We've all witnessed department store clerks tripping over themselves to assist the beautiful thin woman who wants to try on the latest designer jeans, waiters running across the restaurant to refill the water of the young woman who looks like a fashion model, and bartenders ignoring money-waving patrons in order to pour an attractive young person a shot. Even Beyond Cheerleading, ‘Cheer’ Tells a Story of Value and Purpose, ‘Fluidum’ Shows the Nuances of the Roles and Fluidity of Gender, ‘A Ghost Story’ Uses the Supernatural To Examine Grief and Isolation. Ultimately, beauty is everywhere and in us all. Privileged definition is - having or enjoying one or more privileges. By altering your appearance, one tries to get as close to whiteness as they can in order to be considered pretty and to possibly access whatever pretty privilege is available to them. RELATED: A Woman Fat-Shamed Me On The Subway And I Actually Fought Back. As a society, we like to think of social privilege as unearned, something that you were born with. RELATED: The Real Reason So Many Women Are Filled With Rage (And Why Nobody Should Be Shocked By It). Yep, I’m pretty sure it did. You've likely heard the term "privilege" being thrown around without exactly knowing what it means. A study from Chapman University discovered that out of desirable traits for a long term partner, 84% of female participants and 92% of male participants reported “good-looking” as an essential quality (Chapman University, 2015). On TikTok, it’s not unusual to find a string of comments requesting in on the friendship of a group of above-average looking girlfriends. "Our mission is to serve the underprivileged." RELATED: If You Think #BlackGirlMagic Isn't For All Black Women, You're Doing It Wrong. Social privilege is a theory of special advantage or entitlement, used to one's own benefit or to the detriment of others. consistently pushed back on the idea that thin, young, white, able-bodied women are the epitome of beauty — or that beauty should be a precondition for respect to begin with.” These movements have called attention to the beauty bias, which is entrenched in a preference for bodies and facial features that conform with conventional standards of femininity. In 1988, Peggy McIntosh published an eye-opening piece on white privilege entitled "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." My friend, whom I will call Diana, a VP of Marketing, recalls the looks she gets when she tells people her title and responsibilities. Pretty and passing privilege is a gateway to survival, she explains, that not everyone has. For example, colorism within communities of color gives light-skinned people of color benefits that dark-skinned people don’t have. “People assume that I got this position because I have a pretty face. Though diversity in media today is improving and expanding in some sectors to represent a range of ethnic backgrounds and body types, billboards, movie posters, and beauty and fashion campaigns still send the message that whiteness and those who best approximate whiteness are prettier. When I would introduce myself, they would say, ‘Oh, I thought your LinkedIn was a fake photo.’”. the right claimed by any of … I’m kind of the textbook definition … Also, I have to acknowledge my own pretty privilege. ‘Pretty privilege is bullshit. White privilege does NOT mean you don't face other barriers to access and opportunities in our society. ‘Cis privilege’ relies in the assumptions that all ‘cis’ women experience no discomfort with the sexist expectations embedded in the female gender role. RELATED: 5 Foolish Things White Feminists Need To Stop Doing. Pretty privilege is a real thing. In addition, in every way that we can —whether it is just in our personal lives, or whether it’s at work—we need to do away with unrealistic beauty standards and granting people special privileges because they are "hot". In this comic strip below, privilege meaning turns more into a psychological subject, rather than the material one. But beyond hoping and wishing, we all must work to stop perpetuating this culture of “pretty privilege,” and refrain from giving things as trivial as outward appearance an undeserved power. The blood-testing product she claimed to have created never actually operated in the way she said it would. What does pretty privilege mean and who has it? How about more serious benefits, like in employment or housing? The comic is simple, but we’re sure you’ll agree that the message explaining what a privilege is, is pretty powerful. 4. I started wondering what other benefits a woman who looks like Joy Taylor might experience simply due to her physical appearance. The reality was that while one, maybe some, of those potential charges were abated by looks, the reality was that other factors stopped it (e.g. Here’s how pretty privilege shows up in real life, and how you can better check your personal biases. Learn more. noun: When being pretty/beautiful gets you better things or opportunities. Very few of the people we consider ideally attractive actually exist. The wonderful thing about it is that beauty is subjective so odds are you'll experience some form of it sooner or later. I laughed at first, but then thought to myself, maybe she is right. According to a report by the Council on Contemporary Families, “Women who have above-average looks earned 8% more than normal looking women, while below-average looking women earned 4% less, and attractive men make 4% more than a man with average looks.”. Joy Taylor is a beautiful woman, by mainstream Western beauty standards. Is Pretty Privilege Real? Acknowledging my pretty privilege means holding the complexity of my relationship with my own appearance with compassion. Since its release last year, and the premiere of the song’s music video in Disney’s “Black Is King,” “Brown Skin Girl” has been an emotionally stirring tribute to Black beauty. Oftentimes fitting conventional, beauty standards gets you more opportunities in life. Michelle laughed and commented, “Like a woman who looks like that would pay for her own coffee anyway." She then said, "hashtag pretty privilege!". Talking about pretty privilege with “pretty people” is an interesting endeavor. In today’s world, privilege is a marker. PGP.PrettyGirlPrivilege is the societal privilege that benefits "pretty girls" over the others particulary when they are under the same social or financial circumstances. He wouldn't waste his time or energy initiating that first contact to a girl who didn't line up our world's normalized version of pretty. Interrogating and deconstructing biases against those that don’t conform with Western beauty standards can help create a more equal society. Images of white beauty permeated television, magazines, and billboards. Learn more. Attaining pretty privilege is one party beauty, two parts your mentality, and a whole lot of effort. It means holding my heart with heavy hands as I acknowledge that my cuteness was one of the reasons I was targeted as a child to be sexually abused. Without meaning to, people treat pretty girls better. Being pretty makes finding a job easier. The comic is simple, but we’re sure you’ll agree that the message explaining what a privilege is, is pretty powerful. Why Do Many People Feel Anxious About Eating in Front of Others? Videos displaying bodies that fell into the following categories were to be cut: “Abnormal body shape, chubby, have obvious beer belly, obese, or too thin.” Moderators were to also hide people with “ugly facial looks.” Users with pretty privilege were able to rise to the top of the app simply by meeting conventional beauty standards. It loses its humor. Have you ever met a girl who looked like a work of art, but her character was nasty and mean? A privilege, which by definition is an unearned benefit, is something that reduces, if not eliminates altogether, a person’s likelihood of experiencing a particular set of hardships or unfavorable circumstances. If you like the show or have any thoughts on pretty privilege comment or let us know at www.drunkndeviant.com. Why do some people get treated differently than others? As a white person you may also belong to other historically marginalized groups like being a woman, being LGBTQIA, being non-Christian, being an immigrant or descendant of immigrants, or having a disability or low-income status. How to use privileged in a sentence. Pretty privilege usually includes feature such as being thin, able-bodied, cisgender, and possessing balanced and symmetrical facial features. But, in addition to my race, I am 6’2, slim and fairly muscular, and I've been called “generically handsome” and I often wonder if there are times I received faster service or a discount on food because of my appearance. "It's a curse as much as it is a blessing to be pretty." I’ve seen both sides of this in my own life, as I was a fairly awkward, unattractive kid who grew up to be a conventionally attractive woman. This “pretty privilege” encapsulates our bias in favor of those that are considered beautiful, and because beauty is socially constructed, it can thrive off of existing beauty standards that devalue individuals from marginalized groups. It’s just ugly girls getting jealous that they can’t get a boyfriend and I can,’ said a rather irritating girl in my English class at school. There is a long history of associating beauty with whiteness, and divorcing concepts of beauty from non-conformative bodies — such as those belonging to women of color — in order to maintain privilege and control. source: Pinterest . Invisible, because they don’t fit the mold of what is aesthetically pleasing. RELATED: Why You (And Your Scars) Are Beautiful —​ No Matter What. The domino effect continues. My Pretty Privilege is a movement to join socially conscious women and fashion enthusiasts that understand and use clothing as a form of self-expression and empowerment. 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