Throughout our 200,000 years on Earth, we, as a human race, have continuously transformed our conception of beauty, transforming millions of lives in the process.
In other words, for centuries we have been slaves to our own beauty standards.
No child is born thinking they are ugly: acceptance of oneself is a human extinct. You only start wondering whether you’d be considered good-looking by your peers when you’re exposed to that type of energy, the type of energy that is currently flooding the media, school communities and even our homes.
You then begin the battle of self-love, in which, if you’re not European-standards-pretty, you’ll uncover a huge, unspoken secret: the Pretty People Privilege. At first, you’ll think you’re just being paranoid, that there’s no such thing, that your brain is playing tricks on you.
But it IS true.
Let me break this down for you: Pretty People Privilege is when there is a visible difference, not only in friendships, but also in job opportunities, salaries and even grades between two people based solely on something as shallow as how high up the scale society would rate their physical appearance out of 10. Basically, the blind discrimination against people who are not “pretty”.
If a “pretty” person is reading this, they’re probably laughing about how ridiculous and non-existent this whole issue is, but, and I promise you, if you look closely enough, you’ll see that it is, in fact, present. Everywhere.
From the little things, like likes on an Instagram post, to the bigger issues: lack of respect, either from colleagues, strangers or fashion store employees; an incredible decline in your friend count, even if you’re friendlier than the “pretty” person in question; and a generally negative outlook towards life due to the constant closing of doors in your face.
So, “pretty” people, if you want to put an end to this nonsense, simply include us uglies in your plans! Or even stand up for us! You’ll find that your words hold much more power than ours.
And to my uglies, I’m not going to end this by telling you you’re beautiful; who cares about beautiful? You’re so much more than beautiful. Plus, you could have blond hair, perfect teeth, a pixie nose and a supermodel body but be unnecessarily mean to people, and the ugliness of your soul will show. Whereas, if you’re kind, your beauty will shine through your dark spots, and crooked teeth, and big nose. Your skin is just the container through which your beauty shines.
P.S.: the “pretty” and “ugly” in this article are decided by none other than society’s dumb standards. “Ugly” covers everything from just not “pretty” to “too fat” to people with disabilities. Oh, and, by the way, you’re all beautiful. ;)
Comments