Glad to Be A Guy

I don’t consider myself a person who dresses poorly at work. I would say that I am above average even. I could raise that bar as well if I dropped a little cash into my wardrobe (about $500 or so). That’s actually the plan in the near future. Apparently, how you look correlates to business success. People that are attractive tend to do better in the workplace.

Thinking about this fact gave me a higher level of appreciation for what women have to go through. There is a bar that is set for men and really it’s not that high. You can be above average by working out, eating decently well, and dressing crisply. Girls on the other hand have mounds of products, creams, makeup, heels, fashion etc. The man’s wardrobe is a dress shirt and slacks, and at least in my career anything too extreme would be considered faux paus. On the other hand girls have all kinds of clothing options I don’t even know the names for, tons of different shoes, etc. The pressure to maintain a nice figure is much higher than it is with men. I don’t envy the fairer sex by any stretch of the imagination. As females get older they seem to do more to preserve or create their looks. I’m starting to notice the level of care women put into their appearance on a daily basis.

On the extreme end of that is the modeling world. I have only met and know very few of them, and from what I have seen the industry is very cut throat. The thing about beauty is that it isn’t static and lots of people have it. Additionally, it’s hard to sell well. You can’t pander yourself as attractive; you either are or you aren’t. In the modeling world you can be hot one minute and replaced by the girl a few years younger/ slightly better looking than you in a minute. There aren’t really long term job commitments. You have to fight for every single job. That’s not how the business world works. Generally, once you are hired it’s long term unless you royally suck or drastic changes in the economy happen. There are some days where you are just not “on” I mean everyone has them. If you have to re-apply every time you need a job you have got to look your best every day. Do we really need to ask ourselves why our ozone is being depleted? It’s from the hairspray.

I debate growing out my hair because I hate paying for the cost and spending the time fixing it everyday. It could be MUCH worse. So as I ponder how many new dress shirts I should buy, or what color slacks I should add to my wardrobe; believe me I know it could be much worse.