Harvard Law Review: Facial Discrimination

Question 1

What are legitimate and illegitimate grounds for discrimination?

Answer 1

egitimate: relevant to job performance (e.g., skills, qualifications).
Illegitimate: unrelated traits like attractiveness or facial structure.

Question 2

How does discrimination based on attractiveness occur?

Answer 2

Attractive individuals are often favored in hiring, promotions, and evaluations, even when appearance is irrelevant to job duties.

Question 3

How does attractiveness impact character judgments and work assessments?

Answer 3

People assume attractive individuals are more competent, sociable, and intelligent, skewing objective assessments.

Question 4

How can we reduce appearance discrimination?

Answer 4

1. Train evaluators on bias.
2. Blind hiring practices.
3. Clear job-related criteria.
4. Legal protection under anti-discrimination law.