A bar is openly seeking only the best-looking staff. This isn’t something that can be dismissed as harmless
Poppy Noor is a freelance journalistThere was an eruption of exasperate this week when a Shoreditch jazz bar posted a job advert looking for “extremely appealing” staff. The responses broadly divided in to two categories: the “so whats” and the “oh gods”.
The first group says: “So what? We all know this practice happens anyway. It’s bar work,not working at Nasa. At least they’re being honest approximately it.” This isn’t driven by any kind of bigotry, but the overwhelming feeling that this is just the way the world is, or however unfortunate it might be. The words “extremely appealing” can be seen as vague enough that it’s easy to believe that everyone – of all races,religions and creeds – is in the firing line, and therefore no one in particular. And to some extent this is true – but some people will always be at the front of that queue, and singled out for exclusion first. And this is where the “oh god” brigade advance in.
Is it a sinister signal that this situation is only for the unusual,paler trendy elite in the area? Related: Sexism in advertising is a problem – but hardly the worst one | David Mitchell Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com