The "Lookism" Thing

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has banned boys with a Body Mass Index of 40 or above from this years Jamboree. When I read the headline in the Houston Chronicle I was aghast … aghast I say. But referring to USA Today, where the article originally was reported, fills in the details. This years Jamboree is being held this week in West Virginia and is to be a physically rigorous gathering. Scouts and their parents were given advanced noticed regarding the 40 or over BMI cutoff and also being 100 pounds over their individual ideal weight. There is no mention of handicapped scouts in the article.

But then I was aghast again by another 'lookism' article that appeared in the Opinion Section of the NYT on July 16, 2013, entitled "Fired for Being Beautiful".  James Knight, a dentist, in Fort Dodge Iowa, fired his dental assistant, Melissa Nelson because her  "… beauty was simply too tempting to pass unnoticed and that he was worried he would have an affair with her."

Here is Melissa Nelson.

So here is James Knight.

And here is James the stud again.

So are we done here, you know better than that … enter the lawyers. A sex discrimination case was filed in an Iowa district court and it was dismissed. The court determined that Ms. Nelson was not fired '… because of her gender but because she was a threat to the marriage of Dr. Knight.' 

It seems the good doctor informed his wife of his 'urges' and she insisted that he fire Ms. Nelson. 

Again, enter the lawyers, who appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court. The Iowa Supreme Court upheld the lower court's judgement. According to the court an employee, "… may be lawfully terminated simply because the boss views the employee as an 'irresistible attraction.' ''

Are you aghast yet?