Woman Fired From Citibank For Being Too Sexy

Debrahlee Lorenzana was fired from Citibank for being too sexy.

Actually, first she was hired because she was sexy. That particular New York branch of Citibank is apparently famous for hiring attractive women, which a colleague made clear to Lorenzana from the beginning. In her first few months on the job, Lorenza reports that she was told to wear makeup and to always straighten her hair before work. (Because no one would ever want to take out a loan from someone with curly hair, horror of horrors!)

Then Lorenza says she was told her pants were too tight. Then, that she shouldn't wear high heels, because they "drew attention to her body in a manner that was upsetting to her easily distracted male managers." Lorenzana says that her male managers had a new complaint every day: she shouldn't wear turtlenecks or pencil skirts, she should wear more informal shoes, she shouldn't wear informal shoes, she shouldn't wear tight business suits. She complained over and over to human resources and then to regional vice presidents of Citibank, and was uniformly ignored. Finally, in August of 2009, she was fired.

Lorenzana is filing a lawsuit alleging that she was fired for her looks, but it will have to be decided by an arbitrator, as Citibank made her sign a mandatory-arbitration clause when she was hired. Citibank isn't commenting on the case.

Poor Citibank guys: they're grown men, professional bankers, working in a professional office, who can't even concentrate on opening a checking account if — stunner of stunners! — a female colleague walks by in a turtleneck. Poor men: they dominate corporate culture and are so often reluctant to admit that women could handle the pressure and lifestyle and challenges of being CEO's, and yet they crumple into whining incompetent man-beasts when faced with a pencil skirt?

Is there something wrong with this story? Yes: the fact that in our rape culture, which consistently falls back on the men-can't-help-themselves-argument, women are consistently at blame for invented male weaknesses, and men retain control over women's bodies by insisting that they can't control themselves.

In our culture, it's normal for everyone from journalists to bosses to assess, critique, and define a woman's body. It's unimaginable to think of a man being fired for having a clearly defined six pack, or overly chiseled cheekbones, or perfectly tailored pants, but since women are always objects to be consumed by the male gaze, they'd better adhere to men's fantasies — or work to suppress them. Men want makeup? A female employee better wear makeup. Men get "distracted" by high heels? A female employee had better wear flats.

Lorenzana, like so many other women in male-dominated corporate culture, was entirely at the whim of her male colleagues, and her body was consistently dominated by their desires and their observations. And while her case is arbitrated surely many other women in many other offices are being told how to wear their hair, what skirts and shoes are acceptable, whether or not to wear makeup and what kind, and how to comply with their male coworkers "uncontrollable" sexual urges.

Photo credit: The Truth About...