For some time now, there is more and more talk about the concept ‘pretty privilege’ or the privilege of being handsome. It appeals to all those advantages, opportunities and benefits that a person obtains in areas of daily life just by having an attractive appearance. And it’s not just a popular belief.
Psychologists Lisa Slattery Walker and Tonya Frevert, from the University of North Carolina (USA), carried out a study analyzing all the conclusions of different investigations on how a person’s appearance affects their success in life. In their work, they found abundant evidence in various studies confirming that beauty affects academic grades. Apparently, it has been shown that teachers are predisposed to assume that an attractive student is more intelligent, something that influences and is reflected in the grades they award.
This self-esteem has a cumulative effect on the person because, as Tonya Frevert explained, “you gain confidence in yourself, you think more positively and you have more opportunities to demonstrate how competent you are.” In short, the confidence that feeling attractive gives you security in other areas and contexts to achieve your goals.
This also applies in the workplace, since the study pointed out that once the rest of the criteria have been taken into consideration, beautiful people tend to earn more money and reach positions of greater responsibility compared to those who are less attractive. There’s more: in a legal proceeding, a handsome defendant is more likely to get a better sentence and may even get out of jail. At the opposite extreme, if the plaintiff is the one who looks attractive, there is a better chance that he will win the case.
Not all the conclusions gathered by the aforementioned psychologists are in the same line, since it seems that complying with the beauty canon also has its negative side, especially for women, where sexism leaves its mark. Just as an attractive man is often considered a better leader, attractive women are less desirable for positions of great responsibility and authority, such as managerial jobs. As if this were not enough, there are numerous studies that have proven that an interviewer or recruiter usually does not hire a person who is more attractive than himself.
In the context of health, the study suggests that there is a tendency among medical professionals to be less careful and exhaustive when a beautiful person comes for a consultation, as there is a general belief that a good appearance is related to good health.
Finally, loneliness is common in beautiful people. People tend to turn away from a beautiful woman when passing her on the sidewalk, and they also have less chance of meeting people on dating apps, as others are intimidated by her seemingly perfect and unattainable appearance.
