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?

From my vast observation working on the brains side of a beauty industry, my choice would be neither. I would choose natural charm (not sleaziness but get-along- ability), those are the people who have the happiest and often (depending on how you measure it) most successful lives. Sometimes they are good looking and sometimes they have brains and sometimes they have both or neither but they are always likable and often have a genuine interest in other people.

Personally my brains have allowed me to pay off my mortgage before most people in London would manage it and take time off without anyone supporting me to be with my son when it became necessary. But I suppose you could have done it with beauty, charm or luck as well.

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. Me too.

Meh, I dont care if people think im shallow.

I would say personality is what really matters, never mind brains or beauty.

Apparently so! That's why they brought in Josie Jump two.

Her song is catchy though.

But not as good as Pc Plum's. 'I found your doggy!'

Excuse me! As you were.

Didn't we do this only a few weeks ago?

It's one of life's indefatigable questions.

but enlightenment, do you think it's not possible to be um.. less than intelligent and still in (equal) emotional turmoil?

Well SantaisBarredfromhavingStella sadly sometimes threads get repeated. Especially on such a huge forum.

However this has reached 6 pages without anyone else mentioning it. (Unless I have missed it) so its rather a pointless comment to make, as no one else seems to mind.

Reconsidered and believe that OP is right, it's easier to be average intelligence and pretty, think you would be happier, but sadly you can't chose your life.

See I would just choose happiness.

For me its a balance of both.

For some its brains, and others its beauty. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be beautiful, not everyone wants it tho but it doesn't meen they can judge others for it, equally it works the other way.

Yes sometimes they do, especially the fucking pointless ones hence my 'pointless' comment. Clearly you would choose the former.....

brains over beauty every time.

if you are beautiful (with no brains) you only have your looks to trade on. they can go in a flash (accident with hair dye, sudden illness meaning steroids for life)

if you have brains you can develop yourself in so many ways to make those doors open for you. you can learn how to make the best of your physical features, whilst also retaining the knowledge that you have personality and brains to fall back on if your face suddenly fell off. also, in such a fickle world, what constitutes 'beautiful' can change in a short space of time that you may be cast to one side in favour of the new beauty. what does that do to your self esteem when you know your beauty was all you had?

Ha- I asked my 3 year if she would rather be clever or strong the other day (she was eating fish and we were talking about how it was good for her)

She went quiet and thought for a bit and then came out with 'I think i'd rather be a mermaid'.

I'd go for brains myself

From my experience, having a brain that will not rest equals constant unease.

The way I see it, you keep asking 'why', to the answer to any question, and you run out of answers. A simpler person will be content with the answer 'because it is so' and they will get on with enjoying their life. A brain that will not quit will keep demanding to know the answers to things it is impossible to know at two in the morning every night and keep you awake. I like sleep.

I'd rather look in the mirror and think, oh look there's Michelle Pfeiffer and not oh shit I'm just a meaningless mess of particles crushed together in such a way that they have become aware of their existence.

While I do agree that emotional turmoil is for everyone, being smart means you invent more reasons to be in it.

Better to be handsome (beauty with a big nose?) and clever. Will go far.

When I was 17 I had this conversation with two school friends. They both chose brains, I chose beauty. We were all above average IQ, one was very pretty. At the time I felt very ugly.

With hindsight, I think it's easier these days to make yourself pretty (ie have your hair/teeth/nose fixed) than it is to suddenly understand quantum physics.

But the most overall successful people I know have a combination of personality, intelligence and looks, but aren't stellar in any one area.

Life is easier if you have money, and what is most likely to get you hard cash.?Money or looks, or personality? Or a combination of the three?

A combination of looks, brains and charm would be perfect - all in fair amounts.

I guess the question I was answering was; what is more of a burden to have in the extreme, beauty or brains?

Beauty.

I can be clever when I'm old!

Both will help but brains command respect. Sadly at 34, I feel less attractive than before and wish I had invested more in personal dvt. As a mum, I will get my very beautiful daughters to be clever so they can experience the best of both worlds. Besides, didn't we burn the bras so our brains got the chance to shine

I'd choose beauty.

There are scientific studies that prove that even babies prefer a beautiful face

In contrast to my previous response, I have asked my DH about this thread, to which he replied: "I went after you because you're gorgeous, but I MARRIED you because of your big fat brain!"

I'd still choose brains, a thousand times over. Think Tess has some really good points about the "challenges" of beauty.

Beauty. Being good looking has opened doors for me, I notice the way people react to me is different to the way they react to my friends, however wrong that may seem. Men often go out of thier way for me, they help me out and go that extra mile and are often willing to break rules and 'overlook' certain issues. This all sounds v conceited but it's my experience of being what is considered a conventionally 'good looking' woman.

Sometimes women will be interested in me and want to discuss my looks with me in some shape or form. I also note that a lot of women are surprised I am 'nice' and down to earth and normal and kind; just a regular woman underneath the exterior. They expect me to be insincere or fake or shallow because I'm good looking.

Conversely a minority of women are threatened by my looks and often become v 'peacock like' around me even though I am not a threatening person or a flirt or husband stealer. Despite coming across like I'm totally up myself by making this observation I'm a grounded person and make a concerted effort not to look like I love myself and I do not seek the limelight or attention that I receive.

As a teenager, i came to the conclusion that as i wasn't pretty, i was going to ensure that i was brainy. I worked hard at school and have excelled academically. Furthermore, i made sure that i was well read etc.
In my twenties i blossomed and suddenly started getting all this male attention. TBH, i was amazed by how much value was placed on the way i looked, when what i truly valued was my academic success.
I agree with those who say that beauty can be 'bought' , just look at all those average looking A list celebrities who have invested a great deal of money on their appearance and are now considered 'beautiful'.
There is a great deal of value placed on the way we look, which is fuelled by the cult of celebrity, which is why you see young women going under the knife. It is quite sad .

I was raised to think that the most important thing to have was sisu ...or in my father's words, "give a person guts, and shit will do for brains."

My brother is astonishingly clever and it's never gotten him anywhere; he's got no ambition or work ethic whatsoever. And beauty...how far can it get you, really? I see so many jaw-droppingly beautiful celebrities who can't seem to find true love or stay out of rehab.