the big beautiful tour. do beautiful people get the short end of the stick? sure they're beautiful but there are many negatives that come with being beautiful. people hate on you. people get jealous. certain people may want to be around you for all the wrong reasons. one place where being a beautiful woman could disadvantageous is at work. in a corporate environment where you're trying to stay business-like and professional, you never know when you're being pushed onto projects as eye candy. or maybe you're too pretty and deemed a potential distraction. the old boys' school of thought is perhaps uncouth and misogynistic but you have to deal with it because that's who the money runs through. the generalization is that beautiful cannot also be smart. you can joke about it, dismiss it, say that we're past it as a society, but it's out there. beauty and brains are commonly (wishfully?) thought of as inversely related.

the idea is that better looking people can get by with less effort/intelligence/etc. it's an unfair stereotype, but one just as widespread as any stereotype we possess. should we discriminate against the beautiful just for being beautiful? or is there some justice in making the beautiful suffer for having something that the majority of the population do not, namely, ideal physical attributes and stunning attractiveness?

exhibit a. brad pitt. probably one of the best actors around. at least according to me. here's someone who has gone out of his way to avoid pretty boy roles (given how easily he could have slipped into multiple "the mexican" territory) and the acclaim that he's received has been to be plastered all over what? people magazine? tabloids? rarely is brad nominated for any golden globes, oscars, or other major awards -- in fact, never as far as i can recall. i'm wondering what type of role will finally garner brad a coveted oscar nod. will it have to be as a director? when his pretty face and stunning looks will be hidden behind a camera? will brad have to make a serious film about a tragedy "based loosely on real life events?" will he have to make a biopic? one could say that brad's career (full of hit movies and new classics) has been unjustly ignored -- as far as recognition from critics and peers, not women of the world, are concerned. brad's "the hottest thing since toast" looks is still mentioned before he's ever graced with the honor of being a fine actor.

exhibit b. jeff gordon. pretty boy from california who just happens to be the most dominating nascar driver this side of richard petty. he should be a driving god among mortals for his accomplishments. instead, gordon is a polarizing nascar prescence. you either hate him or love him, there is slim space for tweeners on the subject of jeff gordon. why? because he's pretty. he's also rich, successful, young and has a hot wife. what gordon doesn't do is wear cowboy hats or generate the sort of folksy rapport -- through his demeanor or his background -- that is beloved by nascar fans.

this same sort of bias can be seen for actresses, who usually don't achieve critical acclaim until they get ugly prosthetics. or get fat or get old. i read an article once where the writer thought gwyneth was too pretty to ever be taken seriously as an actress, and then proceeded to ask her what she thought about it. then again, i'm gonna say that her choice of roles has something to do with not being taken as a serious actress, but my argument would collapse in on itself if i started to nit pick.

back to women in the work place. they have it tough. fending off superiors who are overly flirtatious. balancing their professionalism with a little advantageous charm. having to prove their worth, time and time again. showing everyone that they can have brains and beauty in the same demure business casual package. having to put up a defensive wall to avoid giving overzealous co-workers the wrong message. is it worse than being a work hag? probably not. but i'd say the difference is less than we'd think.

then again, nothing boosts morale more than having a hot girl(s) in the office. trust me, this has been proven to me on a daily basis at my current job. a small dark room filled with little boys and married men who spend all day fondling joysticks? any girl who comes within two miles of this place gets critiqued and sized up. you would not believe some of the things that get said here. and then whenever a girl tester gets mentioned, the second thing that's asked is "can she really play?" the first question having been, of course, "so, is she hot?"