| January 12, 2004 Beautiful people get all the perks? (click to read MSNBC article/show) --Sometimes I don’t get why so many organizations, media outlets, etc. go through so much time and money to try to come to an exegetical conclusion concerning things we all already know from plain and simple common sense. Take NBC’s latest cavort into the realm of physical attractiveness and the effects that has on everyday living. Do beautiful people get all the perks??? Ooo...ahhhh... Sorry to disappoint you folks though. This is hardly a question for the ages. Of course beautiful people get major perks that non-attractive people don’t get, and even “average-looking” people don’t get either. There, I answered a question they spent half a Dateline show on. You’ll see frivolous studies like this all the time. “Do kids develop better in duel parent or single-parent households?” Um....duhhhh! (Let me make the distinction between absolutes and statistical favoritism. In this case, yes some single-parent kids may turn out fine and dandy whereas some duel parents kids will turned out all screwed up. But the statistics hugely favor the opposite is true.) Or you’ll see studies like “Are cigarettes bad for you?” Come on, we're not stupid. You’ll see research go into whether couples that live together have higher divorce rates than couples that don’t...heck I could’ve told you that before looking at one number. The point is, some people I think like to investigate things they already know down deep just to make themselves look smart and to get sponsor dollars. Anyways, I’m not here to point out why a lot of people tackle moot questions, I’m here to elucidate the whole “beautiful people = perks” topic. I’ve touched upon this topic before with my “hot girls” article. And although I don’t want to polarize the genders, it’s a realistic truth that physical attractiveness of girls plays a much larger part in everyday practical occurrences than the physical attractiveness of guys. Let’s be honest, blondes do have all the fun. Well kidding aside, it’s not secret that beautiful girls not only get preferential treatment, but they get more attention from guys, and seemingly get the nice perks. The same could be said for good-looking guys, but not to the same degree. In terms of preferential treatment, the Dateline hidden cameras speak for themselves. The beautiful model gets major help when she drops something or is lost and the average girl gets average help, if any. The model guy gets blind respect from people just because they think he’s important cause he’s good-looking. The average guy is on his own and in most cases gets no help or preferential treatment at all. Tis the way life is. Sort of like the rich will always govern the poor. Money rules and good looks pull. I’m not saying this is right, but it is how the world works. I feel bad for beautiful girls though because most of the time the preferential treatment they receive or the attention they get from guys is completely founded in their physical appearance, totally superficial. I’m not proud of my gender for that reason and I apologize to girls that have been emotionally abused because of my bullheaded kinsmen. I’m not proud that we (males) will give a girl preferential treatment just because she has big boobs (girls if you only knew how much influence those two orbs you got have....wait, maybe you do know...maybe that’s why you all wear those tight and low-cut tops.....AAAHHH....you’re a nefarious bunch!....a nefarious bunch indeed....but I can’t resist you.....aaaggg, it sucks being a man sometimes). Anyways, what I’m trying to say is that even if a girl has admirable intellectual qualities, if she has a pretty face, slim figure, and busty top, we have no choice (right or wrong) but to figure in her physical attributes as a factor, if not a large factor in her success. In the case of Jessica Simpson, we can attribute most of her success on her 36-34-36 (I will give her props for her singing, but come on folks, Nick Lachey didn’t marry her because of their deep intellectual conversations I’d venture to guess. Alas Nick, you’re just another victim of The Orbs....can’t blame ya man though, I feel for ya. The Orbs are like Sauron’s palantirs....you can’t take your eyes off em). But this whole thing is all a sort of form of affirmative action based not in race, but in physical attractiveness. Not really fair, but there ain’t nothing you can do about it. ...I can see me now....Hey baby, nice orbs.....SHMACK! As I mentioned in my other article there are drawbacks for beautiful people. For one, beautiful girls get a lot of unwanted attention, mostly from PABs. But because girls are so emotionally insecure, I’m starting to wonder if they even mind it. Plus a lot of beautiful girls may indirectly have the “Jessica Simpson Syndrome” whereby people automatically assume they’re a ditz because they’re blonde and very hot (although have you seen Jessica Simpson without makeup?.....yikes!). But I’d imagine most girls would trade some punk guys pestering them and some false assumptions for a body like Anna Kournikova’s, a butt like J-Lo’s, and a chest like Selma Hayek. Tis the sad state of affairs when we aren’t completely satisfied with the features, beyond our control, that God so wonderfully and beautifully gave us. No wonder Neutrogena and Avon commercials are so prevalent during the O.C. When it comes to guys, and like I said before, it’s not as much at the good looks a guy possesses as much as what he can get with those good looks. The “hot” guys always get the hot girls. They get to date the prom queen, they get invited to all the best parties, etc. It’s more the “hook-ups” I believe that are associated with good-looking guys’ advantages. Now from a girls point of view, I’m sure girls are attracted to a good-looking guy’s features, but not as much as guys are of girls. For some reason I want to believe that the physical attraction a girl has for a guy is somehow related to a fantasy thinking that if a guy is good looking he’ll automatically possess all the qualities that a girl deep down desires like honesty, love, care, good father, inner strength, security, communication, etc. It’s like if a guy is tall, dark, and handsome then chivalry, valor, and humility will automatically accompany him. No wonder so many girls’ dreams of a “knight in shining armor” are dashed. I don’t know, I could be off base here (mostly because I don’t have the mind of a woman). But I think there is some truth to the idea that our ideas of physical attractiveness closely associate with our desire for emotional and personality attractiveness and it skews our perception of attraction for an individual. If we’re physically attractive to someone, we’ll start justifying how emotionally and personality attractive we think we are to them even if we honesty aren’t. The clout we put in physical attractiveness is extremely compelling, mostly and usually to a fault. And somehow I’ve managed to get off my main topic of how good looks equal life perks. And they do, and I think we all know that. And I think all said and done, the practical advantages outweigh the practical disadvantages for beautiful people. But when it comes to emotional advantages and disadvantages, it’s a whole new ball game and that’s where we’re all under a level playing field. Pretty faces are a dime a dozen, but beautiful hearts are diamonds in the rough. Someone once said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What I think that person meant to say is that beauty is in the heart of the beholder. But this question didn’t need Dateline to solve it...just live one day on Earth and you could’ve told yourself it. Just like many other truths apparent in creation. |