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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Oh Please! We all judge people by their appearance.
Would you hire an attorney who didn't wear a suit?? You treat people based on
where you are and what they are wearing. We all do!</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=Tbertruss@aol.com
href="mailto:Tbertruss@aol.com">Tbertruss@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=nanc3296@uidaho.edu
href="mailto:nanc3296@uidaho.edu">nanc3296@uidaho.edu</A> ; <A
title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, March 02, 2005 10:49
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] Body
jewelry</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2
FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR>All:<BR><BR>I think it a sad commentary on
the prejudices and unfair judgments people make of other human beings based on
personal choices of appearance which do not harm anyone else that someone in
Moscow has difficulty finding a job because of body jewelry.<BR><BR>Of course
employers think about the impact appearance has on customers and want to hire
employees who will fit the image most favorable for their business
success. We all know this. And within certain limits, employers
are within their rights to assert a dress code. Again, we all know
this.<BR><BR>The question is, should the public and/or an employer be so
judgmental of someone's appearance as to reject them just because of their
personal choices regarding how they wish to look? I am not talking about
identification that employees must wear so customers know they are an
employee, or safety issues that require some employers to ban body jewelry
because it can be a safety hazard, or other job related requirements that are
essential to doing the job besides not violating the bigotry of customers,
which is about the only reason I can think of to reject an employee with body
jewelry, in most cases. Women with pierced ears who wear jewelry in
their ears are almost never rejected for employment just because of their
pierced ears. It is just a bias against other forms of body piercing
that renders it problematic.<BR><BR>There may be employers in Moscow who don't
care if someone works for them with body jewelry, but they know the public
will have a hissy fit, so they can't allow it.<BR><BR>I can think of no good
reason to reject someone for employment because of body jewelry except the
narrow minded prejudices of people who just can't stand appearances that
challenge their biases regarding how people are supposed to look. This
is nothing more than flat out prejudice by the public and employers, the same
sort of prejudice that might have led to demanding women wear dresses and
never pants, that Blacks must straighten their hair, that men be banned from
wearing hair over their collar, that allowed bosses to hire blond secretaries
over brown haired ones for their sex appeal. <BR><BR>No doubt this sort
of discrimination against employees appearances continues to this day, but is
it right? Many practices that are legal in the workplace still are
morally questionable.<BR><BR>The argument that body piercings usually imply a
kind of masochistic personality that is undesirable is just nonsense.
The process of piercing does not have to be painful with anesthetic. And
besides, we celebrate people in many walks of life who suffer great pain in
their work without an extreme judgment that they are pathologically
masochistic. How much pain and suffering do football players go through,
yet we applaud their toughness and grit? We do not (most of us) turn off
the TV during the game to shield the children from the crunching bones and
moans from the brutal hits. This argument asserting that body piercings
are a form of wounding that implies a serious psychological impairment when
viewed from the context of our cultures relationship to pain as a virtue is
pure hypocrisy!<BR><BR>I have been a long distance runner my whole life.
I can guarantee you there are times when you go all out running a long
distance that it hurts! And to keep going while it hurts, you
suffer. I recall the 1990 Bloomsday, when at 38 years old I wanted to
set a sub six minute per mile pace for the 7.46 mile course. I reached
the top of Doomsday Hill at my goal pace, but still had about a mile and a
half more to go. I was dead. The only way to keep going was to
tough it out. I had to accelerate after the hill back to my sub six
minute mile pace. This hurt. And it kept hurting for the next mile
and a half. <BR><BR>Don't employ me, please! I am a monstrous
masochist for doing that to myself. Oh, it's OK to torture yourself for
sports, you say? In fact, you think that means I have
determination? That's the All American thing to do?<BR><BR>Just don't do
it with body piercings. That's "un-American."<BR><BR>Ted
Moffett<BR><BR><BR><BR></FONT>
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