Appearances

As I listen to annoying office banter I start to wonder about the age old question, why does appearance matter so much?

One coworker was shown pictures from the gay pride parade where two gay men were wearing leather bondage gear (leather speedos ect.). She commented, "See, if they didn't dress like that." Does she think that they dress like that to go to work or out for dinner? Does it matter? She mentioned that it helps to perpetuate the stereotype (those are my big words, not hers), I responded that they were just having fun with the stereotype and shouldn't matter. She said that picture is what people -- like the ones who work at the meat-packing plant -- would expect gay men to look like. I responded "that that's why they don't have a gay pride event here."

There was also a discussion of how young people dress. We all talked about the way we dressed in high school, and I received a strange look when I mentioned that I didn't dress the way everyone else did, on purpose. Apparently individuality is a problem.

The final strange discussion was of a local business owner, who one coworker said doesn't look like someone who goes out drinking all the time and smokes, but he does. What does a drinker/smoker look like? Does everyone who leads that lifestyle have to look a certain way?
It's an old frustration of mine that people are judged so much by the way they look. I'm not without fault, I judge people, but I judge people who are stupid, I don't care what they look like.