Can being too attractive hurt your career?

In this episode of The Ledger, Diouana Woman talks with Dr. Leah Sheppard about The Femme Fatale Effect — the surprising way beauty bias shapes women’s workplace experiences.

They unpack why attractive women are often seen as less truthful, how sexual insecurity drives these perceptions, and what Gen Z’s “office siren” trend reveals about modern professional life. Plus: surprising new research that flips the script on the so‑called motherhood penalty.

Listen for fresh insights into gender, power, beauty, and the quiet biases shaping women’s lives at work.

Episode Chapters & Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction: Welcome to The Ledger and today’s topic: the "bias against beauty."

00:41 – Meet Dr. Leah Sheppard: Background on Dr. Sheppard’s research on gender, attractiveness, and workplace bias.

03:17 – The Dark Side of Beauty: How attractiveness can be an advantage generally, but a disadvantage for women in organizational contexts.

04:48 – What is the Femme Fatale Effect?: Defining the concept and its link to perceptions of femininity, manipulation, and danger.

10:49 – Trust, Femininity, and Gender Nuance: Why femininity isn’t inherently distrusted, but highly attractive women trigger unique suspicions.

14:17 – Sexual Insecurity Explained: How both men and women experience sexual insecurity when confronted with highly attractive women.

17:45 – Can the Femme Fatale Effect be Erased?: A priming experiment that shows when people feel secure in their relationships, bias diminishes.

22:44 – Truth, Trust, and Power: Why perceptions of truthfulness matter so much in organizations, leadership, and collaboration.

23:43 – Bias That HR Can’t Fix: Why managing attractiveness bias is nearly impossible at a systems level — and what individuals can do.

29:42 – The ‘Office Siren’ Trend: Gen Z’s flirtation with stylized corporate femininity and its workplace consequences.

31:20 – Real-World Case Study: Fired for Being Attractive: The Iowa Supreme Court case where a woman lost her job due to her boss’s wife’s insecurities.

35:17 – What’s Next for Beauty Bias Research: The role of race, intersectionality, and future areas of study.

39:00 – From Motherhood Penalty to Preference: Dr. Sheppard’s new research showing shifting perceptions of working mothers in leadership.

46:00 – Career vs. Family and Shifting Gender Roles: How partnership dynamics, ambition, and evolving expectations shape women’s choices.

54:01 – Power Couples, Lowered Standards, and Evolutionary Theory: Rethinking partnership and attraction in light of women outpacing men in education and career success.

59:01 – Takeaways: Beauty, Bias, and Perspective: Why attractiveness is still more of an asset than penalty overall, despite the nuances.

Disclaimer: the views expressed in this podcast are those of the author and do not reflect the views of any employer, past or current.

it’s expected for women to have, but men benefit the most from it. in this episode, i sit down with dr. catherine hakim, a true pioneer in the field of erotic capital. catherine, a distinguished british social scientist and author, has spent decades researching the forces that shape women’s lives, especially when it comes to the complex interplay of beauty, power, and attraction. we discuss her groundbreaking theory of erotic capital, which highlights how physical and social attractiveness can be a powerful, often underestimated, currency that shapes everything from career success to interpersonal dynamics.

catherine’s insights are sharp, timely, and completely eye-opening. her work pushes us to question not just how we navigate beauty, but how we think about who gets to benefit from it. we also dive deep into the shifting dynamics between the sexes, from the increasing popularity of plastic surgery among men to the rise of a so-called “male sex deficit” in today’s world.

if you're intrigued, be sure to read my essay on erotic capital, titled who’s afraid of beautiful women? over on my substack, where i unpack this idea even further. it’s a conversation that’s only getting started.

episode breakdown:

12:16 to 15:29 men take advantage of their erotic capital more than women do16:55 to 18:32 nasty attitudes among women vis-à-vis other women18:33 to 19:32 ugly women hating on attractive women19:33 to 20:28 my experience with women reacting to my erotic capital20:31 to 21:58 the increase in plastic surgery among men and the possible regret of plastic surgery among women21:59 to 22:59 is intrinsic beauty the only beauty worth having?23:00 to 24:36 differences in plastic surgery among countries24:56 to 29:55 male sex deficit and the difference in sexuality between the sexes29:55 to 31:16 the reason for the male sex deficit, the rise in recreational sex, and the perceived right to have sex31:16 to 32:06 heterosexual intercourse is not often female-centered32:06 to 32:41 the lack of intercourse among generation z32:59 to 34:38 adultery as the answer to the male sex deficit (southern european culture as an example)34:39 to 36:16 the incel movement, the male sex deficit, and the perceived right to have sex36:18 to 39:56 the consequences of the differences in educational and professional attainment between men and women39:56 to 40:39 my theory on the dynamic that make heterosexual relationships function best40:41 to 42:24 the reality of women being both head of household and homemakers and the separation of economic capital and erotic capital in relationships42:25 to 43:12 the evolution of gendered roles in relationships43:13 to 46:30 the increasing importance of erotic capital in the 21st century46:31 to 47:23 the importance of humanity and helping people see the world as a sociologist47:24 to 47:27 “we should all be victors in our lives, not victims.”47:28 to 47:37 thanking dr. catherine hakim for her time

dr. catherine hakim’s bio:

“dr. catherine hakim is a pioneering british social scientist and author. currently, she is professorial research fellow at civitas, the london think tank. from 1993 to 2012, she was senior research fellow at the london school of economics, then at the centre for policy research in london and the wzb social science research institute in berlin. she has published extensively, with over 100 papers published in british, european and american refereed academic journals and edited collections, four textbooks, and over a dozen books and monographs on the labour market, changing patterns of work, women’s employment, social attitudes, social and family policy, research design, and cross-national comparative research in all these areas. while at the london school of economics, she developed preference theory and, more recently, a theory on the social and economic value of erotic capital (physical and social attractiveness) for men and women of all ages. she often contributes to tv and radio programmes, including sky news, bbc daily politics and woman’s hour. she is currently writing a book on sexual politics.”

disclaimer: the views expressed in this podcast are those of the host and guest and do not reflect the views of any employers, past or current.