# Do extraordinarily good-looking people have an easier time in life, in your opinion? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 29, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499 "2011-08-29T15:29:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/21 "2011-08-29T18:50:10Z")
I’ll throw my lot in with those who say good-looking women have plenty of advantages while good-looking guys don’t really get a leg up that much. If you buy into the notion that guys do most of the hiring and most of the managing, why are they going to give a good-looking guy an extra break ( **Skald** notwithstanding)? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/22 "2011-08-29T18:54:00Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > I think it is a double edged sword for the extremely beautiful. On the one hand you generally get cut more slack, get more attention, have a wider range of potential dates to choose from, etc. On the other hand you have fewer people taking you seriously, get more _unwanted_ attention, don’t necessarily develop other skills you would have if you hadn’t been born beautiful, etc. This is what I came in to post, basically. I think there’s a smoother road in some situations, but also the unwanted attention and stuff can give them a kind of skewed existence. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/23 "2011-08-29T18:55:23Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I’ll throw my lot in with those who say good-looking women have plenty of advantages while good-looking guys don’t really get a leg up that much. > > If you buy into the notion that guys do most of the hiring and most of the managing, why are they going to give a good-looking guy an extra break ( **Skald** notwithstanding)? Field sales people, particularly those doing cold calls, do better if they’re good-looking; receptionists are more likely to talk to them. It’s obviously irrelevant for the inside sales people, who only see their customers in person once a year. ---
**Author:** ![Krouget](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b38774/32.png) [@Krouget](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krouget)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/24 "2011-08-29T19:00:39Z")
I can’t speak for every exceptionally good looking person I’ve known, but as with most anything, being exceptionally attractive is a double-edged sword. I know people who’ve gotten a lot of opportunities because of it, but also have a lot of sad stories to tell, as well. Having easy access to what you want, mainly due to your looks, leaves open the possibility for a lot of objectification. While I know some people who have come to accept a measure of it, overall, they’d almost all agree that it’s not favorable. Most really don’t like the attention, and it becomes very transparent/old, rather quickly. (Again, just with those that I know, personally.) ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/25 "2011-08-29T19:03:37Z")
I believe that attractive people clearly have an advantage or the rest of us. There was a recent morning news story on a chick who was a “looker” in Manhattan and when she dropped her papers, bystanders readily helped her. When she donned a fat suit, she was virtually ignored. And Skald, I’m pretty sure that if most people would be honest, they would say the same about hiring the more attractive candidate. They may work a little harder to find a smidgen more qualifications in the attractive one to rationalize their choice, though. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/26 "2011-08-29T19:09:20Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Field sales people, particularly those doing cold calls, do better if they’re good-looking; receptionists are more likely to talk to them. It’s obviously irrelevant for the inside sales people, who only see their customers in person once a year. But that’s different. Being attractive has a quantifiable effect on job performance in that case. But for Joe College who just wants to get a job stocking groceries over the Summer? His good lucks mean shit to the guy hiring. Jane College on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/27 "2011-08-29T19:13:18Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > I believe that attractive people clearly have an advantage or the rest of us. There was a recent morning news story on a chick who was a “looker” in Manhattan and when she dropped her papers, bystanders readily helped her. When she donned a fat suit, she was virtually ignored. And Skald, I’m pretty sure that if most people would be honest, they would say the same about hiring the more attractive candidate. They may work a little harder to find a smidgen more qualifications in the attractive one to rationalize their choice, though. Being attractive IS a qualification when it comes to field sales, though I work hard to ignore it when it comes to female candidates. A big part of the job is just getting the receptionist to talk to you. Charm works as well, though. It’s irrelevant for insides sides. Admittedly the single best IS person I know is a hot blonde, but her appearance is irrelevant there; it’s her phone presence and her personality, and overall ferocious intelligence. Hell, I probably need to give her a raise just to forestall her being poached by a field manager, though that’s kind of pointless. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/28 "2011-08-29T19:21:09Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Admittedly the single best IS person I know is a hot blonde, but her appearance is irrelevant there; it’s her phone presence and her personality, and overall ferocious intelligence. See, but then we’re back to trading stories about how attractive people react to their attractiveness on the job. I remember a few years back, I hired a young woman who was very pretty, but who also wowed me in the interview with all the right words and aced all the qualification tests. Her good looks didn’t matter because she was far and away the best person for the job. Once she got the job her “I’m pretty, so I don’t have to do work” attitude appeared and she was fired in short order. I later worked with her sister and learned that this has become a pattern with all her subsequent (obviously short-lived) jobs. ---
**Author:** ![AndyLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/29 "2011-08-29T19:23:11Z")
I am fairly good looking. Not super model but I get noticed and it does help. It gets you in a lot of doors. Yes, even for stocking shelves at a supermarket, being a clean cut, boy next store, which I am, does help. Now it doesn’t really help you keep anything. I have just as many problems keeping jog, keepig girlfriends, or whatever, but it opens doors for me. Mr Supernice guy might never get a chance with a girl as he’s too ugly. But I would get a shot. Of course, as I said, it just opens doors, if you act like a jerk, you get tossed out. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/30 "2011-08-29T19:29:33Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > See, but then we’re back to trading stories about how attractive people react to their attractiveness on the job. I remember a few years back, I hired a young woman who was very pretty, but who also wowed me in the interview with all the right words and aced all the qualification tests. Her good looks didn’t matter because she was far and away the best person for the job. > > Once she got the job her “I’m pretty, so I don’t have to do work” attitude appeared and she was fired in short order. I later worked with her sister and learned that this has become a pattern with all her subsequent (obviously short-lived) jobs. In the case of the person I mentioned, I am sometimes unsure how good-looking she actually is versus how much of it is her personality. I have a dim memory of meeting her when we were first hired, very briefly, and not being impressed with her looks–that is, judging her not _ugly_, but just slightly above average. But after one or two conversations, I found her hugely attractive. The other guys in the office have similar opinions about her: the longer you know her, the better she looks. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/31 "2011-08-29T19:30:48Z")
It is obvious to me it DOES make a difference. It’s a shame, and go define beauty\*, right? Yet, it is somehoe hardwired in us to be this way. From Hollywood on down to the playground, those with beauty\* (again, go define it) find things come easier to them. \*By defining beauty, I mean it’s true you don’t have to be a god or goddess. I believe there’s some wiggle room there, but that’s part of the REAL facts of life. ☹ The cold-hearted facts of life. Hey, what else keeps the cosmetics industry and plastic surgeons in business, right? ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/32 "2011-08-29T19:40:48Z")
Of course they do. There are disadvantages too, but far less than the advantages. Hell, when I’m looking good, and I’m still not extraordinarily good-looking then, the difference in the way people treat me is too big for it to just be observation bias. ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/33 "2011-08-29T19:55:59Z")
I think extraordinarily beautiful women get better tips. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/34 "2011-08-29T20:24:53Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > From my own experience, I find that women tend to find guys who are slender, softer features, clean-shaven, pay extra attention to their hair, and wear fashionable clothes, all that kind of stuff, to be considered more attractive, with the more muscled men, or ones with facial hair, or generally more rugged aren’t considered as attractive anymore. The former would be, by many men I know, considered to be more effeminate and more likely to receive some social stigma for it relative to a man’s man. OTOH, it does seem like most men will show some preference to the latter type, so I suppose there is some benefit to that, but then it seems like you’re more likely to lose out on the women. No, I disagree, I think the “pretty” man was idealized in the 80s, 90s and the first half of the 2000s, but now the pendulum has swung back the other way. Look at the female reaction to Daniel Craig. You could flood a mid-sized metropolitan city with the amount of wetness that Daniel Craig’s Bond produced in women, if all of the online commentary and conversations (including on this very board) are any indication. The “pretty” guys are only idolized by girls under 16. That’s IT. Look at Zac Efron. He has nearly perfect facial symmetry, maybe the most perfect of any male celebrity currently in the public eye - just like a Nicholas Hilliard portrait. Who takes him seriously? Nobody. He’s relentlessly mocked by everyone who’s not 14 and female. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/35 "2011-08-29T20:31:12Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > I knew a woman like this. She was a friend of my friend’s wife. > > She was so stunning that you could literally see people’s startled reaction when she walked into a room—She was very down-to-Earth, not full of herself at all, yet she was often treated poorly by random people she would meet in her daily life because they ASSUMED that she had to be a stuck-up bitch. A group of us would walk into a bar or restaurant and you could actually hear conversations momentarily stop when people got an initial glance at her. Seriously. > > Apparently she went months at a time without being asked out because she was so intimidating, and my friend told me that she had mentioned to him how she thought I seemed like a really nice guy, and he told me I should ask her out, but even with that assurance, I couldn’t work up the courage to do it. > > She is now married to a nice, very ordinary looking guy, a guy who obviously had more self-confidence than I do… > > (I have kicked myself for not taking a chance, many, many times over the years) I have sort of the opposite story, where I’d been friends with her for a long time, but she turned me down because, as I found out, I was “too good” for her. I kicked myself about it for a long time, but I eventually realized that it was exactly that sort of perspective why things never would have worked between us among other things. But now she’s married to a guy that treats her badly, so… meh. > [@Lukeinva](#): > > I think extraordinarily beautiful women get better tips. Yes, and this is why I also tip based on an appropriate percentage, I don’t want to over-tip because she’s hot and gave mediocre service or under-tip because she’s unattractive but gave good service. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/36 "2011-08-29T20:55:14Z")
You’re still better off if you had parents who loved you as a kid than ones who simply gave you good bone structure. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/37 "2011-08-29T20:55:22Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > No, I disagree, I think the “pretty” man was idealized in the 80s, 90s and the first half of the 2000s, but now the pendulum has swung back the other way. Look at the female reaction to Daniel Craig. You could flood a mid-sized metropolitan city with the amount of wetness that Daniel Craig’s Bond produced in women, if all of the online commentary and conversations (including on this very board) are any indication. > > The “pretty” guys are only idolized by girls under 16. That’s IT. Look at Zac Efron. He has nearly perfect facial symmetry, maybe the most perfect of any male celebrity currently in the public eye - just like a Nicholas Hilliard portrait. Who takes him seriously? Nobody. He’s relentlessly mocked by everyone who’s not 14 and female. It could be a function of location and age as well. I do find it a bit less often now than I did a few years ago, but I have gotten more than a few rejections for being too muscular. While I am defintiely muscular and I’m a far cry from the freakish side. The times I have gotten comparisons, they were almost always guys that were definitely more slender than average. Then again, I’ve also gotten rejections for other seemingly positive attributes like too smart, too compatible, perfect except for something utterly trivial, so maybe my sample is skewed from women giving weird reasons for breaking up with me and that was just one of the more common ones perhaps because it’s tangible and not necessarily overly superficial. And sure, I see relentless mocking of the likes of Zac Efron and Justin Beiber, but it’s largely by men. When I’ve heard women comment on them, it’s typically not been that they look like girls but, at least with the latter, that his music is terrible. ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/38 "2011-08-29T20:57:24Z")
People can make themselves look less attractive. Generally they dont. Im guessing they view it as an advantage overall. Otara ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/39 "2011-08-29T21:38:10Z")
I am an extremely handsome man, and let me tell you, it makes a difference. And I get better looking as I get older and more distinguished. Complete strangers often come up to me after I step into a line in front of them and say “just fuck yourself, you entitled son-of-a-bitch!” And knowing that I will shortly find some privacy, lube and a mirror, I smile and say knowingly, “my, you have good taste, but how do you know my mother?” ---
**Author:** ![carlotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/898d66/32.png) [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/40 "2011-08-29T22:01:19Z")
I don’t think being beautiful helps you deal with any of the basic problems of the human condition. Even if it makes it easier to find love (questionable) does it make it any easier to make love last? Does it makes it less painful when love fails? It doesn’t help one bit when you’ve got a beautiful new baby that WON’T STOP CRYING. To be all current eventy, earthquakes and hurricanes will smash your house even if you’re gorgeous. Being beautiful doesn’t change the fact that you will one day die and so will people you love. I voted no easier or harder than for other people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499.md?page=3)