10 minute read
Pretty privilege
Pretty privilege exists, and it fucking sucks.
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by katie lewis
Pretty privilege exists, and it fucking sucks.
by katie lewis
‘The Game of Life’ is the second most popular board game behind the classic Monopoly, of which both games focus on players earning money to bypass life’s pitfalls. Neither game puts responsibility on a player’s appearance, as it would be certain to upset and cause arguments. They do teach however the hierarchical system of capitalism, yet the awareness of pretty privilege is missing within the game’s instructions. We are taught that success is achieved through hard work, but what about that pretty smile? Rarely acknowledged in its defining role in the game of life, is attractiveness. I for one obsessed over having perfectly straight teeth, emboldened by the dream of them transforming my life. But did my hopes bear any fruit? Is life better with a perfect smile?
This disparity is disheartening at best and infuriating at least. One’s level of ‘prettiness’ is defined by cultural upbringing, and more influentially, social media. The impossible pursuit of beauty is obsolete. Beauty is entirely subjective. However, despite our best efforts to insist that looks do not matter, they unashamedly do. Is pretty privilege exclusive to dating and swiping right? Hardly. You’ll find it everywhere from the workplace to the classroom. Studies show that children who are recognised as better looking than their classmates, capture the teacher’s attention more, so have better chance at academic success. This gap only widens as they enter a career, as employers consider them more confident. With perceived adept social skills, good-looking folks get it easy, as they are subconsciously treated better by others. This phenomenon is known as the ‘halo effect’, where we presume goodness from people who look ‘good’.
It’s basic human nature to like looking at beautiful things. Why do you think artists paint such beautiful muses for us to gawk at? Not only do we associate health with beauty, but we also see attractive people as more confident and trustworthy. It’s this inherent bias that ensures the most well-known and celebrated in society are almost always considered as the most attractive. Coupled with fame, talent, and money, you’ve got a winning formula for success. In other words, being attractive is like picking up the ‘Advance to Go and collect $200’ community chest card. Let us not put attractive people on a pedestal, for we should instead judge them based on their capability and skill. We cannot deny the ingrained bias that befalls us all. It’s why we treat some strangers with kindness and others with distrust and disdain.
’s level of ‘prettiness’ is defined by cultural upbringing, and more influentially, social media. The impossible pursuit of beauty is obsolete. Beauty is entirely subjective. However, despite our best efforts to insist that looks do not Is pretty privilege exclusive to dating and swiping right? Hardly. You’ll find it everywhere from the workplace to the classroom. Studies show that children who are recognised as better looking than their classmates, capture the teacher’s attention more, so have better chance at academic success. This gap only widens as they enter a career, as employers consider them more confident. With perceived adept social skills, good-looking folks get it easy, as they are subconsciously treated better by others. This phenomenon is known as the ‘halo effect’, where we presume
It’s basic human nature to like looking at beautiful things. Why do you think artists paint such beautiful muses for us to gawk at? Not only do we associate health with beauty, but we also see attractive people as more confident and trustworthy. It’s this inherent bias that ensures the most well-known and celebrated in society are almost always considered as the most attractive. Coupled with fame, talent, and money, you’ve got a winning formula for success. In other words, being attractive is like picking up the ‘Advance to Go and collect $200’ community chest card. Let us not put attractive people on a pedestal, for we should instead judge them based on their capability and skill. We cannot deny the ingrained bias that befalls us all. It’s why we treat some strangers with kindness and others with distrust and disdain.
Do we remain blind to the struggles faced by those less fortunate, so lost in how we ourselves are perceived? We do not start life equal. We do not all start at the ‘Go’ tile on the Monopoly board, as much as we would wish it so. Though we may all roll the dice to decide what comes next, when one player is trapped in jail and cannot progress, the injustice is strikingly clear. How can we justify judging someone based solely on their attractiveness? Tragically pretty privilege is yet another societal prejudice. We must take accountability if we want this vicious cycle of judgment to cease. A wise woman once told me, my grandma, “never say something you would not want said to you”, and I think this message could really ring true among some of the situations I’ve heard from my peers. I tried to gather as many comments from as many students as possible as I feel that as a cohort, we can incite disruption and change. We will be the next generation of workers; we must contribute to capitalism after all. Yes, we will face bias and judgment from future employers, but must we contribute further to the already unjust system? We can make a positive impact; from how we interact with friends, colleagues, and strangers alike. Treat others how you’d like to be treated – and this goes for everyone, not just the cute ones.
“Pretty privilege is definitely a real thing.”
“Pretty privilege shouldn’t exist, yet it does.”
“Growing up, I’ve always felt like I’ve had to look how the media want me to look to get noticed. I’ve always been under the impression that to get a job, to get noticed in life, to receive compliments or even have a social media presence which is so vital nowadays, that I need to look good enough.”
“It’s hard trying to fit every tick box. Being skinny enough and curvy at the same time, juts to feel like you look perfect in the eyes of society.” “I could go to a club and start a conversation with a random person and by the end of it, I’d probably have a drink in my hand.”
“Personally, I think pretty privilege is very prominent and having gone from outside the expected norms to within and back out again, I have noticed lots of differences in the way I was treated even from within my own gender”
“If a person is attracted to you, they treat you differently to others – which could be a good thing or a bad thing”
“I feel like if I’m not the media’s version of ‘pretty’ I won’t get noticed.”
“I found that pretty privilege was an outstanding factor of my growing up, and as a young adult now, my perceived attractiveness is a huge factor in how I am treated by other people, especially men.”
“To me, pretty privilege is not a trivial aspect of modern day living but is social construct that can completely harm one’s views on themselves.”
“New trends, specifically speaking about women’s appearances, cause one to constantly worry about whether they look slim or curvy enough, it’s impossible to please everyone. It’s overwhelming.”
“There are tons of studies on it and if you’ve ever worked in a customer facing job, you’ve probably even administered, to an extent, pretty privilege upon others. Whether it’s a free carrier bag or not charging for extra whipped cream, just because the customer is cute. It’s something that undeniably exists and that’s just a small example of it.”
“I think pretty privilege can even effect people in friendships, maybe unknowingly people want to have friends who are attractive and, or people who look like them.”
“But it’s also weird for people who benefit off it because at a certain point you become aware of it and from that point onwards you always wonder. Are people being nice to be nice, or because they think you’re cool or funny or interesting. Or are they just valuing you on your looks? It can really become a point of insecurity if you let it.”
“People tend also be a lot kinder to attractive people because they feel they have to impress them.”
“Considering your physical attributes are something you can’t control, I hate that there is a bias, especially in employment.”
“The consensus is that women who are conventionally attractive get away with a lot more than girls that may not fit into those categories or are generally believed a lot more in society than women who aren’t deemed ‘attractive’.”
“Pretty privilege is definitely a thing when dating. Girls especially are constantly worried about others who are prettier than them that could possibly steal their partner and there is always a sense of competition there.”
“I feel as if attractiveness strongly affects human beings attitudes towards one another and creates unfair prejudice. Although it may positively affect those who are defined as ‘attractive’ by the rest of society this often takes away from their values outside of how people perceive them. This often results in extreme objectification, particularly of women. The best way to change this is to simply not judge a book by its cover.” “A woman that is attractive would get offered to be walked home at night or have guys claiming to be feminists and stand up for them a lot more than women that typically aren’t as attractive, like feminism is only paid attention to by most men when they believe they can get something out of it.”
“I think if you’re generally good looking, people make excuses for you and are more likely to like whatever you do, even if it’s a bad thing.”
“Also with attractive women a lot of their success is based of their looks, which is bad for people that have worked hard and get put down based on their looks and is also extremely damaging and frustrating for attractive women that have worked hard and get undermined just because of their appearance.”
