“Beauty is power: a smile is its sword” -John Ray
In modern-day society, where appearances and mannerisms play such a large role in our day-to-day lives, the concept of pretty privilege emerges. A silent yet influential force, that some know how to use to their advantage. But what exactly is pretty privilege? And how does it impact our lives, opportunities, and interactions with the world around us? These questions linger generally unanswered and have inspired many throughout history to attempt to grapple with them. At its core, pretty privilege refers to the societal advantage that bestows an honor or privilege to people who fit these metaphorical boxes, that we know today as the beauty standard.
From receiving preferential treatment in social interactions to having increased opportunities in various aspects of life, pretty privilege has been manifesting itself from the dawn of time and continues to sneakily work its way into society today. However, the idea of pretty privilege reaches beyond looks themselves, and can be influenced by gender, race, and socioeconomic status; which creates a complex web of privilege. So, to fully understand pretty privilege, we have to take a step back and examine it and its complexities through a multidimensional lens.
Pretty privilege holds a variety of benefits to individuals who comply with it. Making it a deciding factor in many people's thought process. Pretty privilege is the reason societal biases that favor the conventionally attractive exist, yet many do not mean to do this intentionally. Consider for a moment the phenomenon that is known as the “halo effect”, where studies have shown that individuals who are considered conventionally attractive are often perceived to have desirable qualities such as intelligence, competence, likability, and trustworthiness. American psychologist Edward Thorndike first discovered the halo effect, describing it simply as a mental bias that we hold based on appearances that we associate with certain characteristics. (DeVries, 2022) So not only do people with pretty privilege get physical benefits and better opportunities, they get psychological benefits too. Studies have also shown that individuals who appear attractive are more trusted by others. By now you are probably thinking how unfair this situation is. Who is to say that an unconventionally attractive person cannot be likable or trustworthy? Well, I have a question for you, be honest and answer, if you saw two people standing in the store, one attractive, well groomed, and appearing to be intelligent, standing next to a person who is not conventionally attractive, maybe they have a huge nose or maybe dirt all over their clothes, and they look shaggy, who would you talk to if you needed assistance? Assuming you would pick the clean attractive person, you have to realize that you yourself are perpetrating pretty privilege, and making assumptions of people's characters based solely on appearance. And it’s not like you did it to hurt the less attractive person, but you did it out of nature, out of instinct.
Now that we have established what pretty privilege is and that you have also been guilty of perpetrating it, I present to you a thesis statement: Pretty privilege lends both advantages and disadvantages to people depending on a multitude of factors, including race, gender, and socioeconomic status. And with that, we shall explore the ups and downs of pretty privilege, the hows, and whys, and hopefully shed a little light on the complexities at play between beauty, power, and social structure.
Throughout history, pretty privilege has been prevalent, shaping even historic societies -whether they knew it or not-. Much like modern-day pretty privilege, this ancient pretty privilege was also based on cultural and social norms. Research indicates that attractiveness played a significant role in various aspects of ancient life, from marriage to ownership of lands. Let's take for example, ancient Mesopotamia, in their culture, beauty was associated with divinity, and attractive individuals were often put in positions of power and influence. Similarly in ancient Egypt appearance was also very respected, and was seen as a gift from the gods if you were attractive. Beauty, often being seen as purity and virtue, privileged those in ancient life, blessing them with both benefits in the earthy world, and also in the afterlife. If you weren't attracted to their standards, life would be a lot harder for you, and you would not enjoy the same benefits on Earth or in the afterlife, (Badescu). Furthermore, ancient scripts from Roman and Greek cultures depict beauty as a coveted trait, and attractive individuals received more benefits and praise from their peers, often being flocked over by pregnancy candidates for their desirable features. Even the Holocaust can be tied to pretty privilege, as Hitler held a bias against those he did not deem to fall into his Aryan race, often leading to their death, so only Hitler's idea of the perfect race could grow. The impact on those societies and people's lives was clearly profound, and they shaped history as we know it today, some even still influencing society.
Pretty privilege -as we know- can be attributed to many factors, including media, representation, cultural norms, social norms, and our psychological makeup. And just as it was in ancient times, beauty standards and ideals are still perpetrated, either consciously or subconsciously, in our media, through, social media platforms, art, literature, advertisements, and much more which only reinforces the concept of pretty privilege, and further pushes the concept of the “ideal body”. But what is considered attractive today was likely not 1,000 years ago, or 100, or even 10! This is because society's ideals of beauty change almost as quickly as society itself. In Greek and Roman cultures a small tubby stomach was actually considered beautiful, as it showed you had enough food to eat that you could grow off it; this is why many sculptures of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, were often depicted with stomach rolls, and a tubby stomach. In some African cultures today, giant stretched lip rings are seen as desirable and beautiful. Even just roughly 20 years ago in America, the beauty standard was a very thin and toned body, often with washboard abs, which is already different from today; and that was only 20 years ago. Our ideas on beauty change almost as frequently as we and our society does, which is the ultimate reason for this phenomenon of pretty privilege.
While discussing pretty privilege, it would almost be hypocritical to not discuss the effects that the patriarchy has on it, as well as social power structures. Both only continue to perpetuate gender roles and inequalities. The intersection between patriarchy and pretty privilege reinforces exciting beauty standards and disproportionately favors white heterosexual women, who conform to conventional standards of femininity and fall in line with certain beauty standards. From a young age, individuals are taught to internalize these standards and are often taught to exclude those who break the standards, thanks to the patriarchy. This leads to a messy slope of hatred and constant competition between women, who are all trying to outperform the other and win the made-up beauty pageant of life. Moreover, beauty standards are often a form of social control, reinforcing gender roles, and stereotypes, and pitting individuals against each other to attempt to achieve often impossible looks in hopes of pleasing a false ideal of meaning. All in hopes of being perfect, to society. Take Sofia Isaias-Day’s experience with pretty privilege for example, in her words, she wrote, “Toward the end of middle school, when I started dressing in trendy clothes, wearing my hair down, and using makeup, I suddenly became a popular girl—even though all I'd done to change was start closely following societal norms about physical appearance. My experience with beauty also shifted around the same time my body filled in. There was a newfound focus on my chest and physique. At some point during this time, my body took on a whole new meaning. It—I—became a vessel for people and society to look at and make comments about.” (Isaias-Day 2022). The text alone almost perfectly summarizes the feeling of dealing with pretty privilege and trying to conform with it. As well as how conformity to societal beauty standards can warp our own perceptions and self-worth, ultimately leading to a loss of individuality and authenticity.
Not only can pretty privilege have a deep effect on mental and phsyical health, it can also determine how much money you make. In the field of science, known as pulchronomics, scientists study the connections between beauty and economic success. According to Ms. O'Connell-Joshua, we learn that “On average pretty people make more money and are more likely to be hired, while this isn’t true in every single case it is true in enough cases to show a broader, systematic trend. Attractive people are automatically considered to be smarter, more capable, healthier, more trustworthy, and, in legal cases, you are more likely to be found innocent when you're considered attractive.” ( O’Connell-Joshua, 2020). This revelation only gives more of an unfair advantage to people who are pretty, and it raises even more concerns for the fairness of our society, even in the justice system.
Common traits associated with pretty privilege include, but are not limited to: symmetrical facial features, specific body weights, clear skin, long shiny hair (often desired to be blonde), hourglass figures, light-colored eyes, fair skin, and more. People who possess these characteristics are actively reaping their benefits, most without even knowing it. Benefiting from preferential treatment, increased opportunities, and social validation, simply because they fit the pre-made mold of societal beauty standards. Conversely, people who have opposing traits that go against these, such as physical disabilities, non-normative gender presentations, excessive weight or an undesirable body shape/type, suffer from a system made only by a few people who most likely did not fit into these molds themselves.
And while pretty privilege can offer a variety of benefits to people who conform to it, it offers an equal amount of disadvantages to people who will not or can not conform with it. Some benefits for those who do comply with them either in nature or by a hard and long process to conform, include increased social capital, better career opportunities, romantic success, free items, better legal outcomes, and an overall easier life. Mermaid Keels, a woman who has lost over a hundred pounds went to TikTok to share her experiences with pretty privilege. She said “It can be little subtle things you wouldn’t notice. Not being charged for that extra drink or dessert at a restaurant, or having someone offering to put the air in your tires instead of seeing you struggle doing it.” she said and then continued, “And you can say, ‘Oh my God, maybe people are just good’ or, ‘Maybe people are doing a good deed’ and I’m with you, they’re doing a good deed, but why didn’t they do a good deed when I was 257lb?” she questions. “All of a sudden, all of these good deeds started happening to me the moment I looked like this. I went from one good deed happening to me a year to 10 of them happening to me in a week!” (Court, 2022) But despite Ms. Keels's personal benefits with pretty privledge, Those who do not meet our metaphorical standards often have to grapple with the effects of ostracisation, increased workload, increased anxiety and mental health issues, exclusion from events and opportunities, and much more, simply because of their appearance. Those of us who do conform to the conventional beauty standard may also experience a sense of validation and can easily grow a larger ego in a society that judges people based on their physical appearance rather than their character. The perpetuation of these beauty standards ultimately does more harm than they do good and continues cycles of oppression and marginalization. In this way, while pretty privilege does benefit certain people, it also hurts many others, but we ourselves are not to blame, rather the patriarchy that pushes these ideals.
While individuals may have various forms of privilege, including pretty privilege, the ethical dilemma arises: Should those who have it utilize it? It would be a waste for people to not utilize this, but rather it is important to do so in a way that not only benefits them but also others who may not get those benefits based on their appearance. Rather than exploiting themselves and their privilege, privileged individuals could leverage it to advocate for change in beauty standards and challenge social norms. By using this privilege to create a more accepting society, not only would they benefit, but they also will improve the society we make up.
The question of whether or not pretty privilege is a choice is also one we should consider while on the topic. Certain aspects certainly are a choice to some extent, like dying hair, using colored contacts, doing skincare, working out more, changing your clothing style, changing your hygiene routine, wearing makeup, etc. But there are also many aspects that are up to our genetic makeup and can not be manipulated easily without extensive surgery or operations. These include things such as disabilities, race, and gender. These things are ultimately out of an individual's control, making the question a hard one to answer. However, it is important to emphasize individuals' motives and means for wanting to change their appearance and whether it is ethical or unethical. Because while certain aspects of pretty privilege are a choice, many are not, but does that make pretty privilege less of a choice?
There are inherent differences of pretty privilege based on a multitude of factors. For example, gender itself plays a large role in pretty privilege, as men can also benefit and suffer from it. Men can put in less effort to achieve the same amount of attention and validation that a woman would for putting in more effort. Men also have different standards than women's beauty standards, such as large arms, abs, sharp features, and a desirable height. Even race leads to different beauty standards, as beauty standards differ from group to group. But then there's also a pressure to conform to their race's social norms, never being accepted as a human, but rather as a member of their skin color and the pretty privileges that entails. Socioeconomic status also plays a role, as people who have more funds to experiment with are more likely to conform with pretty privilege than those who do not. In author and American Jurist Deborah Rhode’s words from her book, The Beauty Bias, “ Beauty may be only skin deep but the costs associated with its Pursuit go much deeper. The financial, physical, and psychological price of appearance demands closer attention and collective action. We will never eliminate all the injustices, but we can surely do better. That will require treating appearance not only as an aesthetic issue but as a legal and political one as well.” (Rhode, 2010)
Overall, pretty privilege leaves us with a variety of questions, and not nearly as many answers. It underscores the urgent need for a more open, inclusive, and compassionate society, while also raising critical concerns as to why we perpetuate these standards without even realizing it. By fostering greater awareness and intentional change, we can hope to build a world where everyone is valued for who they are, and not just by how they look.
Bibliography
Badescu, Mario “Beauty from around the World: Ancient Egypt.” accessed May 10, 2024
Court, Andrew. “Attractive Women Brag about “Pretty Privilege” and the Insane Benefits They Get.” New York Post, 5 Jan. 2022, accessed May 15, 2024
DeVries, Henry. “The Halo Effect Psychology of Choosing Professionals.” Forbes, accessed May 10, 2024
O’Connell-Joshua, “All about Pretty Privilege.” PhotoBook Magazine, 2020, accessed May 21, 2024
Rhode, Deborah L. The Beauty Bias: The Injustice of Appearance in Life and Law. Oxford Oxford University Press, 2011. Page 161
Sofia Isaias-Day, April 25, 2022,. “My Journey with “Pretty Privilege” and Work toward Reclaiming My Own Image.” Jewish Women’s Archive, accessed May 15, 2024
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