Prefer to be beautiful to having brains?

[charlmarascoxo]

I was asked - would you rather be beautiful and have below average intelligence or would be rather be clever and be dull looking/plain jane.

I went with beauty.

It seems to me that in society having beauty is quite highly valued and life is perhaps easier because you are more accepted. Most people however chose brains over beauty. So perhaps I am in the minority?

Surely it depends on the circles you move in? If you're surrounded by really good looking idiots then it would be advantageous to be beautiful, if you choose to be around people with something to say for themselves then its better to have brains.

I think i have both

Brains. I think people who aren't beautiful can be much more attractive than someone who is beautiful because if her personality and the way she presents herself.

Actually, I agree with Molly but would add money to her list!

?A person's physical attractiveness the look that they're basically born with impacts every individual literally from birth to death,? says Dr. Gordon Patzer, dean of the College of Business Administration at Roosevelt University. He's spent 30 years studying and writing about physical attractiveness. ?People are valued more who are higher in physical attractiveness. As distasteful at that might be, that's the reality.

Just one of the many quotes I found online (not saying that they are reliable btw)

If it was a choice between average brains plus jaw-dropping beauty or average looks plus being frighteningly super clever, I would happily live with average brains and be beautiful I think.

I recently met the granddaughter of my DMum's oldest and best friend. F**k me, I have never seen anything like it - she was absolutely drop-dead, have-to-look-twice, couldn't take my eyes off her beautiful. Just gorgeous. She could have stepped into a Vogue photo shoot with no makeup. She is only 14!!! I was staring at her slack-jawed for the whole afternoon, goodness knows what reaction she must get in the outside world (we were at a family BBQ at DMum's friend's house so was all her family plus me and DMum). I would love to look like that!

I would class myself as slightly above average on brains - but only slightly. If I could improve either brains or looks, it would be looks 100%

Brains for sure.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Brains can't be created but your education can. You can also make yourself culturally and worldly aware .

But I agree that it is possibly easier to create " attractiveness " not beauty though, to me that suggests something natural.

I think life is easier if you are beautiful. People respond well to you. Life is hard when you are clever because everything becomes terribly complicated. I am a simple soul, I'd rather be happy than a high-flyer, so I'd go with beauty. The arguments against beauty seem to be perceived things that go with it like vanity, shallowness, stupidity, money-grabbing and so on. I have a friend who is seriously stunning - has been a model. She is the most chilled, happy, friendly, happy person I can think of. I just want to gaze at her all day and have her smile at me

I know I have, or have had, both in my lifetime.

I look similar to Michelle Pfeiffer in the eighties. I was particularly smart as a teenager. I would read the dictionary for fun. Looking back, it wasn't all that fun.

You know what this has made me think of?

The beauty trade v. the further education business.

I would think nothing of paying ??? to complete a course/diploma if I thought it was worthwhile, but I would be slow to pay any money on anything over and above normal grooming (i.e. plastic surgery /teeth whitening/ fake nails etc).

btw I am in minus territory for both beauty and brains today - hungover to hell, the horrors, tomorrow will be better. I hate wine, it's ugly and stupid.

I am certainly not arguing against beauty, I spend a fair amount of my time trying to look good. I just think that my brains have had more of an impact on my life. Although that may be because I have more brains than beauty I guess.

Does anyone remember The Simpsons episode where Homer had a crayon stuck in his brain and when it was removed he became a genius?

At the end of the episode he had the crayon inserted back into his brain because being so smart only really brought him unhappiness.

I wasn't aware they were mutually exclusive.

It's an interesting question. I thought beauty at first, because even though it does fade, you could do a whole lot with it while it lasted. However, if you were beautiful with below-average intelligence, you wouldn't know how to use it to your advantage.

(No, I'm not going to explain what I mean by using it to your advantage, beyond the fact that society values beauty and there are situations where it is prized above intelligence. I also have read studies about how height is important to men's careers, so this isn't a phenomenon limited to women.)

I was a bright minger (read: had no idea of how to embrace my prettiness) in my teens, twenties and thirties. Mainly because my mother was determined I would have a career and not rely on any looks I may / may not have had. NB: I am averagely attractive.

I am freaking GORGEOUS in my 40's and have a) had the term 'supermodel' attributed to me and b) never had so many 'looks' from men and women.

But it has naff all to really to do with my 'looks' and everything to do with confidence and not giving a fuck....

Arthurfowlersallotment where exactly did I say they were?

Brains, no contest.

You may be right that the average idiot person may be more impressed by your beauty more than your intelligence but who cares what they think? After all this opinion shows what a moron they are!

I was not being snide by the way.

Your OP indicated that you were either beautiful or below average intelligence. Therefore I assumed you were beautiful.

Ignore that. It makes no sense.

I wasn't being snide though.

I have both, but I am a bit fat. I once said I would rather be slim than a solicitor. That was when I was studying for my finals. It seemed so much easier to qualify as a solicitor!

Brains of course!
You can MAKE yourself reasonably good looking with effort and the money you can make due to your colossal intellect!

Plus beauty fades big time compared to brains.

With amazing intelligence you can make a huge impact on the world - think Einstein/Tim Berners Lee/Planck etc.

A pretty face will be forgotten as soon as a new one comes along.

Now if you were asking whether I'd prefer charisma or brains - that would be a hard choice.

Beauty? Meh. Physical beauty doesn't protect you from the vagaries of life. Why do actors end up in such tortured relationships? If beauty equalled happiness then they would be pigs in shit, but they're not. They're all going through the same things as every other normal-looking person on the planet - except they're doing it in full view.

Beauty might open a door, but unless there's something stronger inside to back it up, it's not going to keep you there.

Brains- can't see it is a contest.