Firstly, I think this is entirely contextual: certainly in academia, as in many other typically formal environments, one can only dress casually with a certain prior status. Those who dress-down are those who don’t need to impress, and thus openly signal that fact. Secondly, in many dissenting subcultures, how one dresses is an important part of that identity, i.e. for an EA to dress and behave modestly is to advertise, and indeed, help enact, ones charitable duties. Thirdly, self-objectification is pretty inhuman to most peoples sensibilities, and especially in the case of women, a pretty negative social pressure. It’s also, obviously, extremely conservative (‘look and behave like everyone else!’ - ‘sexually instrumentalise yourself to get more money!’).
I’m certainly not saying one should flatly disregard their appearance, just that it contextually holds, often in dissenting subcultures, and can be rather problematic.
Firstly, I think this is entirely contextual: certainly in academia, as in many other typically formal environments, one can only dress casually with a certain prior status. Those who dress-down are those who don’t need to impress, and thus openly signal that fact. Secondly, in many dissenting subcultures, how one dresses is an important part of that identity, i.e. for an EA to dress and behave modestly is to advertise, and indeed, help enact, ones charitable duties. Thirdly, self-objectification is pretty inhuman to most peoples sensibilities, and especially in the case of women, a pretty negative social pressure. It’s also, obviously, extremely conservative (‘look and behave like everyone else!’ - ‘sexually instrumentalise yourself to get more money!’).
I’m certainly not saying one should flatly disregard their appearance, just that it contextually holds, often in dissenting subcultures, and can be rather problematic.