# Do extraordinarily good-looking people have an easier time in life, in your opinion?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499>\
**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:** 2\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/81 "2011-09-01T13:57:34Z")

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My extraordinary good looks are a burden I have learned to bear bravely. 😉

All seriousness aside, I am currently going thru something possibly relevant. I have to wear my glasses (no contacts) for a month in preparation for cataract surgery. My glasses are pretty thick. Not exactly disfiguring, but noticeable nonetheless. It does seem that people treat me differently.

The reason I am looking forward to the surgery is that I will not have to wear glasses or contacts again. My eyes will look better all the time, not just while wearing contacts.

My $.02 worth.

Regards,  
Shodan

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**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\
**Post date:** [September 1, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-extraordinarily-good-looking-people-have-an-easier-time-in-life-in-your-opinion/594499/82 "2011-09-01T16:28:26Z")

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> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> Restricting myself to professional concerns: being good-looking in fields like acting, sales, and singing; it’s a disadvantage in engineering, academia, and the law.

Being good-looking is definitely an advantage in engineering. Yes, the super-logical engineers _think_ they are evaluating coworkers only on their performance… but in practice, it’s the good-looking, pleasant-to-be-around engineers who get tapped for higher-paying positions. Regardless of whether they’re the better engineers.

Some of the better engineers I’ve worked with have completely disregarded their appearance – whether slovenly, out-of-shape, poor fashion choices, smelly, whatever. Absolutely no-one says “well, Greg reeks but he’s aces at PSV calculations so we should make him to group leader.” Instead, it’s “everyone likes Dave; he’ll be manager.” (Dave was a homecoming king. We made fun of him for having been a homecoming king. But he got to be manager, then business manager.)

Now, I _have_ seen issues for good-looking young women – they have difficulty having their engineering skills noticed _at all_. I think most move on into management or sales, instead of “pure” engineering.

According to my brother, looksism is firmly in foce in the legal profession too. Don’t know about academia.

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