Harvard Strips Sexy Librarian of Posts

Posted on September 20, 2003 by glasscastle

Do
frumpish older librarians discriminate against their younger, sexier
colleagues?
In the librarian business can being a beautiful, intelligent, sexy woman
be seen as belonging to a persecuted minority. At Harvard?

Wearing
low-cut blouses and tight clothes made Desiree Goodwin too "sexy" to
gain a promotion as a librarian at Harvard, the 38-year-old black reference
assistant charges in a race- and gender-discrimination lawsuit she filed
recently against the university in Superior Court.

A graduate of Cornell University with two master’s degrees and 16 years
of experience in the field, nine of them in Harvard libraries, Goodwin
claims that her supervisors promoted "several less qualified, less
experienced" white men and women over her.

Goodwin says she wears clothing similar to the attire of many students
and staff on campus. "
I would like to overcome the perception that being attractive and being
intelligent and capable are mutually exclusive," she said.

from the Boston Globe (image by Terry Moore)
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One Response to Harvard Strips Sexy Librarian of Posts

  1. V says:
    September 20, 2003 at 1:44 pm

    I am hesitant to comment on this because I know the parties involved and do not wish to take sides, but I have to take issue with your opening paragraph.

    First, there is much more to this case than the clothing issue. Second, the phrase “frumpish older librarians” is a stereotype. If this case involved doctors or lawyers (or any other profession), would you use the same adjectives? I, personally, do not get offended by such things, but many librarians and library staff that I know are very sensitive about the perpetuation of such images.

    The “look it up” girl image, by the way, is by Terry Moore, author of the “Strangers in Paradise” graphic novel series, and the Librarian Avengers site has shirts, etc. with that image for sale.

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