<p>And Keefer, that’s precisely why I don’t wear makeup on weekdays, and why I didn’t wear makeup in grad school. I don’t particularly look like an engineer… I don’t think I’m a perfect-ten knockout, but I don’t break mirrors when I walk by, either. My husband is a musician, and when I meet his colleagues for the first time, they just kind of assume that I’m a lyric soprano (what other kind of woman would a composer marry?), and are <em>completely</em> shocked (“What?? Noooo!”) when they find out what I do. So, at work, I wear shape-hiding shirts, I pull my hair back in a bun (except if I’m on a job site… a braid is the only compatible hairstyle that I’ve found for hard-hat-wearing), I forego contacts in favor of glasses, and I don’t wear heels. I have an entirely separate wardrobe for weekends. The one time I wore makeup to a jobsite, I got so much unwanted attention that it reaffirmed my desire to not put in a whole lot of effort. On construction sites, it’s predictably worse, but even around engineers, students or otherwise, if I put in any effort on my appearance, I don’t get intelligent discussion, I get shy flirtation. I don’t want to be a goddess, I want to ask you whether you think those cracks are being caused by punching shear failure, ya big galoot. My eyes are up here.</p>
<p>I didn’t go to school, and I’m not in the profession, to make waves with my appearance. In fact, at work and at school, I want the opposite: I want to be regarded as an engineer first-- my being a woman is just secondary. Until even half of my colleagues can handle my putting some effort into my appearance without my being treated like a freak (I’m actually <em>mocked</em> for wearing pink around here) then I’ll start putting in some more effort. Until then, I’ll keep working under the assumption that y’all can’t handle the pretty.</p>
<p>PS- I shower every day and I’ve been commended by my dentist for excellent oral hygeine habits, thank you very much.</p>