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From: aeq@pucc-h (Jeff Sargent)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Correlation: mode of dress vs. perceived ability
Message-ID: <521@pucc-h>
Date: Tue, 14-Feb-84 00:21:37 EST
Article-I.D.: pucc-h.521
Posted: Tue Feb 14 00:21:37 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Feb-84 14:04:18 EST
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Lines: 42

A friend of mine works as a "consultant" for the Computing Center here.  (A
"consultant" in this case is one who sits in a little office at one of our
sites and answers questions from users who need assistance using the
computers.)  Alternatively, here is her definition of "consultant":

consultant n. [From con "to defraud, dupe, swindle," or, possibly,
  French con (vulgar) "a person of little merit" + sult elliptical form
  of "insult."]  A tipster disguised as an oracle, especially one who
  has learned to decamp at high speed in spite of the large briefcase
  and heavy wallet.

Anyway, she sent me the following and asked me to post it to net.women
for her (since consultants are not yet allowed to post to the net):

--- Begin article

I have noticed an inverted u relationship for the amount of goodies (i.e. 
cosmetics, drees) I have and the way the users relate to me ( relate used to
be a perfectly good word before the 'pop' psychologists got ahold of it).
When I am dressed and 'made-up' as I am today (no make-up, jeans and shirt),
the users seem to think I'm just another user, and not, as we say in the 
business ' an authority figure'.  When I put on a bit of the Clinque (trdmk
Estee Lauder....I'm not planning on wrinkling thank you) and got up a notch
on clothes (cords, reasonable sweaters, that sort of thing), all of a sudden
they recognize me as 'the consultant'.  However, (especially if I'm team
consulting) if I take it one step further, then most of the users think
I am 'the consultant's girlfriend' and won't approach me.  There appears to be
a constant relationship between make-up and perceived ability at the computer
to a certain point, which then becomes a negative relationship ( as make-up
amounts go up, perceived ability goes down).  I haven't seen a similar 
relationship between the male consultants, and lets say, mode of dress....


There's a paper in here somewhere....

--- End article

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Red Sonja
...pur-ee!pucc-k:afo