The Ugly Truth About Beauty ….Like It or Not, Looks Do Matter
A lot of us think we value people because of what they accomplish, or their character, or generosity, or intelligence — that’s what we thought mattered, but are we just putting blinders on?
More often than not it seems qualities other than skill, intelligence or character pay off. Here’s an example. Anna Kournikova is ranked 37th in women’s tennis, and has never won a major singles championship. So, why is it that Kournikova makes millions more dollars from endorsements than players ranked higher?
Lookism – is discrimination against or prejudice towards others based on their appearance. The World Association of Ugly People is an organization dedicated to fighting for the recognition of ugly people, in a society that places a high value on physical beauty. The group’s motto is “A person is what he is and not what he looks like”.
Sharon Cullors wrote:
We’ve all heard that old adage about beauty being in the eye of the beholder. And by now we all know this isn’t entirely true. Yes, it would be nice to have complete power over our own images and self-definition, to control how people saw and reacted to us. Unfortunately for most of us, women especially, minority women in particular, the beauty standard is created, modified, distorted, diced, pureed and fed to us by the select few who control the media and set the trends and fashions of the day. And even more unfortunate, that standard tends to be stringent and unrelenting, excluding a vast population of noncomforming features, skin color, and body types. As the standard is so selective, only a select few will ever fit its criteria.
So, how does this affect you? Probably you figure it doesn’t. After all, you’ve got it going on and that type of garbage doesn’t fill your mind. Even so, you might be surprised to know that not fitting a particular standard could prevent you from getting that job you want or better pay for the one you already have. And we’re not talking racism here. Research has now proven what many of us have always suspected; looks matter, and to many with the power to bestow positions and perks, good looks carry a premium.
According to university researchers in Texas and Michigan, an attractive worker is paid 10 percent more than his or her unattractive counterpart, even where they perform the same work and have similar levels of experience. This is true even in positions where looks should play little or no part. This type of discrimination, termed lookism is also a factor in areas other than employment. In her book Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty, Dr. Nancy Etkoff points out other areas where pulchritude – or the lack thereof – can enhance your chances or hinder your prospects: in school, in the judicial system, and sometimes even in the place where one should expect refuge from this mess: in the home. According to studies and Dr. Etkoff’s book, teachers often give better grades to good-looking children, police officers go easier on attractive people (ever wonder how many tickets beautiful female motorists actually avoid?), good-looking defendants get more favorable verdicts or sentences, and cute-as-button children receive more attention from their mothers than unattractive children get from theirs. Granted, these may only be theories and no one wants to believe that the extent of a mother’s love is predicated on the attractiveness of her child. But how many of us have heard mothers call their children something akin to “you ugly (fill in blank)”. And how many of us remember teachers choosing the pretty girl to stand in the front of the line when the class was led out for recess?
Filed under: Interesting, Pique, Psychology
