OPEN LETTERS
An Open Letter to Pretty People
Dear Pretty People,
You are a product of categorical thinking and spectrum, in other words, human nature. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but what if the beholder was the entirety of society?
Fine lines coated with capitalism, a smile rooted in colonialism, you bear the mark of supremacy and unknowingly embrace your imperialistic traits. Centuries wasted designing tools for idealism and oppression. So, what remains in the sights of your beholder? Pure Privilege.
You radiate kindness, health, intelligence, trustworthiness, and reliability despite not having to show proof of possessing any of those traits, why is that?
If you’ve heard of the halo effect you are aware that a large part of it is based on perceptions of physical attractiveness.
Most people depict a “halo” around pretty people that gives you other socially desirable positive characteristics. History has proven that conventionally pretty people are more likely to get jobs, political votes, relaxed criminal sentences, and fame.
You have been shown to get more opportunities and be more profitable and successful. For example, those deemed attractive are approached and networked more often, get more tips as a waiter or waitress, and are quantified greatly via social media algorithms.
Simply put, people often act better towards those who align with conventional beauty standards.
Beauty standards are rooted in years of oppression where the oppressors and oppressed share a fine line. Hierarchies with White people, masculine males, and the sexualization of petite exotic women initiated cultural violence that perpetuated beauty archetypes.
Now the problem isn’t conventional beauty, it's the value that society gives it. Society gives power to three interconnected things: wealth, knowledge, and beauty. Of these, beauty is the least quantifiable, the most subjective, and yet the most difficult to control.
When you are pretty you are already deemed talented.
Society allows you to explore real venues with minimal judgments. On the other hand, when you don’t meet societal standards you are more likely to focus on your appearance and your development of positive character qualities rather than measurable explorations.
It’s like wearing steel boots in a race while your fellow competitors wear high-performance running shoes.
Modeling, makeup artistry, and acting were once purely biased to conventional beauty standards, since then we have progressed.
In today’s society, we may be more encompassing of what is deemed beautiful yet, we still reinforce standardized beauty. Symmetry, colorism, slender tall bodies, masculinity in males, and feminity in females are still favored more often than not.
As a society, we can all acknowledge that pretty privilege exists. Although difficult, we can attempt to dismantle narrow beauty standards by becoming more open-minded. As social media and capitalism continue to prosper it is necessary, now more than ever, to take the light of the beholder and make an effort to uproot historical bias’ and branded beauty!
Sincerely,
An identity activist
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