“Ugly” People Must Put Up With These 8 Discriminatory Attitudes
There is often a lot of talk about racism or sexism as a form of discrimination, and these phenomena receive extensive media coverage.
However, A very common type of discrimination that is socially accepted is discrimination based on physical appearance known as “aspectism”. Unattractive people suffer a series of discriminatory consequences that we are going to review in this article.
Discrimination based on physical appearance and its consequences
Discrimination based on physical appearance or appearanceism is a very widespread phenomenon today In a culture that rewards physical beauty, ugliness is punished in different areas of people’s lives: interpersonal relationships, work, social events…
Some experts such as the American psychologist David Marks agree when they affirm that “ugly people suffer from appearanceism (lookism in English), that is, discrimination based on physical appearance, which occurs more frequently than the racism or sexism that is talked about a lot today and which is socially highly punished. The aspectism goes unnoticed and it does not seem that things are going to improve because there is neither interest nor social awareness to solve it.
Discriminatory attitudes towards the ugly
Some time ago, Juan Antonio Herrero Brasas, professor of Ethics and Public Policy at California State University (USA), who usually teaches classes at some American multinationals, told the newspaper El Mundo that: “when I go to give talks to executives In these large companies, all attendees have an imposing physical appearance. There are almost no individuals who can be classified as ugly.”
So. Are less attractive individuals discriminated against? What discriminatory attitudes do they suffer? In the following lines you can find a list of discriminatory consequences that ugly people suffer.
1. They are more likely to suffer bullying and mobbing
It is common to hear news about the harassment that some children or adolescents may suffer at school or institute (bullying) or some employees in the workplace (mobbing). This harassment does not have to be physical, but is usually psychological.
A well-known case of cyberbullying for this reason is that of Lynelle Cantwell , a Canadian teenager who was chosen as the ugliest girl in school by a group of anonymous profiles that spread this fact on social networks. Luckily, Lynelle did not remain silent and has appeared in several media outlets to expose what happened, with the mission of raising awareness of this harsh reality that many children who are not exactly physically attractive suffer.
But this phenomenon is not only exclusive to the youngest, but adults also discriminate and harass due to physical appearance. According to a study carried out by a group of researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Notre Dame (United States), which was published in the journal Human Performance, ugly people are more likely to be harassed in the workplace. The study subjects were 114 employees of a health center located in the southern United States.
2. They earn less money than the handsome ones
Some scientists also claim that ugly people earn less money than handsome people.
The University of California carried out a study that was published in the Journal of Economic Psychologyand the results show that Less attractive people earn 12% less on average than good-looking individuals As the group of scientists explains: “these conclusions are applicable in different societies and different workplaces.”
But not only do less attractive people suffer discrimination when it comes to getting paid, but they also have fewer opportunities to work. This concludes a study conducted in 2010 and led by Ze’ev Shtudiner and Bradley J. Ruffle of Ariel University in Israel and the University of Ontario in Canada. According to the results, a normal person has to send twice as many resumes as attractive people to get a job.
Likewise, a study by Sergio Urzúa and Florencia Bóo Martín carried out in 2011 concluded that the handsome, Compared to ugly ones, they receive 36% more responses from the companies where they apply for work
4. They are seen as conversationalists, not objects of desire
The ugly are victims of a series of stereotypes. An example of this is the great impact that the “Ugly Models” agency has had for not hiring attractive models but ugly ones.
Hollywood probably has something to do with this fact, but the truth is that ugly people are seen more as talkers than as objects of desire In relationships with other sexes, they are often relegated to the role of friends, so they have less chance of reaching something more.
5. And they have fewer opportunities to flirt
Therefore, this causes ugly people to be less accepted by others in terms of relationships and, consequently, they flirt less. In fact, It causes quite an impact when someone sees an ugly person with an attractive person On these occasions, it is frequently thought that there must be an economic interest behind it. As if ugly people didn’t have the qualities to make others fall in love with them.
In reality, ugly people have a series of seductive weapons and qualities that can be highly valued by other people. If you want to know what they are, you can read our article: “Why do ugly people flirt? 7 keys to understand it”
And it also looks strange when an ugly person is popular. Generally, ugly people are not the popular people at school or the “cool” people at parties.
The ugly usually remain in the background and are often rejected by people who do not take even two minutes to know how much they hide inside. Being handsome opens many doors for you, being ugly closes them for you
7. They are less remembered
Beautiful people are remembered more than ugly people. This is what research led by Michael Baker, from the American University of East Carolina, demonstrates, which was published in the scientific journal Evolutionary Psychology.
According to the conclusions, looking at the faces of attractive people can be pleasant for the human body and improve memory, which is why ugly people are remembered less than beautiful ones. Not only that, but the same research found that good-looking people increase the motivation and concentration of the people they associate with.
8. They receive less help
There are many studies that show that beautiful people receive more help than ugly people. For example, research that was published in Frontiers in Neuroscience It showed that men are willing to accept deals that are not advantageous to them if a pretty woman asks them to.
Likewise, there are many social experiments that have been carried out in recent years that show this reality. Below you can watch two videos that exemplify how men treat beautiful women and how they treat ugly women:
As you can see, the attractive woman was escorted to the place she intended to go and was even invited to eat. And in the case of ugly women, What is the reaction of the people? Well, the opposite happens. Here you can see it:
