To think "pretty privilege" can start really early?

I remember reading about a study of babies looking at their carers faces, years ago. Even babies were more drawn to attractive faces, looking at them for longer, smiling more at them etc. So the preference for attractive faces is inbuilt it seems.

That programme with Dr Robert Winston showed that adults and other children all favoured more attractive children.

This is true. Charisma is not always linked to looks. My youngest DD not pretty (she looks like me lol), has been highly popular since nursery. Girls and boys wanted to be her friend and play with her. Grandparents were introduced to her in supermarkets as the famous xxxx xxxxxxxx. It was weird. At uni she had a tight circle of friends within days. Still close with them. Contrast her very pretty older sister who is lovely but a bit socially awkward with her peers. She was never in with the in crowd. Big brother is very funny which accounts for his popularity! Funny trumps looks in boys and men?

Thick, glossy hair def is inherited, fine, tangly hair etc takes hours & Mums often just chopped lot off kids in past.

I really don't think kids with nice teeth and glossy hair are buying them! All kids can have glossy hair and nice teeth- dental care is free and shampoo is cheap!

I think it’s a thing.
i was a real ugly ducking kid- shit hair, shit teeth, lots of illness so mostly looked underweight and very pale. I was however a nice kid, kind and funny. I loved playing outside and was often dirty.
My sister was plain really but had blonde hair, blue eyes and kept herself neat. My family members really favoured her- she’d get lots of compliments and they’d take (and display) far more photos of her. It often happened that she’d get the nice gift too like crystal barbie and I’d get the cheaper version. Or she would get a ‘good’character toy like she-ra and I’d get the baddie from the series etc. I think it was probably mostly unconscious in fairness.
Shrs struggled far more with the aging process than I have though and has had minor surgery on her face so it obviously impacted on her sense of identity too. Luckily I grew up not that ugly in the end 🤣

My primary school kid is pretty normal looking and they get books form the year above for her. I think it’s pretty random tbh. One of the smartest guys I know is about 5ft 4. the female oxbridge grads in my family are all perfectly normal looking too and would have not been considered very pretty in primary school.

I think it’s random. I went to a grammar, it wasn’t packed full of beautiful people (there were definitely some). Maybe it’s different in private, more money for nice teeth and glossy hair.

Thank you, I appreciated your comment!

So presumably you don't think that men, as a group, have advantages over women in various different societies (since sex is also determined by genetics)?

And nobody is saying that it is the fault of attractive people that they are, as a class and in general, given societal benefits over non-attractive people. I don't know why you're talking about fault, or an inability to donate - it isn't relevant.

But society absolutely does reward attractiveness, as countless studies accross the world over several decades have conclusively shown.

@CraftyPlumViewer the definition of privilege is "a special right, advantage, or immunityy_ granted or available only to a particular person or group." To me, that's not what genetics is.

If society as a whole bestows preferential treatment on those deemed to be beautiful (which I question because there isn't an agreed universal form of human beauty, and beauty doesn't guarantee anything in life), that is not the fault of the person who did nothing but inherit a set of genes.

People who inherit wealth can choose to use that wealth to benefit society. People who inherit "beautiful" genes are stuck with them- they can't donate their beauty to someone less "privileged."

But "privilege" refers to the ways in which society rewards these genetic features. E.g. (on average) better grades as students, more likely to be hired, better pay. Of course, there's a significant biological component to why attractive people (as a group) are afforded these benefits.

I don't mind the word privilege being used to explain the benefits that one group have over another but it does seem to irk a lot of people.

To me it's not privilege, it's genetics. It's not granted to a chosen few by some beauty overload and neither is it restricted by anyone.

I agree, I think it's very divisive.
There is also a time limit on such privilege which must come as a shock to the bearer later in life.

I have never heard the expression pretty privilege before, but it definitely exists. I’ve had all sorts of (unmerited, if I’m honest) career successes that I can broadly attribute to the fact that I am relatively attractive. Always served quickly in bars, never felt “invisible”.

Also see it with female DC too. Some comments to or about her make me feel uncomfortable and I definitely try and shield them from it and emphasise that being a nice person is far more important than being pretty. But overall, certainly as an adult, I can see and have reaped the benefits.

Should've clarified - it's good looking female students that get better grades, the same doesn't hold true for males.

Attractiveness is not the be-all and end-all but it absolutely carries a significant set of advantages and some disadvantages (and because of the patriarchy, both are amplified for women).

Attractive people are more likely to get promoted and, on average, earn significantly more than average or below-average looking people. They also get shorter prison sentences. Particularly grim is that good looking students get better grades (a perk that they lost during Covid, when classes were online, but had since resurfaced).

Yes & it's been proven that children who are traditionally better looking are favoured at school & generally treated better

But there’s loads of attractive, socially awkward people out there. You don’t see them as leaders do you? As another pp said, charisma, more so than looks, is everything.

Agree with this 💯

We’re all different, and for good reasons.

Not unreasonable! My DS nearly 2 is a blonde, blue eyed curly beautiful thing that captures all age, all gender attention. We rarely go anywhere without comments. I’m expecting a second a not sure what the next will look like and whether this ‘halo’ effect will apply to them!

It doesn’t really, though. Pretty privilege is rooted on our biologically programmed preference to a fellow human who exhibits all the tell tales sign of good health like symmetrical features and good colouring, thick shiny hair, normal weight etc We are programmed to respond this way because once upon a time if a sick looking foreigner came to our tribe we would instinctively quarantine them and carry on surviving. We would also instinctively know to not mate with a sick looking tribesman and our offspring would have more chances of surviving. Therefore this behaviour has been advantageous to our survival as a species. It has nothing to do with conforming to social norms, you can see babies responding better to symmetrical faces, so yes pretty privilege starts from a very young age, from birth. But not for the reasons you think.

I seem to remember on Child of Our Time them saying something about the better turned out kids being more popular, because even very young kids in Reception were more drawn to, for example, little girls with ribbons in their hair than ones with messy hair.

Precisely

Well said! 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

Lucky woman who has that drooling after her 🤮🤢