"The first time I dyed my hair was actually due to advice I was given by a woman in venture capital," [Eileen Carey] says.Here's a close-up of her blonde hair before she "dyed" it brown:
Carey was told that the investors she was pitching to would feel more comfortable dealing with a brunette, rather than a blonde woman.
I don't know if there really is discrimination against blonde women, but it looks as though she was a woman who had bleached her hair blonde, and then switched to a more natural color.
"I was told for this raise [of funds], that it would be to my benefit to dye my hair brown because there was a stronger pattern recognition of brunette women CEOs," she explains.If you were really concerned about being taken seriously, would you go to the press and rave about your hair color like that?
Pattern recognition is a theory which suggests people look for familiar experiences - or people - which in turn can make them feel more comfortable with the perceived risks they are taking.
When she had blonde hair, Eileen says she was likened to Elizabeth Holmes, whose company Theranos has been through a lot of controversy.
"Being a brunette helps me to look a bit older and I needed that, I felt, in order to be taken seriously," Carey says.
If there's a real problem with hair-color discrimination — is there? do some serious research! — then let's fight it, not cater to it and bullshit with the euphemism "pattern recognition."
In interviewing candidates for roles at her startup, Glassbreakers, which provides companies with software aimed at attracting and empowering a diverse workforce, she's encountered other blonde women who have also dyed their hair brown.Key word: start up. This is a person looking for attention — while saying "I'd like to draw as little attention as possible." It's just embarrassing. Her company Glassbreakers is pushing software the "empower[s] a diverse workforce"?! Then don't make a joke out of color-based discrimination. I suspect she thinks her type of color discrimination isn't pernicious because it's aimed at something unique to white people, blonde hair, and she's characterizing it as bad. But she isn't characterizing it as bad! She's saying blonde women are so much more attractive that we've got to apply a chemical treatment to darken it it to erase the powerful advantage. That's grotesque. It's like advising white people to wear blackface makeup to surrender white privilege.
"We discussed that there's the fetishisation of blondes," says Carey. "People are more likely to hit on me in a bar if I'm blonde. There's just that issue in general. For me to be successful in this [tech industry] space, I'd like to draw as little attention as possible, especially in any sort of sexual way."
But, again, I don't think this woman is a natural blonde. So she was a color-changer. Maybe there's discrimination against women who don't keep their natural hair-color. I don't know that there is, but it does say something about you that you've made the effort to change. People will speculate about why you are doing that (and also why you're letting dark roots show). It may be that they're thinking you're striving for kind of conventional or Fox News look, and that really would conflict with the Glassbreakers message.
Posts
100 comments:
She dyed her roots brown.
This feminism thing is just women doing what they've always done.
Blondes have more fun but do less business.
Gentlemen prefer Blondes,
But they marry Brunettes.
Of course, hair color comes in a bottle, so every women can be a blond or a brunette.
What do you call it when a blonde dyes her hair brunette?
Artificial Intelligence.
East Asian women are all brunettes, but they are conscious of what shade of Brunette they are.
In the fast-paced world of Corporate Backstabbing it doesn't pay a man to let his hair grow too grey. Maybe a little around the temples to mimic maturity and distinction.
Never understood the blonde jokes. All the blondes I've known were super smart.
I guess the jokes make brunettes feel better.
In case anyone thinks it's relevant, my natural hair color is red (as seen here, but it started turning white when I was in my 20s. The white diluted the red giving it an un-red look that was just drab. I colored it as close to the original color as I could until it was so white that the roots were too obvious, and I switched to coloring it much closer to white so the roots wouldn't show. I hate the roots look.
@YoungHegelian, the old jokes are still the best, are they not?
"it doesn't pay a man to let his hair grow too grey."
Depends on the Company. Some like their CEO's to have grey hair, looks distinguished. But had a boss who dyed his hair - I mean it was obvious, women laughed about it - which is worse then just letting it be grey.
The big no-no is being bald. Unless you're a scientific type.
Maybe she means there is prejudice against bleached blondes. I understand that. It's like being named "Tiffany."
Unless your last name is Trump.
Lucille ball "The only thing red about Lucy is her hair, and even that is not legitimate."
I think there is prejudice in business against women who dye their hair blonde as there is prejudice against women who wear a lot of make up or show a lot of cleavage. It signals that the person's priority is sexual attraction rather than making money. One of the things that annoyed me about Hillary back in the 90's was her died blonde hair combined with her insistence that she be taken seriously.
The big no-no is being bald. Unless you're a scientific type.
Even worse is wearing an obvious sky-rug. Luckily for bald guys, the shaven head is in vogue.
Red Hair turning white. Is that common?
@YoungHegelian, the old jokes are still the best, are they not?
How can you tell if a blonde has been typing on your computer?
White-out on the screen.
"If you were really concerned about being taken seriously, would you go to the press and rave about your hair color like that?" Sure -- if you wanted to be taken seriously by the MSM, by SJWs, by whining fellow feminists, by Dem politicians, by soap opera women, and by "civil rights" lawyers needing plaintiffs.
"If there's a real problem with hair-color discrimination — is there? do some serious research! — then let's fight it, not cater to it and bullshit with the euphemism "pattern recognition."" There you go again with your oldthink. Next, you'll be calling for proof in rape cases, like a rape denier.
"Key word: start up. This is a person looking for attention — while saying "I'd like to draw as little attention as possible." It's just embarrassing." No: strategic. You're so old-fashioned, it's just embarrassing. Next, you'll be telling us that women need to stop whining, or that cultures are not equal, like any sexist white supremacist.
"Red Hair turning white. Is that common?"
I think people with red hair tend to have go white at a younger age than people with other colors.
I'm assuming you realize that hair doesn't turn gray. The overall look of a person's hair may be gray, but individual hairs are either white or the original color. For the overall look to read as white you need X percentage of white.
Who is this wise old sage venture capital lady? Where's the statistical data used to reach this conclusion that investors will be more comfortable with a brunette over a blonde? Give us more to go on so we won't think you're ditzes.
Being serious for a moment, had I been employed there I'd take the CEO's lying about something so trivial -- and so obvious! -- as a really bad sign. If you've been partially compensated in stock options, cash out at your first opportunity. Put your faith in a company where the CEO's only obvious lie is "I'm resigning to spend more time with my family."
In the movie The Band Wagon, Fred Astaire comes across Cyd Charisse doing some paperwork wearing thick horn-rim glasses. He says something like: "Aren't you Miss Hotchkiss, been with us for years ? I've never seen you with glasses on. Why...you're beautiful !"
All right, here goes.
I moved to Los Angeles in 1994 to join a computer game company in the area. It being a computer game company, there weren't many women around, but one of the few was a very attractive brunette associate producer. We collaborated on some projects, and got to know each other well enough that I learned she had her Computer Science degree from Carnegie-Mellon University, loved Lisp (the traditional language of artificial intelligence, and a language Carnegie-Mellon did a very highly-regarded implementation of), was proud of a software project she had done for the government while in school but couldn't discuss beyond that...
And was naturally blonde. Yes, she claimed the dying was in order to be taken seriously.
A few years later, at a dot-com startup, I met another young "brunette" who turned out to be a natural blonde. For some reason, this time it occurred to me that meant dying her eyebrows. Expensive and, I'm sure, painful!
Both cases baffled me, not because I couldn't believe the implied suggestion of sexism, but because I couldn't imagine the stratagem being effective: these ridiculously attractive women were ridiculously attractive, brunette or blonde.
I don't imagine even two anecdotes meet the definition of "data." But there it is.
I think Beyoncé is more attractive with blonde hair. Is such an observation racist? ............I have red hair. There's no particular sexual mystique about men with red hair. If anything, it's an obstacle to be overcome. Women with red hair, however, are looked upon as charged with sex appeal and libidinal energy. The gender discrimination among redheads is very unfair, and I wish more people would speak out against it.
In interviewing candidates for roles at her startup, Glassbreakers, which provides companies with software aimed at attracting and empowering a diverse workforce, she's encountered other blonde women who have also dyed their hair brown.
This is her company: Glassbreakers. I see a lot of stuff about "diversity" and "enterprise solutions" on their website, but for the life of me can't figure out what the hell it is that they do or what kind of software they sell. I expect that her problem with not being taken seriously has more to do with that than the color of her hair.
I had a female colleague in the 80s that dyed her black hair gray at the sides. Suddenly, she was up for every promotion with upper management thinking she was around much longer than she was. She was in her early thirties as I was. Started the same time too. I remember a female ABC anchor that did the same thing, but I forget her name. She later had trouble with her weight.
Kathleen Sullivan was her name. Her career advanced fast once she dyed her sides gray and added gray streaks.
Blogger Leora said...
"I think there is prejudice in business against women who dye their hair blonde as there is prejudice against women who wear a lot of make up or show a lot of cleavage. It signals that the person's priority is sexual attraction rather than making money. One of the things that annoyed me about Hillary back in the 90's was her died blonde hair combined with her insistence that she be taken seriously."
Definitely- they all say to me that the woman is trying to compensate or get ahead through male sexual attraction. Blond tends to be more sexually attractive to a lot of men apparently because children tend to have lighter hair, and blondness in women accentuates their difference from men, who tend to be darker. And, also, probably by indicating more youth, suggests more fertility.
As an aside - I used to joke that the biggest minority in my high school were the Italians, who moved there from closer to the downtown Italian neighborhoods when they had made a lot of money. They were on average a bit richer than everyone else - they were the ones who could, and did, buy Corvettes for their kids. Never thought about it a lot, but there were a lot of blond girls in my class. Then, at graduation, seeing everyone's families, I was shocked to discovered that most of the blond Italian girls in my class came from families where everyone else, except for maybe sisters, were dark haired. Talk about naive.
Back to the subject. Would I be more likely to invest my hard earned money with a blond or brunette? Fake tits or real ones? Showing a lot of cleavage or none? Short skirt or modest? Which can be summed up by rephrasing the question as to whether the person I was entrusting my money to was trying to impress me through enhancing their sexual attraction to men, or was relying on their technical or business competence? The woman relying on her sexual attraction is taking a short cut. Cheating to some extent. Is that the type of person I want to trust with my money?
Hair color is baffling. In early childhood I was a strawhead, then turned black around age five or so. But there was a goodly portion of red in the black which, however, was mostly invisible because black overwhelms the red. In my early twenties when I grew my obligatory first (and last) beard I discovered, very much to my surprise, that my beard was very reddish. Many years later I sort of half-heartedly grew my beard just a little, for about a week, and found what was red had all turned white and made me look grandpa Moses, as a result of which I shaved it off and have never since grown it.
It's my understanding that red hair is a Neanderthal trait, and I have 4 percent Neanderthal in my genetic makeup, which is fairly high (5 percent is max). Some people do say it's more like I have 99 percent Neanderthal but they're basing that assessment on a different calculus (behavioral?) I think, and anyway I tell them that it's Irish not Neanderthal, which may or may not be the same thing in behavioral terms at the end of the day.
Now we know the REAL reason Hillary lost. She has blonde hair. WOW
Eileen has a BA in creative writing. For example:
"For every 1% rise in the rate of gender and ethnic diversity in a workforce, there is a 3% and 9% rise, respectively in sales revenue."
"Companies with high employee engagement had a 19% increase in operating income and nearly 28% growth in earnings per share."
"Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians."
"Organizations that leverage employee ideas and knowledge meet product revenue targets 46% more often and product launch dates 47% more often than their industry peers."
Come on, Eileen.
Dyed hair, fake tits, a lot of makeup, cleavage, etc also detract in a workforce where technical competence is important. The more that a woman triggers the men around her with her sexuality, the more that the automatically think of her as a sex object. They automatically think that they to fuck her, and envision themselves doing such. And then, the next minute realize that this is the workplace, and the woman is a coworker, whom they are supposed to consider nonsexually. But, by then, the damage is done - they have already undressed her in their heads. The less of this that they have to deal with, the better. And a lot of the other women in the workforce don't do much better with them, with their jealousy kicking in, before, again, realizing that this is business, and not competition for the men around them.
Discrimination based on appearances has been going on forever and is likely to keep doing so. It's the source of the old yarn about making good first impressions. There's a commercial that played into this, where they took a DJ, gave him a haircut, shave, and a suit, and were able to convince people he was a financial adviser just because he looked the part. Warren Buffet probably couldn't give people the time of day let alone financial advice if he walked around sporting biker leathers, a sleeve of tattoos, and a mohawk.
It wouldn't surprise me if there's judgments made on hair color. There is already the dumb blonde meme, and certainly there are negative judgments made toward people who opt to go with orange (see Trump jokes), green, blue, purple, pink, or any other unnatural color. In the absence of knowing people, we go with the best comparison based on what we think other people who look like that are like.
This reminds me of about eight hundred jokes.
I have 3% Neanderthal and had not heard the red hair argument. I have a daughter and a niece with very red hair.
Neither are going gray and the daughter is 50. I had gray hair in my 20s and was all gray by 40.
One daughter has brown hair and is starting to get a lot of gray at 36 and my older son is 52 and very gray. Neither began as red.
Most of my kids have blue eyes, which is thought to be a mutation from the area around Lithuania 10,000 years ago.
Aren't you guilty of dead naming her hair color? She transitioned, respect it.
Progressive concept of diversity: color, not character.
That's actually the root (pun intended) of her problem. Her lack of commitment to her own appearance is an indication of unreliable or unreconciled priorities. Case in point, appeasement to the current diversity fad.
I worked with Jo for several years. At times she worked for me, at times I worked for her. Over the years we were together at three different companies. I wrote technical software. She was an excellent manager, very good at determining which candidates could be expected to write reliable software and which should not be hired. I can't remember the color of her hair.
Aren't you guilty of dead naming her hair color? She transitioned
Trans-brunette, or, more clearly, neo-brunette. Ah, the trans or neo-chromatic disorder spectrum.
Two blondes walked into a bar. The redhead ducked.
I met a young policeman (really, true story) who caught a thief who had stolen a purse from my friend's car. We asked how he caught the guy, since there were no witnesses, and he said he was patrolling and saw this guy driving a fancy Jeep Cherokee, and "He had no hair!" The apparently mind-reading young cop repeated that. So he ran the plates, and the car had been stolen. So he pulled it over and found all kinds of stolen stuff in the back, including my friend's purse.
"He had no hair!" That's not going to serve me well in coming years.
"which provides companies with software aimed at attracting and empowering a diverse workforce"
Maybe the product is why she's having a tough time getting funding.
It's what's inside your head of hair that counts, sweetie.
Too bad she's too shallow and insecure to understand that.
Eileen has a BA in creative writing. For example:
"For every 1% rise in the rate of gender and ethnic diversity in a workforce, there is a 3% and 9% rise, respectively in sales revenue."
"Companies with high employee engagement had a 19% increase in operating income and nearly 28% growth in earnings per share."
"Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians."
"Organizations that leverage employee ideas and knowledge meet product revenue targets 46% more often and product launch dates 47% more often than their industry peers."
Yes. Like the Post Office.
I have 3% Neanderthal and had not heard the red hair argument.
The argument has gained wide acceptance in recent years, as the means, methods, and protocols of ancient DNA analysis and the field of genetic anthropology have become increasingly sophisticated and accurate. I first became aware of this in my research and writing into the origins of horse domestication and the development and use of chariots. Over the course of the past five years DNA analysis of prehistoric burials plus the movement of language patterns have provided game-changing information into the field of Indo-European studies. As a result many scholarly works on the subject (e.g. Mallory's "In Search of the Indo-Europeans") are now obsolescent. They are obsolescent not necessarily because they're wrong, but because new information has come to light, as result of combined DNA and linguistic analyses, that elaborates on and/or a provides scientific basis for their theories. The whole Neanderthals-have- red-hair bit is linked to these studies and to the issue of Indo-European origins and migrations. Controversy still rages, but more and more the so-called Revised Steppe Hypothesis, as formulated and explained by scholars such Anthony and Parapola (among others), is gaining adherents. I am one of those adherents. I also believe that the Indo-European ur-homeland, where my deep ancestors (and the ancestors of most of those posting in this thread) is to be found in the "BMC" (Bactria Margiana Archaeological Complex).
As for Neanderthals: increasingly, artists renderings are portraying them as having red hair. Handsome devils, definitely.
My hypothesis, it's not the hair color, it's the bad dye job with an inch and a half of dark roots showing. By going back to her natural hair color, she eliminated a white trash flag. If you're going to dye your hair blonde, don't cheap out. Get the full Fox treatment. Or keep your natural hair color.
The Simpsons had a whole episode with this theme.
A blonde and a brunette are on opposite banks of a river.
The brunette calls over, "How do I get to the other side?"
The blonde looks confused then yells back, "You are on the other side."
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...
but for the life of me can't figure out what the hell it is that they do or what kind of software they sell.
"offering a social network-style platform for all employees to connect with others based on personal identifications from race, to gender, to sexual orientation, to where you grew up, to whether you’re a cat or dog person."
Or where your cat to dog transpecies grew up.
A blonde, wanting to earn some money, decided to hire herself out as a handyman-type and started canvassing a wealthy neighborhood. She went to the front door of the first house and asked the owner if he had any jobs for her to do. "Well, you can paint my porch. How much will you charge?" The blonde said "How about 50 dollars?" The man agreed and told her that the paint and other materials that she might need were in the garage. The man's wife, inside the house, heard the conversation and said to her husband, "Does she realize that the porch goes all the way around the house?" The man replied, "She should, she was standing on it." A short time later, the blonde came to the door to collect her money. "You're finished already?" he asked. "Yes," the blonde answered, "and I had paint left over, so I gave it two coats." Impressed, the man reached in his pocket for the $50. "And by the way," the blonde a dded, "it's not a Porch, it's a Ferrari."
What do you call a blonde with no arms and no legs next to a wall?
Eileen.
A blonde walked into an electronics store and said to the salesmen: "I want that tv." The salesperson shook his head and said, "No, we don't sell to blondes." So the blonde left and came back with her hair dyed brown and said: "I'll take that tv." Again the salesman said: "No, we don't sell to blondes." So she left again and came back with her hair dyed black and said: "I want that tv." But the salesman still said: "No, we don't sell to blondes." Finally the blonde got fed up and said, "That's it! How'd you know I was a blonde?!" she asked. The salesman answered: "Cause that's a microwave."
A blind guy walks into a bar, finds his way to a barstool and yells to the bartender "Hey, you wanta hear a blonde joke?" and the bar goes silent.
A woman next to the blind guy says, "I should tell you that bartender is blonde, the bouncer is blonde and I’m blonde and I have a black belt in karate, and so does my blonde boyfriend here. Do you really want to tell that blonde joke?"
The blind guy says, "No, not if I'll have to explain it four times."
I don't care what color a woman's hair is. I believe in boobs!
Assuming true story, fairly simple explanation. The belief that dark hair and glasses would make her seem more serious gave her a more confident attitude.
I don't doubt that women need help to be taken seriously... G_d knows that lots of men need help to be taken seriously. Perhaps some of you humans remember the Dress for Success books of the 1970's. She is a cleaver little minx with nothing but fluff to sell, good for her, she got the publicity she was seeking.
As a result many scholarly works on the subject (e.g. Mallory's "In Search of the Indo-Europeans") are now obsolescent.
Oh hell. I have it and haven't gotten to it yet.
I;m working my way through the bibliography of "The 10,000 year Explosion."
What did the blonde say when the doctor told her that she was pregnant?
"Are you sure it's mine?"
Marissa Mayer and Meg Whitman are both blondes and extremely successful in advancing themselves in business. What's different with them?
"Glassbreakers provides companies with software aimed at empowering a diverse workforce."
Incorporates features such as spanish<>english and ebonics<>english translators.
Just finished re-reading Ruth Rendell's extremely creepy novel The Bridesmaid, and was struck by the girl's lashing out when the protagonist notices her red pubic hair and asks why she dyes it. That's not the hair she dyes, she hisses; it's her head hair. Which is dyed silvery-grey.
Michael K:
Mallory's book is useful. He got it (mostly) right, he just didn't know why -- or, rather, he didn't have the scientific data (via DNA research espceically) to back his linguistic theories. He's an ardent propoent of linguistic palaeontology and used the methods thereof to formulate his theory about the steppe origins of the IEs. He was criticized for relying too much on linguistics, but recent research tends to confirm his views, at least in the broader strokes. DNA paleontology (or anthropology, or bio-anthropology, or whatever the hell it's called) has provided and continues to provide a narrower focus and more precise info on the subject. He performed a real service, IMO, in discrediting Renfrew's theory of Anatolian origins of the IE. No one now gives any credence to Renfrew's theory.
Bottom line, I recommend Mallory's book. Just understand it is by no means the final word on the subject.
What a crock Ann. There is discrimination ( preference ) everywhere. Fat people,
Tall people, fit people, frumpy people, people obviously from Wisconsin, northern people, southern peopl, Ivy League, etc.
Nothing to "fight" here unless it a conscious effort. Unless you going to start a quota for male public school teachers.
"Assuming true story, fairly simple explanation. The belief that dark hair and glasses would make her seem more serious gave her a more confident attitude"
I'd go with that. If you see your appearance in a negative light, so will others.
Years ago on the Daily Show, Craig Kilborn asked redhead Kathy Griffin if the carpet matched the drapes. She didn't answer.
Roughcoat said...
I have 3% Neanderthal and had not heard the red hair argument.
The argument has gained wide acceptance in recent years, as the means, methods, and protocols of ancient DNA analysis and the field of genetic anthropology have become increasingly sophisticated and accurate.
. . .
As for Neanderthals: increasingly, artists renderings are portraying them as having red hair. Handsome devils, definitely.
FWIW:
"Ancient DNA has been used to show aspects of Neanderthal appearance. A fragment of the gene for the melanocortin 1 receptor (MRC1) was sequenced using DNA from two Neanderthal specimens from Spain and Italy: El Sidrón 1252 and Monte Lessini (Lalueza-Fox et al. 2007). MCR1 is a receptor gene that controls the production of melanin, the protein responsible for pigmentation of the hair and skin. Neanderthals had a mutation in this receptor gene which changed an amino acid, making the resulting protein less efficient and likely creating a phenotype of red hair and pale skin. (The reconstruction below of a male Neanderthal by John Gurche features pale skin, but not red hair) .How do we know what this phenotype would have looked like? Modern humans display similar mutations of MCR1, and people who have two copies of this mutation have red hair and pale skin. However, no modern human has the exact mutation that Neanderthals had, which means that both Neanderthals and humans evolved this phenotype independent of each other."
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals/dna-genotypes-and-phenotypes
So you didn't get your red hair from Neanderthal.
What color are techie women inclined to dye their hair? I would say pastel and neon shades. So this little story about how she gave up blonde gives her a lead into telling geekesses that you have to get the rainbow out of your hair if you want to be taken seriously. But - in the techie world perhaps this is bad advice? I'm sure I don't know the right color hair for women software designers who want to be team leaders. I'm writing to Real Simple - story idea - as soon as I finish here.
What color is your COBOL? Is Fortran copper? Is LISP spangled?
Well, she obviously felt like a blonde trapped in a brunette scalp. But, as so many do, she grew out of it.
There is hope!
I don't know about her hair color, but it's clear from that website that what she is selling isn't even vaporware.
Fritz @ 4:11 PM:
We had this discussion in an earlier thread, maybe a year ago.
I can post academic studies supportive of the theory that modern homo sapiens got red hair from Neanderthals. In particular, the assertion that "no modern human has the exact mutation that Neanderthals had, which means that both Neanderthals and humans evolved this phenotype independent of each other" is not universally accepted, remains unproven, and is in fact controversial. The whole subject is fraught with controversy, which is why I qualified my remark by saying "The argument has gained wide acceptance in recent years." I did not say that the argument has been universally accepted or established as settled fact. However . . .
The fact that most people of northern European descent have some percentage of Neanderthal DNA, however, is highly suggestive of . . . well, what? Perhaps this: that in the distant past the percentage of Neanderthal DNA in homo sapiens was certainly higher and in some areas very high indeed (depending on the extent of interbreeding) and that the presence of such DNA in substantive percentages would have influenced the development of those who had it.
FWIW.
In her "blonde" picture, she looks like she's coming off a 5-day bender. Serious bags under the eyes.
Natural blondes often photograph as if they have dark roots, but this girl is not a natural blonde. No way.
"Diversity & inclusion, as a core business function, is a competitive advantage for enterprise industry leaders. In today’s modern workplace, a digital transformation is necessary to scale and measure the impact of corporate diversity strategies to yield the greatest results on the bottom line. The heart of inclusion for the enterprise is dependent on the power, strength and engagement of employee resource groups."
The sad thing is, there are people in the HR department of every large company who not only talk like that, they think like that.
"Social network platform" to improve employee engagement.
Oh god. This is the latest fad in startups - I hear from 3 or 4 of these per quarter these days.
Your hair color is not your problem with investors.
The sad thing is, there are people in the HR department of every large company who not only talk like that, they think like that.
Hence the invention of Buzzword Bingo.
"How can you tell if a blonde has been typing on your computer?"
"White-out on the screen."
How do you know she came back?
There's writing on the white out.
Carpet matches the drapes is from Diamonds are Forever
Weren't you a blonde when I came in?
Could be.
I tend to notice little things like that.|Whether a girl is a blonde or a brunette.
And which do you prefer?
Providing the collars and cuffs match...
We'll talk about that later.
From of 2015 list of most highly paid female CEOs:
1) Marissa Mayer - blonde
2) Carol Meyrowitz - blonde
3) Meg Whitman - blonde
Blondes seem to do okay.
My blonde and very attractive step daughter has for a number of years been in charge of investments, including venture capital
investments, for a large foundation sponsored and funded by a well known multi billionaire. She is one of his most trusted advisors, With his blessing she very recently closed a near 100 million dollar funding for a for profit venture fund that she will manage. Quite successfully, I predict.
I take no credit for her success. She does not carry my genes and her mother raised her. She was 18 when I first met her. We are family and dear friends but she has done all this on her own.
She will tell you that Silicon Valley and SF (where she lives and works) are a big boy's club in the tech industry. They don't exclude women. Indeed they want talented women but the barriers to entry are higher for females. She will also tell you that it does not pay to be thin skinned and whimper about it. It's also a bad idea to pretend to be something you are not. So she goes about as what she always has been, a hard working very smart big attractive blonde woman. If there is one thing that aggregations of successful men are good at, it's spotting and eventually ridiculing fakes. Don't try to fake it in the boy's club, whether you are male or female.
"My blonde and very attractive step daughter has for a number of years been in charge of investments, including venture capital "
My brunette and very attractive daughter was interviewed about 8 or 9 times by Apple for a job on their design team. It didn't happen and she is kind of relieved that she doesn't have to worry about housing there, Unless you bought 20 years ago, it is a nightmare.
This is like an athlete thinking his success depends on wearing his lucky socks.
Capital venture decisions, while very data dependent, are still surprisingly emotional, but not about the personalities. Rather the emotion is the thrill of winning and succeeding, versus the fear of failure.
Blogger YoungHegelian said...
What do you call it when a blonde dyes her hair brunette?
Artificial Intelligence.
9/17/17, 12:15 PM
LOL. A blonde joke I hadn't heard before.
This is why I'm a dyed redhead.
Purple dye over henna on right now as I type.
Bill Occam said...
There's only one way to know if she's a natural blond.
9/17/17, 7:19 PM
Ha.
Marilyn Monroe bleached her snatch to match.
Mine matches, too.
Can't trust any of us,
rcocean said...
Red Hair turning white. Is that common?
9/17/17, 12:27 PM
If you live long enough.
Blogger Paul Snively said...
All right, here goes.
Great data point stories.
Dyeing one's eyebrows is not difficult, except for the FDA blocking availability of the popular European products.
The ban dates from coal tar dye allergic reactions in the 1930s.
Given the epidemic of PPD allergies nowadays, they may have a point.
There's a silver nitrate product that's easy and safe, but alas, it only comes in sepia or black. One can overdye it with henna or punk colors (as I am doing now) for a wider choice.
Emyrt: Dyeing one's eyebrows is not difficult, except for the FDA blocking availability of the popular European products.
I don't suppose it's technically difficult, but the young woman in question was at her first job out of school and was paying someone on the west side of Los Angeles to do it. The economics of it didn't make sense to me (again, based on my assessment that no straight guy who'd be interested in her as a blonde wouldn't be interested in her as a brunette—itself a reflection of my sense of attraction, not that of all men). They did, to her.
"...she was likened to Elizabeth Holmes, whose company Theranos has been through a lot of controversy."
Er, no. It was discovered that Theranos has engaged in a long train of fraud. That has nothing to do with Elizabeth Holmes being blonde, and everything to do with her being a con artist.
> If there's a real problem with hair-color discrimination — is there? do some serious research! — then let's fight it
I can't, have a dentist appointment.
As long as we have the SJW mask on... There are lots of bunnies to save from the wolves.
What about fatties? men with Low T?
Marissa Mayer and Meg Whitman are both blondes and extremely successful in advancing themselves in business. What's different with them?
Marissa Mayer is not a natural blond. Meg Whitman looks like she probably is.
@ Roughcoat & Michael K, Fascinating discussion.
I downloaded The 10,000 Year Explosion & the Mallory book. Any recommendation on a more current book?
Women are Judged by their Looks. The best thing I ever did, in that regard, was to let me regress to my natural Red.
Yah..(arguably) used one look to get as far as she could, switched to another to continue rise.
The struggle is real.
So she's peddling a product for use by companies that have to put resources into keeping the diversity racketeers off their backs. IOW, a second-order parasite.
Exactly the sort of article you'd expect to read about a person like that.
Aside: someone above assumed Italian women are dark haired and of course most are. But a good number of Sicilian women, because of Norman ancestry (which is actually Viking ancestry), have naturally blonde hair.
The more you know...
A company name like "Glassbreakers" may only have one product and that's Social Justice. Wouldn't hire such an outfit for serious work.
In the workplace, you can overthink this. Three simple truths:
1. Some men hire women they find attractive because they can't separate their personal feelings from their professional evaluations of candidates' qualifications.
2. Some women find the existence of another women (except an obese or very adrogenous one) in an organization as an existential threat because they can't separate the man-woman competition thing from the getting-the-work-done thing.
3. People who change their hair color or hair style frequently or who wear many different types and colors of clothes or who get showy new tattoos every few months signal that they aren't sure who they are. The motive may be simple attention-seeking, but it makes others wonder whether the shape-shifter's work (or personality) will be consistent over time and whether the person can represent the organization coherently.
I say to young professional women (and I once counted myself among them..I am now retired): go with your natural color (with maybe a few highlights), but find a style that is age appropriate yet classy. The hassle and expense to avoid the dreaded exposure of your natural roots will be an albatross that you simply don't have time to worry about.
Want long hair? Skip the ponytail....save that for the weekend. Wear it in a timeless French twist (or roll) to those business meetings, and let the men imagine removing the hair pins....
Then, when you have to attend a dinner or evening event with your colleagues, let it down (no ponytails!), and enjoy the moment in which you can show off your mane.
But I should mention there are women who have thin, limp hair. And, again, I say, find the best style for you, and work to make the most of it. Short and sassy can be very impressionable.
If she's having trouble getting funded, maybe it's because the whole product category she's pushing is bullshit.
Post a Comment