no women around. Anyway, back to the issue because if I don’t stop thinking about this banker I’ll never get any work done.