There are a multitude of traits any person can possess that puts them in an advantageous spot in life: smarts, wealth, talents, and so on. Another extremely helpful quality to add to this list is beauty. Now, obviously beauty cannot get you everything; you may not be able to pass your driving test by having great hair, or get out of paying taxes because you have straight teeth. But being an all around conventionally attractive person does have its perks in life, and this has become apparent within today’s social media climate.
What does it mean to be conventionally attractive?
Conventional beauty is compiled of specific traits that, when put all together, make a “pleasing” look. Now, beauty is subjective and can mean different things depending on societies, trends, and standards at the time. However, it often holds tight to the same basic traits that can later be built upon as styles and tastes change. Typically “beautiful” people often have lighter skin tones, are thin, cisgendered, able-bodied, and neuro-typical. Beauty and dietary products are apart of a market that upholds these ideals and disperses them further into our culture, such as skincare companies advertising “skin whitening” products and American influencers constantly promoting vitamins or drinks that will help you lose weight “fast”.
It isn’t just beauty products that contribute to societal standards of attractiveness. On social media, many popular influencers are white, cisgendered, able-bodied individuals who appear neuro-typical. This can be the case for any specific reason, not just for the fact that they adhere to societies apparent qualifications for beauty. But when apps promoting these specific types of creators are outed for suppressing videos from those who look “poor, abnormal, and ugly”, it becomes clear to see that those who don’t fit that description are more likely to succeed and to be showcased to the public. It becomes extremely apparent that this is one of the many examples of “pretty privilege” at work.
What is Pretty Privilege?
The concept of having pretty privilege remains simple to understand. People loosely define this term with the idea that people who are considered conventionally attractive by the general public are more successful in life or given more opportunities. On the surface, it comes across as harsh judgement to claim that having good looks makes your life simple. Life can be difficult for anyone for any reason, right? But this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to addressing beauty standards in relation to quality of life.
People who are considered to be beautiful are often seen in a better light by the general public, especially employers. If you are well-groomed, you are more likely to get a job. If you are thin or tall you will most likely be paid more. You are even more likely to be elected to office if you are physically attractive. In this video by The Daily Vox, the publication touches on an innumerable amount of ways that beauty can disproportionately affect a persons life.
As of recent, social platforms such as TikTok and Instagram have increased the amount of attention put on topics like beauty standards and societal stereotypes. They have also fed into these issues and made it far more prevalent, especially among today’s youth. Being beautiful has always had its so-called perks, but among today’s younger population, there is a massive amount of value placed on being good looking. It feels as though being beautiful is the only way to advance in life, even though many people refuse to admit to this idea. Some people address that pretty privilege exists, and that it is an issue. Others feel it is a term used to discredit the work of their favorite influencers. Whichever way you choose to see it there is one prevalent idea that must be acknowledged: being considered “pretty” goes much further than having a symmetrical face or appreciated body type, and it has always been this way.
The History of Pretty Privilege
Understanding that pretty privilege exists is a great start, however knowing the history and reasoning behind this construct puts many things into perspective. Being born with desired and admired features gives one an upper hand in life, but this is much more than being beautiful and getting what you want. This is a privilege established centuries ago, and never done away with. Having this model established and encouraged for decades allows us to look back and see the issues that have arose from adhering to this mindset for so long.
The stylistic standard of beauty we hold as a society is constantly being altered. Looking back at the 1900’s, what was considered to be “in” according to the fashion industry changed, and is still changing throughout every decade. But if you look at what was considered ideal in every phase, it often contains the same baseline traits: people who are white or have lighter skin tones, thin, cisgendered, able-bodied, and neuro-typical.
This fact still reigns true for many advertisements released today. While we thankfully are seeing more models of color and different body types, they are still few and far between. And with their work comes massive amounts of hate based on those traits that show them to be different from the established minimum for conventional attractiveness. Those who stray from the “norm” endure a lot of mistreatment for simply being themselves.
Racism and fatphobia are extremely prominent concepts that play into the formation of pretty privilege. When people typically consider lighter skin and thinner bodies as their desired look, those who do not match that description are pushed to the side. Specifically on the discussion of race, this ideology began decades ago and has roots in many different parts of the world. In Asian countries, people wanted lighter skin because it meant you were rich enough to not have to work out in the fields. The same is true for black people during the times of slavery; those who were forced to work in the house as compared to the fields were admired due to their typically lighter skin tone. Later on, skin bleaching and the use of “whitening” and “brightening” products became a common practice to achieve this look among multiple different areas of the world.
No matter what specific scenario or period of time is being discussed, the same idea reigns true: people with lighter skin were admired because it meant they were not working class. This concept is known as colorism, and it has spread into our current perception of beauty, and allows us to see that even in our world today, many people with naturally darker skin are put at a disadvantage in life due to age-old stereotypes.
Another layer to these issues is the mistreatment of people with disabilities, both mental and physical. Many people with disabilities are seen and treated as less than. They are stereotyped to be unable to make their own decisions, to feel pain or regular emotions. While this is far from true, these ideas have been documented as far back as 400 B.C. and stretched out ever since, including into the creation of contemporary pretty privilege. Assumptions of this caliber lead to people with mental and physical disabilities being at a higher risk of abuse, violent victimization, and homelessness. People with disabilities face many injustices in their daily lives, regardless of any laws, rules, or regulations put into place. This article, titled “America still leaves the disabled behind” by CNN Business, discusses just one way in which those with disabilities are put at a disadvantage in their lives.
The last of the main concepts woven into pretty privilege is that of the gender binary. Those who are cisgendered (who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth) are the only widely accepted group in our society in regards to gender. This becomes an issue when discussing conventional beauty and the perks people receive from adhering to that; leading to transgender or gender non-conforming individuals being ostracized and mistreated in many communities. Many people who stray from the societal norm of gender identities face extreme violence and are murdered at an extremely high rate. In this video, uploaded by PBS News Hour, the platform discusses the cruelty against transgender people, specifically transgender women of color.
The issues are clear within the history of pretty privilege: those who diverge from societies standards for conventional beauty suffer because of it. This has been the case for hundreds of years, and only now are we starting to see small steps being taken to right those wrongs. While this concept has always been prominent in our society, and recently a few people have been speaking out against it, it has also become much more of a burden within the past few years. With the surge of social media use, younger generations are feeding into pretty privilege without even knowing it. So while this ideology effected our society beforehand, the spike in social media influencers condoning the cause and effect of pretty privilege have reduced it to nothing more than the expectation.
The Current Use of Pretty Privilege
TikTok, Instagram, Youtube, and Twitter all contain thousands of influencers. No matter their content, these creators have accumulated millions upon millions of loyal followers and subscribers. Most of the personalities within this category also fall within the category of conventional attractiveness. And while we are seeing more creators of color, of different sizes, abilities, and genders, they make up only a small population of these platforms. The majority fit the mold of societal standards, and do have pretty privilege. This is not the ideal, as it puts people not conforming to societies standards for beauty in less prominent positions with less opportunity to grow their audience.
These issues of being put at the bottom of the totem pole do not only effect social media stars, but actors as well. As a subject that has been widely reported on, we can take a look at the movements that erase many people of color from the media, such as the phenomenon of white actors playing characters who are not white. This article by The Washington Post lists 100 instances of this epidemic. And more over, this problem is not only ingrained in practices of racism, but also colorism. For example, in the case of “The Hate U Give”, the girl depicted on the books cover has dark skin. The movie adaptation then casted this main character as a girl with light skin. This is not to take away the achievements of the actress Amandla Stenberg, as she did very well in her role. However, this is only one example of this massive industry with a history of white-washing sticking to the same old routine. To feign inclusivity, Hollywood has stuck light-skinned actors in roles that women and men of much darker skin tones were meant to play for years. Now, similarly to other forms of media, the industry is making progress in their inclusivity, yet they are failing to represent the diversity found within our society, especially when it comes to those with darker skin tones.
Similarly, we can note that many plus size characters are typically added into TV and film as comedic relief. Such as in the movie Pitch Perfect, there is a character called “Fat Amy”. Her main purpose in the movie is to be the butt of the jokes: she has a funky accent, she makes inappropriate jokes and comments, and in the second movie, the opening scene has her ripping her pants while descending from the ceiling during a performance. She is almost exclusively put into the franchise to be a joke.
Regardless of the size of the industry, those who do not conform to commonly admired traits of beauty will be given less opportunities. Once more, we see pretty privilege at work, even within the wide world of entertainment. Those considered the most beautiful will often be given a chance, while those with less “desirable” traits will most often be type-casted, if casted at all.
This profession, though very admired in our society, does not hold as much weight as we may think among our everyday lives. While we look up to and enjoy watching movies and specific actors, it is once more our social media influencers who have a stronger hold over us.
With the internet being available to us at the blink of an eye, it is no wonder we are so involved with social media platforms. It is not only the fact that we have it at moments notice, but also that these creators are often candid with their audiences. There are typically no scripts, no plot to follow, no industry to be under. It creates a sense of realness between the viewer and those that they watch; it’s almost as if you know these people personally. And if you admire the work they do, feeling this close connection with them gives you, as the audience member, a sense unity, or even friendship. To feel close to your favorite creator is a wonderful experience, but this can come at a price.
When looking at the amount of creators who have large followings, most conform to our current standards of beauty, like previously stated. Now this allows those content creators to have pretty privilege, and their audience will often feed into this issue with no problem. As mentioned in a previously linked video by Vox, people who are more attractive are seen as better people, and more trust worthy. This effect will then cause their audience to typically follow this person blindly because they see this person not only as good but also in a personal way, almost as a friend. This is where the problem begins.
Many popular influencers today are being exposed for saying racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic comments in their past. Yet many of these influencers never take accountability for their actions. Why is this? Many people believe it is due to their pretty privilege. When they have amassed these large followings, many have done it based on their looks rather than other traits, such as talent. Their audience then typically follows them due to this reason; the creator is attractive, they follow or subscribe to their account, and then feel a relationship grow between them and the creator. Then once this creator is outed as having done or said a horrible thing, a large part of their audience refuses to acknowledge the issue or hold the person accountable. Often times, the viewers feel that this creator could not have done this with ill intent, seeing as they assume they are great people. This has lead to multiple creators getting away with horrible acts, simply because their audience feels they are good people without truly knowing them. Even those who do not strictly fit the title of social media star achieve this, such as the phenomenon where prisoners with attractive mugshots got famous and grew a large following of people despite being criminals. This YouTube video by Ada on Demand goes through 4 different cases in which a person‘s beauty or attractiveness got them out of a messy situation, or gained them a wild amount of success.
How do we fix this?
Pretty privilege has been used in a very nonchalant manner for far too long. It is becoming more prominent among our younger generations, and is heavily ingrained in our current culture. As a result of this, it has become more difficult to see pretty privilege in play. When multiple aspects of our society are built upon the concept of pretty privilege, it is a lot of work to notice and to correct when the ideology is being used in smaller and more common scenarios.
We must address this issue when recognizable, and understand why this construct is harmful. Once more people can see the problem at hand, and see it in action, it will become easier to right these wrongs. If we can recognize its themes, we can call it out for what it is. At this current time, there are very few people in positions of power -whether in the entertainment industry or independent content creators- who will correct these mistakes in their own work, or even address the concept as a whole. As the audience and members of the general public, it is important to hold accountable those who aid in pretty privilege’s dominance over our society. If we can accomplish this, we are one step closer to a more fair and comfortable social climate for all.
Media History and Development 
I appreciate how in-depth your explanation of pretty privilege is and I completely agree that society as a whole needs to do better at normalizing and including standards that are not the “norm”. Society needs to normalize having darker skin, having different hair types, being plus size, and being a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. This will have a great positive effect on the younger generation because they will see all kinds of people who look like them on higher platforms and it would encourage them to not be discouraged by their own looks. It is true that the problem cannot be solved unless people and influencers start acknowledging that pretty privilege is a real issue, and start holding themselves accountable. A start however can be to teach young kids not to compare themselves to what they see on social media and on television because there is no one beauty standard.
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This article was super informative and interesting. I’ve never learned a lot about pretty privilege past the few TikToks that talk about it on my for you page. I really like the Vox video that you placed in this article. It was a nice break from reading and it had so many examples of pretty privilege that I had never been aware of. You made a very interesting point when you indicated how “Fat Amy” is simply a character to be the butt of fat jokes without another clear purpose. I remember she introduced herself as “Fat Amy” so people wouldn’t call her that behind her back. It seems like it was just a way for the movie to make a lot of fat jokes and get away with it because the character creates them as well. Another interesting point that you brought up is about people with disabilities. I never think about how much we assume about their emotions and actions. Society puts them in a completely separate box when they are really not at all. I think that you brought up a lot of interesting aspects of pretty privilege that a lot of people aren’t aware of–including myself. I haven’t thought twice about beauty standards because it was always seemed so normal. As a women, I always that that you were supposed to have a flat stomach yet also somehow have a big butt. That seemed like the norm growing up so we all blindly followed it and desperately try to look like this insanely unrealisitic version of ourselves. This article really opened up my view of the beauty standards of our modern day and how people can so easily get away with “pretty privilege.”
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Your article was eye opening and extremely important. It is so critical that we inform our generation of the underlying issue you presented here; pretty privilege. The ideology behind colorism and body shaming have long existed in our society, and with the influx of social media platforms coming to light our younger generations are caught in the middle. Unfortunately, it is hard to pinpoint when someone is gaining an advantage based upon their looks, but I agree with you that it is so important to present the issues and bring them to light. With this being said, your post was extremely impactful, as I feel like people in our generation know the problem exists but are brushing it off. I think the main takeaway I got from your article was that there are SO MANY factors that come into the social media world and pretty privilege.
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Your article on this topic is something that younger generations or even our generation needs to become educated on. When first reading your article I automatically thought of TikTok and “influencer” Addison Rae. Addison Rae is one of the main people known for having pretty privilege. She has been accused of black-fishing on her snapchat story, saying racial slurs and plenty others but never got the full punishment because of her looks. Personally, this is extremely frustrating because people only see her as a pretty face and nothing more, no consequences for her actions. Everything in modeling, magazines and ads constantly tell girls from a young age what society expects from them and they won’t accept anything else. Society clearly has its own standards on what they believe is beautiful which can be disheartening to others. This article really opened my eyes on how social media has such a huge impact on pretty privilege and standards on beauty.
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