In this article, the author addresses how the professor's body is perceived and how those perceptions influence promotion and tenure decisions. She observes that many writers have argued that the "normal professor body" is white, male, middle-class, middle-aged, able, heterosexual, and thin, which also describes the "normal body" in American culture. This perception persists despite the fact that this physical representation is now a demographic minority. The author examines where this image of the "normal professor body" originated and how it affects students' professors', administrators', and society's expectations of what a professor should be or should look like. She examines how the cultural conception of the "normal body" has a measurable influence on promotion, tenure decisions, student evaluations, and colleagues' views of each other's embodiment in maintaining the status quo. She concludes that only when people have uncovered and addressed their body-based biases will people move closer to an accurate evaluation of those who choose to devote their lives to higher education.