Lookism: The Ugly Truth About Beauty (http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=123853&page=1)

Like It or Not, Looks Do Matter
Commentary
By John Stossel


Aug. 23 — We like to think of America as a meritocracy. A lot of us think we value people because of what they accomplish, or their character, or generosity, or intelligence — that's what we thought mattered, but are we just putting blinders on?

More often than not it seems qualities other than skill, intelligence or character pay off. Here's an example. Anna Kournikova is ranked 37th in women's tennis, and has never won a major singles championship. So, why is it that Kournikova makes millions more dollars from endorsements than players ranked higher?

Looks don't only make a difference for women. Does New York Giants' cornerback Jason Sehorn get so much attention just because he's a top athlete? Is that why he was featured in Sports Illustrated for Women?

You probably know about the famous Kennedy-Nixon debates — people listening on the radio thought Richard Nixon had won. Those watching TV thought the handsome John F. Kennedy won.

When Texas Sen. Phil Gramm sought the Republican nomination for president in 1996, he said: "The real question is whether someone as ugly as I am can be elected." Within months, Gramm dropped out of the race.

Did the press cover JFK Jr. so relentlessly solely because he was the son of a president? Would we have cared so much about Princess Di if she had looked like, say, Princess Margaret?

Beauty and the Brain

It may seem obvious to most of us that people would prefer to look at beautiful faces. While beauty itself may be only skin deep, studies show our perception of beauty may be hard-wired in our brains.

In studies conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers Itzhak Aharon, Nancy Etcoff, Dan Ariely, Christopher F. Chabris, Ethan O'Connor, and Hans C. Breiter have used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology to look at the activity in men's brains when they were shown pictures of beautiful women's faces. Breiter and his colleagues found that the same part of the brain lights up as when a hungry person sees food, or a gambler eyes cash, or a drug addict sees a fix. Essentially, beauty and addiction trigger the same areas in the brain....

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Pretty soon you won't be able to discriminate against the stupid...

It is already illegal to discriminate against Afro-Americans, Otto.

You can't discriminate against them because their afro, once you have a token( affirmitive action legal defense) you can discriminate against them because they are stupid still...

Essentially, beauty and addiction trigger the same areas in the brain....

This is what is most annoying about repugnant, ugly demographics breeding uncontrolled. They are obviously not able to get a good looking mate, but since they don't know how to deal with their hormones and they have an underlying resentment toward good looking people, so they forsake the tendency to seek beauty and go ahead and have huge litters of offspring with their own demographic. This is where government has to step in to protect good looking people so they can reproduce instead of the ugly ones.

An interesting phemonena that contributes to the ugly demographic also is the media's constant use of ugly "stars." After a while, the audience gets used to the ugliness and then good looking people look different.

I'm goodlooking-- however, the thing to understand is a man's worth is not tied up in his looks. That's a female pre-occupation.

Masculinity defined :



# Physical--virile, athletic, strong, brave. Sloppy, worry less about appearance and aging;

# Functional--breadwinner, provider;

# Sexual--sexually aggressive, experienced. Single status acceptable; male "caught" by spouse;

# Emotional--unemotional, stoic, don't cry;

# Intellectual--logical, intellectual, rational, objective, scientific, practical, mechanical, public awareness, activity, contributes to society; dogmatic;

# Interpersonal--leader, dominating; disciplinarian; independent, free, individualistic; demanding; and

# Other Personal Characteristics--aggressive, success-orientated, ambitious; proud, egotistical, ambitious; moral, trustworthy; decisive, competitive, uninhibited

Can anyone tell me what is wrong about the idea of "Lookism"? Or do you just dislike the idea that there is such a thing as "lookism" because the word is similar to "sexism" and "racism"? Obviously "lookism" is just a short-hand term for "putting inordinate emphasis on a person's physical beauty in the evaluation of his character rather than his personality, intelligence, abilities, etc.". And this seems to me an obvious problem, which is getting worse as the years go by. Our culture seems to be getting shallower and more superficial with every new fad.

Dezzie's right: this is a female issue

Neither Kennedy nor Clinton would have won any elections if the white female vote had gone 50-50, instead of skewing heavily in favor of the "cuter" guy

Dezzie's right: this is a female issue

Neither Kennedy nor Clinton would have won any elections if the white female vote had gone 50-50, instead of skewing heavily in favor of the "cuter" guy
I think it's superb. It needs to be combined with a similar cult of virtues though :p The idea that 'lookism' should be opposed because some ugly people are nice -

Craig McDermott: Listen, the only girls with good personalities who are smart or maybe funny or halfway intelligent or even talented - though God knows what the fuck that means - are ugly chicks.

Paul Van Patten: Absolutely.

Craig McDermott: And this is because they have to make up for how fucking unattractive they are.

- is stupid. 'That's discrimination' bitch bitch, moan moan - question is, find a girl with (relative to the agent viewing her) great looks, good personality, reliable, friendly character, solid intelligence - and who wouldn't go for her? Are we trying to cultivate a society of 'softies' or the best possible?

I'm goodlooking-- however, the thing to understand is a man's worth is not tied up in his looks. That's a female pre-occupation.

This is incorrect. A great deal of men would not like to be fat, short, and repulsive. A great deal of women would prefer a handsome man over one who is physically repulsive.

Just before Christmas I volunteered for a study in College. The aim of the study was to see whether people with mature looking faces would be prefered over immaturer faces when it comes to certain types of employement.

The Student that was carrying out the study took a close-up photo of my face(along with the other volunteers). Herself and several of her fellow students went off to study the pictures. I havn't gotten the results(and I don't know if I will), but they would be interesting enough if you ask me.

This is what is most annoying about repugnant, ugly demographics breeding uncontrolled. They are obviously not able to get a good looking mate, but since they don't know how to deal with their hormones and they have an underlying resentment toward good looking people, so they forsake the tendency to seek beauty and go ahead and have huge litters of offspring with their own demographic. This is where government has to step in to protect good looking people so they can reproduce instead of the ugly ones.

An interesting phemonena that contributes to the ugly demographic also is the media's constant use of ugly "stars." After a while, the audience gets used to the ugliness and then good looking people look different.


LOL. This is funny but I can agree with it. It always seems that ugly and also stupid people breed like rats. This would of course include many "minorities" since they generally fit both of these categories. :p

[QUOTE=Edana]This is incorrect. A great deal of men would not like to be fat, short, and repulsive.

This is true. Just one example of many, if men were not also concerned about their physical appearance, there wouldn't be such a huge market for baldness remedies.

A great deal of women would prefer a handsome man over one who is physically repulsive.


Also true. I know I could never handle being with a man who I considered to be ugly. I wouldn't care how nice, or rich, etc he was. :D But, on the other hand, I would prefer a guy who was slighly less attractive and intelligent, over a guy who was "handsome" and a complete moron. I couldn't deal with that either.

I'm goodlooking-- however, the thing to understand is a man's worth is not tied up in his looks. That's a female pre-occupation.

Masculinity defined :

# Physical--virile, athletic, strong, brave. Sloppy, worry less about appearance and aging;

# Functional--breadwinner, provider;

# Sexual--sexually aggressive, experienced. Single status acceptable; male "caught" by spouse;

# Emotional--unemotional, stoic, don't cry;

# Intellectual--logical, intellectual, rational, objective, scientific, practical, mechanical, public awareness, activity, contributes to society; dogmatic;

# Interpersonal--leader, dominating; disciplinarian; independent, free, individualistic; demanding; and

# Other Personal Characteristics--aggressive, success-orientated, ambitious; proud, egotistical, ambitious; moral, trustworthy; decisive, competitive, uninhibited


Desaix, your own tastes and those you would like women to have do not equate to the 'Domains' of the genders.

With the exception of a few of the 'Intellectual' and 'Emotional' criteria, your definition of 'masculinity' lists precisely what I would be repulsed by in a male-- or any human.