The article “A Total Stud” by Stevie Hunter is about her experience working at Gap—or rather, what she was told what she had to change about herself to work there. One of the managers had said she couldn’t keep her nose piecing, even though nothing had been said about it when she was interviewed for the job the previous week. “I found many inconsistencies. Tattoos were fine, and clear tongue piercings could be worn on shift. But clear nose studs were not acceptable,” Hunter explained in the article.

Hunter also says that even though Gap was “founded on the idea of zero discrimination,” wasn’t she being discriminated because of her nose piercings? Associating tattoos and piercings and dyed hair with troublesome teenagers bound to find themselves in jail is an almost archaic way of thinking. It’s the sort of thinking that led to the American Civil War—well, not exactly, but it’s similar. African Americans were being discriminated against because of something they couldn’t help, and even today women are still seen as being inferior to men in some parts of the world, and in everyday life. Why should a simple piercing or a body tattoo matter? People are getting more comfortable with themselves and with others, so why is it so wrong to show that they understand themselves?