Does being ugly make you poor?

[Bonsoir]

Yes

Get yourselves over to Style & Beauty

I'm not poor but.....

Anyone who says looks don't count needs to take a course in human nature. Looks count even to babies, who are attracted most to the most symmetrical faces. Taller men get hired more often than shorter ones going for the same job, as do more attractive, slimmer women to uglier, fatter ones.

It's a fact of life, people. Looks count. Money talks.

Being vapid makes you ugly though, so it all evens out eventually. The lurch to style over substance ends up dumbing down standards, and the pendulum swings. I am not so nihilistic that I believe looks alone create anything worthwhile and enduring.

Sometimes, being vapid can make you quite wealthy. Being intelligent is no guarantee of financial success, certainly.

Looks alone can generate wealth quite often.

Sure, but it isn't taking us any place good. And it will have to change, or we'll end up with an Idiocracy.

Anyone watching TOWIE understands how money does not make you look better! I'm from Essex and am grateful that I am far removed from Romford and the like, white stilletto central. Some times less is more!

I don't know any ugly people.

How do we explain Andy Warhol, Anne Widdecomb, Bernie Ecclestone, Jo Brand, Warren Clarke, Kathy Burke, Tracey Emin, Shane MacGowan (I could go on)..... all rather successful, none of them what you'd call an oil-painting.

Being ugly doesn't MAKE you poor but it does mean you don't get the opportunities which good looking people get.

And with opportunities come choice. So Anna Kournikova has had many more opportunities to make money because she's gorgeous. Compare that to Jo Brand who whilst successful has probably had to work much harder to achieve a fraction of what Anna has done.

My GF's sister is a hard 10 in terms of looks. When she goes out on a night out, she often has to fend off advances from various men and turn drinks down. The other night, she resorted to showing them her wedding ring which some were like "i don't believe you." My point is, if she wanted to, she could go out and spend next to nothing and still get drinks all night. Try that if you look like Anne Widdicome......

So being ugly doesn't make you poor but being attractive means its a damn sight easier to get rich.

It's pretty (sic) well accepted that people who are deemed to be 'easy on the eye' have things easier at first encounter. But to make it 'rich' one prob. has to have substantial skills/energy/intelligence ( unless you marry/inherit) so the idea of ugly-poor/gorgeous-rich is bollocks, with me being a prime example...

Doesn't seem to have hindered Wilhem Dafoe or Mick Jagger...

I know someone who was in a car accident at 18 and hideously burned all over her face and body. This was 40 years ago so there wasn't the surgery around that there is these days and she looks.. well, not gorgeous.

She's one of the most intelligent and successful (professionally and financially) people I know.

I think the experiment desribed in the article is very interesting, in that it is just a picture of someone - so you're judging purely on looks. What it doesn't take account of is that irl, personality has an effect on attractiveness.

Someone can be very beautiful 'on paper' I think, or when you first meet them - but if they are very vacuous, or mean, they soon seem less attractive. On the other hand, you sometimes meet someone who is pretty normal looking, but becomes much more attractive as you get to know them. Jo Brand and co are very successful because they have a huge talent, and their talent doesn't (always) require you to have a 'textbook' beauty.

I think the TOWIE look is just awful, but I think it does nobody any harm to always look well groomed, and make the best of their looks. I really think that the article makes a good point - forget about cosmetic surgery, just try to keep the weight off and get a good haircut.

Isn't part of the problem that we haven't defined what we mean as success?

Is being fawned on and bought drinks at the bar the same kind of success as building up your business imperium- or is it even likely to lead to that kind of success

Does getting 50 job interviews guarantee that you are going to have a more successful career than the man who gets 49 rejections but secures a job on the 50th? Or even the man who gets rejected altogether and goes off and starts his own firm?

My dsis is absolutely stunning, had constant male attention as we were growing up and modelled for a bit. I am ok but nothing special. It has been realy hard for her to get taken seriously, she has suffered with an eating disorder I think mostly due to her looks. Although I don't think my looks have helped me, they certainly haven't held me back. It is better to be ordinary looking. IMO

What a coincidence - I was just about to start a thread about this article, which I found hilarious! It starts off ok then by the end you're going 'yep, vapid as can be'. It has a particularly splendid finishing sentence.