The Anthropologist Loses Her Objectivity

Today I am going to show that as an anthropologist I am actually very human. I notice a lot of similarities at the different offices where I toil and trouble collect data for my thesis on the plight of Corporate America (this thesis is yet to be titled and I am not actually affiliated with any school...it's a free lance thing in blog form). The current site I am shackled to collecting data at has a glaring exception that the other sites I have visited do not: the Office S l u t. I try not to pass judgement on the communities I am researching but this one example seems so rare to me I had to document it right now.
First, I would like to say that earlier this week Hubby was telling me about a news article he either heard or read about a study of the words w h o r e and s l u t. I wasn't really listening when he told me about this and I tried to call him this morning, at 7:30 in the morning, to confirm the story but he didn't pick up the phone. This study was done and the concensus was that
w h o r e s are s l u t s who get paid for what they do. I may have the term 'office s l u t' incorrect. It may be actually be the 'office w h o r e' because the etymology suggests that a w h o r e is paid and the woman in the office is paid, but not necessarily to look as cheap as she does. Her boss may actually pay her for this apparel by insuating she should wear it, I have not been able to study the two people together...yet. I have noticed the subject on a few occasions so far and both behavior and apparel supports the definition above. First, her clothing: the first day I saw her I noticed immediately that she wore excessive eye makeup and had her eyebrows tweezed to a thin line of suprise (think Charlize Theron in the female serial killer movie). She would look startled all the time if her heavy eye make up didn't make her look a little innebriated. And she does the hair flip, which annoys most people when a teenager is doing it. When a 20-33 year old does this activity you think they have a nervous tic of some sort. Next are the outfits I have seen her wear. The first day I saw her in a white blouse with a PLUNGING neckline and a Allie McBeal skirt. Mostly I thought 'how very 1999.' She also wasn't wearing stockings which is very revealing when a skirt is that short. The next time I saw her she was wearing a disco wrap around dress without a slip. Sort of like the one on the right but in dark purple and not as cool looking. Here is the magic of slips: they smooth bumps, they make sheer cloth less sheer and the hide body 'imperfections'. This woman's body was ok but she could have a real knock out body with aerobics. I am not one to talk but I also don't wear clothes that allow people to see all my bumps. This woman was wearing a sheer disco dress with another plunging neckline and I saw ALL her bumps on her body. I don't really want to see that. The next day I saw her and she was wearing a red stretchy tube top under a cropped business jacket with a pair of slacks. And she had a camel toe. GROSSSSSSSSSSS.

The tube top under the cropped jacket is weird but add the camel toe and I think I may need therapy. Are there women who think this is alluring? Or do they just not realize it is happening? How could a woman not feel that? Are there men who think this is sexy? Probably, some men are just pervs, no matter how you try to redeem them in your eyes they are just pervs.Next is the noticeable behavior: she flips her hair, she bats her eyebrows and she giggles like a school girl while she leans forward for no reason (other than to maybe expose her plunging neckline a little more). I have seen her in the break room each time I have come across her. I have become addicted to the coffee machine, that's my reason to be there. I have yet to figure out what she is doing in there besides fliring with all the men who enter the breakroom. The behavior is quite strange. She seems normal, a man enters and she makes a strange comment (weather, weather or weather) and then giggles. The weather in Atlanta isn't funny, it's hot. The comments she makes about the weather also aren't funny so I am not sure about why she is giggling. I have not been at this office site long enough to bond with any of the native subjects enough to broach the subject but my fellow consultants have made comments about the subject and they are ruthless. I seem to be one of the guys to them and I have heard some stuff that made me blush. As an anthropologist I have to wonder: what made this woman? As a woman I just think WTF?