From: Women Should Flaunt It at Work by Jessica Bennett
Hakim defines erotic capital as more than just sex: a combination of beauty, style, social skills and charm that can be learned (or, shall we say, bought).
If that means spending a fortune on brand-name clothes, so be it—because erotic capital is as important in today’s workplace, she says, as intelligence or skill.
Dieting and exercise? That should be a given, because nobody wants to hire the overweight.
Tanning, hair dye—even cosmetic surgery. Those are all necessary evils if you’re really driven to make it to the top, says Hakim.
Perfume and high heels also have been known to do the trick.
“Anyone, even quite an ugly person, can be attractive if they just have the right kind of hairstyle, clothes, and present themselves to the best effect,”...
“This isn't a frivolous spending of money. It has real benefits.” As a famous cosmetics creator once put it: “There are no ugly women, only lazy ones.”
Men have erotic capital too, she says—but women’s sex appeal has always been more prominent.
She faults traditional feminists for dismissing its importance: the one aspect of life, she writes, where women undoubtedly have an advantage over men.
