（047）2015/3.2：颜值太高小心被炒
Leaves译 2015/3/2 原文来源：纽约时报
MOST everyone knows by now about “lookism” — the preferential treatment given to those who conform to social standards of beauty. Research suggests that people who are judged physically attractive are seen as more competent and more socially graceful than those who aren’t; they have more friends and more sex; and they make more money. One economic study found a 5 percent bonus for being in the top third in the looks department (as assessed by a set of observers), and a 7 to 9 percent penalty for being in the bottom 9 percent.
现在，几乎每个人都知道了“颜值主义”——对那些符合社会审美标准的人予以优待。研究显示，人们认为外表有吸引力的人比其他人更能干，更优雅；朋友更多，床上更忙，赚的也多。一份经济研究发现，颜值位于前三分之一的人（由一组观测者评判）会因此多赚5%，而位于后9%的人为因此少赚7-9%。
All of which might come as a surprise to Melissa Nelson, a 33-year-old dental assistant in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Ms. Nelson, you see, was fired in 2010 by her dentist boss, James Knight, because she was too attractive. Mr. Knight, who is married, said he felt that Ms. Nelson’s beauty was simply too tempting to pass unnoticed and that he was worried he would have an affair with her. And so as a pre-emptive move (and at his wife’s insistence), he fired her.
对于爱荷华州道奇堡33岁的牙医助手梅丽莎·尼尔森来说，以上这些可能会让她诧异。2010年，她被自己的牙医老板詹姆斯·奈特给炒了，原因是她太有魅力。已婚的奈特说，自己感觉尼尔森的美貌太有诱惑力，没法不去留意，怕自己会跟她发生暧昧。所以，为了以防万一（以及老婆的坚持），他解雇了她。
Ms. Nelson sued on grounds of sex discrimination. Stunningly, an Iowa district court dismissed the case, contending that she was fired “not because of her gender but because she was a threat to the marriage of Dr. Knight.” Naturally, she appealed, but last week the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision (for the second time), maintaining its view that an employee “may be lawfully terminated simply because the boss views the employee as an irresistible attraction.”
尼尔森以性别歧视为理由提出控告。让人惊讶的是，一家爱荷华地方法院驳回了案子，称她被解雇的原因“不是因为性别，而是因为她对奈特的婚姻来说是个威胁”。很自然地，她提出了上诉。但上周，爱荷华州最高法院宣布（再次）维持了地方法院的判决，并强调称员工“仅仅因为老板认为其诱惑难挡就可能会被合法解雇。”
Now, you might think that this case of reverse-lookism gives the gorgeous a taste of their own medicine. Better than being fired because you’re ugly, right?
现在，你可能会觉得这起反颜值歧视的案例对那些高颜值的人算是以其人之道还治其人之身。太漂亮所以被解雇总算要比太丑被解雇强，对不对？
But I propose that we think not about how such a case differs from its converse, but about how they are actually similar.
但我想说的是，我们不要考虑这个案例和它的相反面有多么不同，而要去想一想，它们其实颇有相似之处。
Discrimination based on beauty is rooted in the same sexist principle as discrimination against the ugly. Both rest on the power of the male gaze — the fact that men’s estimation of beauty is the defining feature of the category.
基于美貌的歧视和针对丑陋的歧视，两者出自同一种性别主义思想，都以男性目光的力量为根基。也就是这样一个事实：男人对美貌的评估是对颜值归类的决定性因素。
I know you might think: “Not so fast. What about good-looking or ugly men?” And yes, handsome men reap the benefits of lookism and the short, fat and bald suffer its penalties. Lookism is gender-neutral.
我知道你可能会想：“先别急着下结论，英俊的男士和丑陋的男士又该怎么说？”没错，英俊的男人从颜值歧视中得利，而矮肥秃遭殃。颜值歧视是不分性别的。
The workplace, however, isn’t. Think of all those mannequin-thin sales representatives for pharmaceutical companies, whose job is to persuade physicians, a great many of them men, to prescribe their products. Think of companies like American Apparel, whose top executive, Dov Charney, has been accused of firing employees that he judges unattractive. The writer Naomi Wolf has called this the “professional beauty quotient” — a standard of beauty that tacitly operates as an occupational qualification (as flight attendants have complained). The glass ceiling is reinforced by a looking glass.
但职场并非如此。想一想制药企业所有那些时装模特般苗条的销售代表，她们的工作是说服医生给病人开自己公司的药，对方大部分是男人。再想一下美国服饰公司（American Apparel）的首席执行官多弗·查内，有人对他解雇自己觉得没有吸引力的员工大加指责。作家娜奥米·沃尔夫将此称为“职场美貌系数”，即以心照不宣的方式将颜值标准作为职场资质（航班乘务人员经常对此抱怨）。阻碍女员工升迁的无形顶障上又加了一层颜值障碍。
But the professional beauty quotient has now morphed into what we might call the Goldilocks dilemma. Like the porridge in that famous fable, you can’t be too cold. But as Ms. Nelson found out, you can’t be too hot, either. You have to be “just right.” But just right in whose eyes? Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but the beholder in the workplace usually has a Y chromosome.
但是，职场颜值系数现在已经变成了一种“金发姑娘困境”（出自《金发姑娘和三只熊》——译注）。在那则著名的寓言里，粥不能太冷，同样你在职场也表现得不能太冷淡。但是，正如尼尔森发现的那样，你表现得太火辣也不行。你得“刚刚好”。但在谁的眼里算刚刚好呢？可能美貌要由旁观者的眼睛来定义，但在职场上，这位旁观者通常都有条Y染色体。
After all, the case of Melissa Nelson rests not on her beauty but on Mr. Knight’s perception of her beauty. In his eyes, her beauty was simply too tempting, too potentially injurious. (Ever notice, the writer Timothy Beneke once asked, how the words we use to describe women’s beauty — bombshell, knockout, stunning, femme fatale — are words that connote violence and injury to men?)
毕竟，梅丽莎·尼尔森一案的缘由并非她的美貌，而在于奈特对她美貌的感觉。在他眼里，她的美貌就是太过诱人，具有潜在的伤害性。（你们有没有读到过，作家蒂莫西·贝内克有一次问：为什么我们用来形容女子美貌的那些词——bombshel, knockout, stunning, femme fatale——都能和男人的暴力和伤害联系起来？）
What a pathetic commentary on Mr. Knight: his willpower so limp, his commitment to his wife so weak, that he must be shielded from the hot and the beautiful.
对奈特的评价是多么的可悲：他的意志力太弱，对老婆承诺太苍白，居然面对火辣和漂亮女士时必须接受保护。
Now, I ask you: Where have we heard that before — that men’s vulnerability to women’s sexuality and attractiveness is so great that women must be prevented from showing any part of their bodies to them?
现在，我向你们提一个问题：以前我们在哪里听到过这么一个说法：男人在女人的性感和魅力前不堪一击，因此必须防止女人向男人袒露身体的任何部位？
Yes, like some Midwestern Taliban tribunal, the Iowa Supreme Court permitted a male boss to fire anyone who might conceivably tempt him. Mullah Omar would approve.
没错，爱荷华州最高法庭犹如中西部某个塔利班开的特别法庭，同意一个男性老板开除任何在想象中可能会勾引他的女人。毛拉·奥马尔（塔利班领导人——译注）倒是会赞同这个判决。
Maybe we ought to reconsider the case of Samantha Elauf, a Muslim teenager from Oklahoma, on whose behalf the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Abercrombie & Fitch in 2009 after she was not hired because her hijab did not meet the retailer’s appearance policy. Maybe instead, the Iowa Supreme Court should require all beautiful women to wear burqas. With Ms. Nelson completely covered, Mr. Knight could pay full attention to his patients’ dental concerns — while ignoring the ethical cavity that mars discrimination law in Iowa.
也许我们应该重新考虑下苏曼山·厄莱夫案。她是一位来自俄克拉荷马州的年轻穆斯林。2009年，她的求职遭到Abercrombie & Fitch公司的拒绝，理由是头巾不符合这家零售商的仪容规定。此后，公平就业机会委员会代表她向公司提出了诉讼。也许应该运用反向思维，爱荷华州最高法院应该要求所有的漂亮女士都穿上布卡服（即穆斯林传统罩袍——译注）。尼尔森穿得严严实实后，奈特就可以把全部精力放在病人牙齿的问题上了——至于侵害爱荷华州反歧视法律的那颗道义上的龋齿，敬情无视。
MOST everyone knows by now about “lookism” — the preferential treatment given to those who conform to social standards of beauty. Research suggests that people who are judged physically attractive are seen as more competent and more socially graceful than those who aren’t; they have more friends and more sex; and they make more money. One economic study found a 5 percent bonus for being in the top third in the looks department (as assessed by a set of observers), and a 7 to 9 percent penalty for being in the bottom 9 percent.
现在，几乎每个人都知道了“颜值主义”——对那些符合社会审美标准的人予以优待。研究显示，人们认为外表有吸引力的人比其他人更能干，更优雅；朋友更多，床上更忙，赚的也多。一份经济研究发现，颜值位于前三分之一的人（由一组观测者评判）会因此多赚5%，而位于后9%的人为因此少赚7-9%。
All of which might come as a surprise to Melissa Nelson, a 33-year-old dental assistant in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Ms. Nelson, you see, was fired in 2010 by her dentist boss, James Knight, because she was too attractive. Mr. Knight, who is married, said he felt that Ms. Nelson’s beauty was simply too tempting to pass unnoticed and that he was worried he would have an affair with her. And so as a pre-emptive move (and at his wife’s insistence), he fired her.
对于爱荷华州道奇堡33岁的牙医助手梅丽莎·尼尔森来说，以上这些可能会让她诧异。2010年，她被自己的牙医老板詹姆斯·奈特给炒了，原因是她太有魅力。已婚的奈特说，自己感觉尼尔森的美貌太有诱惑力，没法不去留意，怕自己会跟她发生暧昧。所以，为了以防万一（以及老婆的坚持），他解雇了她。
Ms. Nelson sued on grounds of sex discrimination. Stunningly, an Iowa district court dismissed the case, contending that she was fired “not because of her gender but because she was a threat to the marriage of Dr. Knight.” Naturally, she appealed, but last week the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s decision (for the second time), maintaining its view that an employee “may be lawfully terminated simply because the boss views the employee as an irresistible attraction.”
尼尔森以性别歧视为理由提出控告。让人惊讶的是，一家爱荷华地方法院驳回了案子，称她被解雇的原因“不是因为性别，而是因为她对奈特的婚姻来说是个威胁”。很自然地，她提出了上诉。但上周，爱荷华州最高法院宣布（再次）维持了地方法院的判决，并强调称员工“仅仅因为老板认为其诱惑难挡就可能会被合法解雇。”
Now, you might think that this case of reverse-lookism gives the gorgeous a taste of their own medicine. Better than being fired because you’re ugly, right?
现在，你可能会觉得这起反颜值歧视的案例对那些高颜值的人算是以其人之道还治其人之身。太漂亮所以被解雇总算要比太丑被解雇强，对不对？
But I propose that we think not about how such a case differs from its converse, but about how they are actually similar.
但我想说的是，我们不要考虑这个案例和它的相反面有多么不同，而要去想一想，它们其实颇有相似之处。
Discrimination based on beauty is rooted in the same sexist principle as discrimination against the ugly. Both rest on the power of the male gaze — the fact that men’s estimation of beauty is the defining feature of the category.
基于美貌的歧视和针对丑陋的歧视，两者出自同一种性别主义思想，都以男性目光的力量为根基。也就是这样一个事实：男人对美貌的评估是对颜值归类的决定性因素。
I know you might think: “Not so fast. What about good-looking or ugly men?” And yes, handsome men reap the benefits of lookism and the short, fat and bald suffer its penalties. Lookism is gender-neutral.
我知道你可能会想：“先别急着下结论，英俊的男士和丑陋的男士又该怎么说？”没错，英俊的男人从颜值歧视中得利，而矮肥秃遭殃。颜值歧视是不分性别的。
The workplace, however, isn’t. Think of all those mannequin-thin sales representatives for pharmaceutical companies, whose job is to persuade physicians, a great many of them men, to prescribe their products. Think of companies like American Apparel, whose top executive, Dov Charney, has been accused of firing employees that he judges unattractive. The writer Naomi Wolf has called this the “professional beauty quotient” — a standard of beauty that tacitly operates as an occupational qualification (as flight attendants have complained). The glass ceiling is reinforced by a looking glass.
但职场并非如此。想一想制药企业所有那些时装模特般苗条的销售代表，她们的工作是说服医生给病人开自己公司的药，对方大部分是男人。再想一下美国服饰公司（American Apparel）的首席执行官多弗·查内，有人对他解雇自己觉得没有吸引力的员工大加指责。作家娜奥米·沃尔夫将此称为“职场美貌系数”，即以心照不宣的方式将颜值标准作为职场资质（航班乘务人员经常对此抱怨）。阻碍女员工升迁的无形顶障上又加了一层颜值障碍。
But the professional beauty quotient has now morphed into what we might call the Goldilocks dilemma. Like the porridge in that famous fable, you can’t be too cold. But as Ms. Nelson found out, you can’t be too hot, either. You have to be “just right.” But just right in whose eyes? Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but the beholder in the workplace usually has a Y chromosome.
但是，职场颜值系数现在已经变成了一种“金发姑娘困境”（出自《金发姑娘和三只熊》——译注）。在那则著名的寓言里，粥不能太冷，同样你在职场也表现得不能太冷淡。但是，正如尼尔森发现的那样，你表现得太火辣也不行。你得“刚刚好”。但在谁的眼里算刚刚好呢？可能美貌要由旁观者的眼睛来定义，但在职场上，这位旁观者通常都有条Y染色体。
After all, the case of Melissa Nelson rests not on her beauty but on Mr. Knight’s perception of her beauty. In his eyes, her beauty was simply too tempting, too potentially injurious. (Ever notice, the writer Timothy Beneke once asked, how the words we use to describe women’s beauty — bombshell, knockout, stunning, femme fatale — are words that connote violence and injury to men?)
毕竟，梅丽莎·尼尔森一案的缘由并非她的美貌，而在于奈特对她美貌的感觉。在他眼里，她的美貌就是太过诱人，具有潜在的伤害性。（你们有没有读到过，作家蒂莫西·贝内克有一次问：为什么我们用来形容女子美貌的那些词——bombshel, knockout, stunning, femme fatale——都能和男人的暴力和伤害联系起来？）
What a pathetic commentary on Mr. Knight: his willpower so limp, his commitment to his wife so weak, that he must be shielded from the hot and the beautiful.
对奈特的评价是多么的可悲：他的意志力太弱，对老婆承诺太苍白，居然面对火辣和漂亮女士时必须接受保护。
Now, I ask you: Where have we heard that before — that men’s vulnerability to women’s sexuality and attractiveness is so great that women must be prevented from showing any part of their bodies to them?
现在，我向你们提一个问题：以前我们在哪里听到过这么一个说法：男人在女人的性感和魅力前不堪一击，因此必须防止女人向男人袒露身体的任何部位？
Yes, like some Midwestern Taliban tribunal, the Iowa Supreme Court permitted a male boss to fire anyone who might conceivably tempt him. Mullah Omar would approve.
没错，爱荷华州最高法庭犹如中西部某个塔利班开的特别法庭，同意一个男性老板开除任何在想象中可能会勾引他的女人。毛拉·奥马尔（塔利班领导人——译注）倒是会赞同这个判决。
Maybe we ought to reconsider the case of Samantha Elauf, a Muslim teenager from Oklahoma, on whose behalf the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Abercrombie & Fitch in 2009 after she was not hired because her hijab did not meet the retailer’s appearance policy. Maybe instead, the Iowa Supreme Court should require all beautiful women to wear burqas. With Ms. Nelson completely covered, Mr. Knight could pay full attention to his patients’ dental concerns — while ignoring the ethical cavity that mars discrimination law in Iowa.
也许我们应该重新考虑下苏曼山·厄莱夫案。她是一位来自俄克拉荷马州的年轻穆斯林。2009年，她的求职遭到Abercrombie & Fitch公司的拒绝，理由是头巾不符合这家零售商的仪容规定。此后，公平就业机会委员会代表她向公司提出了诉讼。也许应该运用反向思维，爱荷华州最高法院应该要求所有的漂亮女士都穿上布卡服（即穆斯林传统罩袍——译注）。尼尔森穿得严严实实后，奈特就可以把全部精力放在病人牙齿的问题上了——至于侵害爱荷华州反歧视法律的那颗道义上的龋齿，敬情无视。
