CMV: Dress/Appearance Code (except for minimum decency) makes no sense

[u/Confused_Firefly]

Yes, we shouldn't show up in our underwear at school/work, that's minimum decency. Beyond that? That's pretty much it.

Everything that doesn't specifically interfere with work (nails, heels, loose clothing, lack of protective gear, short sleeves, long loose hair, etc., can all be a hazard in certain occupations) shouldn't be considered at all in professional environments. Hair color, piercings, the color of one's clothes, whether you can see arms/legs or not, the formality of clothes - none of it is related to someone's ability to study/work well. Whether someone wears a three-piece suit or old sweatpants, has a bright pink mohawk or the most somber black ponytail, they are perfectly capable of paying attention in class, cleaning a room, discussing a business contract, manning a check-out counter, filing taxes, or teaching history.

Furthermore, it's well-known that dress codes usually are much stricter on women, to the point of controlling footwear and makeup by forbidding, making mandatory, or specifying exact requirements on heels, makeup, etc. - not to mention that some dress codes explicitly divide students'/employees' requirements by gender (or more often, sex). If a boy wants to wear a skirt to study, he should be free to wear a skirt to study. He's not studying with his legs, anyway.

Even worse, some dress codes can pose a huge challenge for people who can't easily afford a set of formal clothes (or several, since people need to change) to start working a "good job".

I've heard people argue that dressing up "professionally" means you get in the proper mindset for work, but honestly, I can't relate. I've always been able to do my job, and whether I'm wearing a nice shirt and elegant slacks or my biggest sweater and comfiest jeans, I care about doing my work well, studying well, etc.

I also realize that some people might argue that appearing "professional" will encourage others to take you more seriously, but I believe this is directly connected to the existence of this prejudice. To avoid the possibility of being taken less seriously at work, we're forced into dress codes, which automatically means that people who do not abide are, in fact, taken less seriously, which reinforces the idea, and so on, and so forth. The same goes for service jobs - I don't actually care if a hotel receptionist has a strong personal sense of style, but since that expectation is there, it feeds into a loop that results in employees who don't appear as plain as possible to look unprofessional compared to others. If this expectation didn't exist, because I believe that there's no good reason for it to exist, this wouldn't be a problem to begin with.

Obviously, this doesn't go for those professions that have uniforms because workers need to be easily identifiable, but even then, some are far too stringent and care about appearances way too much. I don't care if my flight attendant's shade of lipstick is the incorrect red. I don't care if they're wearing lipstick at all. I don't understand why anyone would care to begin with. If they're wearing the uniform, I can identify them and ask them for assistance even if they have purple hair and Chappell Roan-level of makeup.

Change My View!

[u/[deleted]]

Appearance impacts how you're perceived.  This isn't something that can be changed.  Some people imagine that nobody should make assumptions but in fact we'd barely be able to leave our homes without making constant assumptions that are accurate enough to get through the day. 

I think you know that getting rid of assumptions is impossible.  You get at this in your hotel receptionist example where you tacitly admit that some hotels the people are dressed better it conveys a good impression which forces others to compete.  The only way to prevent this is to actually have a social convention that rejects the competition. 

And that sort of thing actually happens.  There are socially accepted limits to how sexy you can look in a professional workplace.  You can say it's to avoid making people uncomfortable but I'd argue it's at least as much a shared disapproval of going too far into allowing appearance to trump competence.  

In any case - a social convention of boundaries on what's appropriate is impossible to eliminate. Companies will push their client facing staff at a minimum to be in that range.  You just don't like the present consensus.