
‘I dye my hair brown to be taken more seriously at work’ - gadders
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-41082939
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jpatokal
One point not mentioned in the article, but obvious from the photo: her
natural hair is black, and the blonde hair was also dyed.

~~~
czechdeveloper
That also stood out to me. She is just changing already not-original look from
trying to be more attractive to be more serious. I really don't understand how
this is interesting enough for full article.

~~~
lucozade
It's most probably a placed piece.

It's unlikely that it's coincidental that the article is a diversity story
about someone who runs a company in the diversity field in a news outlet that
is currently running a diversity campaign. Also, sexism in SV is topical so
her coming from the Bay area probably helped.

I might be being too cynical but I doubt it. I mean, it's the BBC. They hardly
needed to cross the Atlantic to find blonde women who dye their hair to avoid
unwarranted attention. In fact, I know a Swedish lady, who worked for the BBC
for a while, who does this regularly.

~~~
toomanybeersies
This thing happens yearly as BBC runs their BBC 100 Women series.

As much as I love the BBC for their news reporting, their gender diversity
reporting tends to be very contrived.

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orbifold
It's interesting how capitalism is able to monetize everything even social
justice. This story could be entirely made up, it fits perfectly in her
narrative. I find it unlikely that the BBC reporter contacted her, most likely
the PR firm recommended to her by the VC that "told her" to dye her hair
arranged for that profile.

~~~
CJefferson
I'm going to post a slightly mean reply. Do you question every story you hear?

My wife is a successful blonde female academic (more successful than me). I
often go with her to events she is invited to and there is always some people
who assume she is my "dumb wife" that I've brought with me.

At every event at some point I usually have to say to someone "Don't ask me, I
have no idea. Karen is the person you should be speaking to", and they are
always surprised. I've had people accuse me of lying when I say my wife is
better at some academic topic than me. Yes, genuinely. That isn't an
exaggeration.

I can see it's annoying being a blonde and female academic. Far too many
people just seem to have hard-wired that "blonde female = stupid".

~~~
Joeboy
> Do you question every story you hear?

Do you not?

Edit: I feel a bit awkward about being on the same side as the "this is
bullshit" people. I think the general message that it's harder for women to
look "appropriate" in a business setting is probably fair, at least based on
some of the conversations I've witnessed among my male co-workers.

~~~
CJefferson
OK, I worded that badly.

I more meant "Do you reply to every story on news.ycombinator says "This story
could be entirely made up", I mean that's true of many, many stories, but I'm
sure I've noticed a pattern that that kind of message appears more on stories
about females. However, I should probably do a correct survey on that claim!

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api
My wife dyed her hair blonde once and noted a noticable change in how she was
treated. She described it as people being nicer to her but also sort of taking
her less seriously. She also got hit on a lot more. She went back to her
normal brown pretty quickly.

It's not just the obvious things like race. There are thousands of little
prejudices. For guys I've read studies from sales about how men with broader
shoulders or more prominent chins land more deals.

I find this stuff profoundly depressing. We are not really intelligent beings,
just clever apes.

~~~
hasenj
It's only depressing if you've been told lies all your life to the contrary of
reality.

For most people these things are rather obvious.

It's why business men wear suits instead of plain t-shirts (or worse,
hoodies).

~~~
api
Oh sure you can hack these things. That's why the woman in the article dyed
her hair brown and got glasses.

It's depressing that it's necessary. If two people present something to me I
should be evaluating the something, not the shoulder girth of the people
presenting it. But inside my head there is a monkey that doesn't know what
geological epoch this is.

~~~
hasenj
Well, these are signals. Our minds are programmed to send signals and expect
others to do the same. These signals helps us understand where we stand with
people and where people stand in relation to us and each other.

You might think we don't need these signals anymore, but I think you would be
gravely mistaken to assume that. Instead, it's better to (re-)learn these
things and adopt them. Think of it as a form of power. By understanding the
instincts that drive human behaviour, you can hack it, by controlling how you
present yourself in different situations.

I don't think it's something to complain about.

~~~
api
What if the signal is something you can't control?

Sucks to be you then, eh?

~~~
changchuming
What can you really control though? Your genetics and your environment
determine who you are. Nature and nurture. We all have to make do.

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donquichotte
Wow, this article has almost no content. Maybe wearing baggy clothes, thick-
rimmed glasses and brown hair makes her behave differently? It's impossible to
tell - you can't do double blind tests and repeating experiments in social
situations is impossible. Also, n=1. There also counter examples, like Marissa
Meyer or Thereza Holmes.

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Dole0Bob
"Links for the intellectually curious, ranked by readers."

This link does not seem to target the intellectually curious, nor does it seem
to be picked by a ranking algorithm.

~~~
executesorder66
I sometimes upvote crap articles, because I'm interested in what HN has to say
about the topic.

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johncoltrane
I wear a shirt to be taken more seriously at work.

~~~
jasonm23
I put my pants on.

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fimdomeio
This story is very weird and either I'm missing the point or it only shows
that everything is broken. Eileen Carey a CEO of a company that focus on
software to empowering a diverse workforce dyes her her to be taken more
seriously.

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mdekkers
Yeah, I dress according to the people I am meeting and what I hope to get out
of the meeting. News at 11.

I am all for a meaningful debate about equality for all, and the barriers to
this, however there is an increasing amount of bullshit like this around the
topic that weakens and dilutes the overall debate, and that is a pity.

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lifeisstillgood
My take - someone willing to modify their hair to find a route to success is
also likely to modify other aspects of their behaviour and strategy to find a
route to success.

Sad it has to happen this way but unlikely to stop this individual

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feelandcoffee
It amaze me how usually most schools for children don't have a class called
"Logic 101" or something like, where we can teach people about Confirmation
bias and that "Correlation != Causation".

God knows how many BS like this we could save if only people treated
stereotypes as such, simple narratives easier to understand when we tell in
stories, but aren't truth when applied to individuals in the real complex life
we are.

