Bentley and Girls

Social effects of attractiveness

When a person is seen as attractive or unattractive, assumptions are brought into play. Across cultures, what is beautiful is assumed to be good. Attractive people are assumed to be more extroverted, popular, and happy. However, this may be due to self-fulfilling prophecy; from a young age, attractive people receive more attention that helps them develop these characteristics.[73][74] But attractiveness varies by society; in ancient China, a "set of withered or amputated toes at the end of crippled feet, which were jammed into the smallest possible slipper," was attractive, so foot binding was practiced by confining young girls' feet in tightly bound shoes to prevent the feet from growing to normal size.[75]

Physical attractiveness can have various effects. A survey conducted by London Guildhall University of 11,000 people showed that those who subjectively describe themselves as physically attractive earn more income than others who would describe themselves as less attractive.[76] People who described themselves as less attractive earned, on average, 13% less than those who described themselves as more attractive, while the penalty for being overweight was around 5%. It is important to note that other factors such as self-confidence may explain or influence these findings as they are based on self-reported attractiveness as opposed to any sort of objective criteria; however, as one's self-confidence and self-esteem are largely learned from how one is regarded by his/her peers while maturing, even these considerations would suggest a significant role for physical appearance. One writer speculated that "the distress created in women by the spread of unattainable ideals of female beauty" might possibly be linked to increasing incidents of depression.[77]

Some have proposed that discrimination against or prejudice towards others based on their appearance should be referred to as Lookism.[citation needed]

One writer wondered whether free-market capitalist systems encourage female beauty, based on the writer's speculation that in the days of the Soviet Union, there had been no "market for female beauty" with fashion magazines and TV series which "depended upon beautiful women for high ratings" and few "men rich enough to seek out beautiful women and marry them."[78] So Russian women began seeming to be more attractive after the end of communism and the switch to free markets with fancy clothes, cosmetics, and fashion magazines, according to this writer.[78] Beauty advertising in capitalist countries is big business and tends to use one of two approaches: "show the customer the bombshell they could be with the help of a certain makeup or diet", or "show the fearful consequences of declining: the horrible frizzy hair or monstrous pimples that will develop if you dare pass up a certain shampoo or face wash."[79]

Many have asserted that certain advantages tend to come to those who are perceived as being more attractive, including the ability to get better jobs and promotions; receiving better treatment from authorities and the legal system; having more choices in romantic partners and, therefore, more power in relationships; and marrying into families with more money.[73][74][80]

Both men and women use physical attractiveness as a measure of how 'good' another person is.[81]

Some researchers conclude that little difference exists between men and women in terms of sexual behavior.[82][83] Symmetrical men and women have a tendency to begin to have sexual intercourse at an earlier age, to have more sexual partners, to engage in a wider variety of sexual activities, and to have more one-night stands. They are also prone to infidelity and are more likely to have open relationships.[84]

Symmetrical men and women are also best suited for their environment and have the most reproductive success. Therefore, their physical characteristics are most likely to be inherited by future generations.[85][86][87][88]

In the novel Skin Deep by Diana Wagman, a former topless waitress answers a classified ad seeking from a man wanting to learn about beauty; he asks her to wear a shapeless navy blue costume to hide her attractiveness during these discussions.[89] And the waitress discovers that it's difficult to separate her identity as a person from her physical appearance.[89] Columnist Maureen Dowd thought that the feminist movement would have changed the rules regarding beauty, but concluded after forty years that "the ideal of feminine beauty is more rigid and unnatural than ever" and she still felt imprisoned by the "tyranny of the girdled, primped ideal of the 50's."[90] She wrote:

What I don't like now is that the young women rejecting the feminist movement are dressing alike, looking alike and thinking alike. The plumage is more colorful, the shapes are more curvy, the look is more plastic, the message is diametrically opposite - before it was don't be a sex object; now it's be a sex object - but the conformity is just as stifling.[90]

Beauty standards change with pop culture.[91]