Physical attractiveness is one of the main influences of how people are treated. Based on what I’ve seen, if someone is attractive they will be treated differently than someone who is “average” looking.

Attractive people will be given more opportunities and will have the upper hand on people who are average looking in life. This type of privilege influences career success. 

The scientific term for this is called lookism, which is  discriminatory treatment against people who are considered unattractive.  The more attractive person would be chosen over another if someone had to choose between the two people without any background knowledge of their personalities. 

Pretty privilege is the slang term. 

On TikTok, there is a trend of people telling their most bizarre stories where they experience pretty privilege. Some of these stories include getting free meals, getting a large waitress tip, and even getting an extra opportunity for a job. 

Pretty privilege is barely talked about when discussing other unfair advantages based on bias such as racism, sexism, and even ageism.  Pretty privilege is a phenomenon. 

Think about all the people in your school who are deemed “popular”. Those people most of the time are quite attractive.  According to studies, people who are attractive are perceived to be smarter and healthier than the average looking person.

Pretty privilege can implement more job opportunities for people because it is easier for them to get hired. According to Forbes, attractive people are most likely to advance rapidly in their careers through frequent promotions and they can earn higher wages than unattractive people.  Attractive people can even take advantage of people easier, as they have more of an advantage. 

A solution for this is to hire employees from their qualifications. So blind hiring will be ideal because employees can see their skills and what they can provide without seeing their physical appearance.

The reality of pretty privilege can be absurd.

On TikTok, many people became famous due to how attractive they were which results in them making an effortless living off social media. 

An example of this would be famous TikTokers like Addison Rae and Charli D’Amelio. Their beauty resulted in their huge rise of population on TikTok.

Pretty privilege is often noticed by people. “I think pretty privilege does exist, and it greatly influences how people are treated in the world.” said Junior Aaliyah Waddy.

Junior Evan McKnight has concerns on pretty privilege. “It’s an unfair advantage that people have in the world. They can be given more job opportunities and they are overall just treated better by everyone.” said Junior Evan McKnight. 

According to studies, surprisingly attractiveness can affect how good students’ grades are.

Studies showed when comparing students that are deemed attractive- those people tend to earn better grades from both male and female teachers. From a factor study at Metropolitan state university, there is a 0.024 increase in grades for every increase on the attractiveness scale.

Some students can possibly be given favoritism from their attractiveness that may help them have leniency on their grading. 

One way to combat this during grading is to grade papers without knowing their names, so that the bias doesn’t subconsciously come in their head.

I believe pretty privilege is unfair as it gives people that are more attractive more benefits in life. They are given more advantages such as becoming famous, being treated better, and even getting paid higher. It doesn’t make sense how someone can be treated differently just by the way they look.