# If you have a very attractive sibling, do you recognize that they're attractive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 12, 2019, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-a-very-attractive-sibling-do-you-recognize-that-theyre-attractive/827656 "2019-01-12T20:05:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-a-very-attractive-sibling-do-you-recognize-that-theyre-attractive/827656/21 "2019-01-15T14:12:18Z")
My older sister is very pretty. She is also very photogenic, which is not always the same thing. Nobody in the family ever treated her differently because of it, any more than treating my brother differently because he is the tallest. > [@](#): > > …her older brother said that his girlfriend was prettier than her. > > I know these are typical brother things to say… I guess it doesn’t occur to me to make the comparison. > [@](#): > > The first thing her younger brother asked her was “Why are you wearing to much makeup?” I also wouldn’t notice how much make-up my sister was wearing, or have an opinion on how much was too much. All of us are now in our 60s, but I don’t know if that makes any difference. I don’t recall talking to any of my siblings about their appearance. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-a-very-attractive-sibling-do-you-recognize-that-theyre-attractive/827656/22 "2019-01-15T18:02:12Z")
Something tangentially related: My younger sister puts very little effort into her appearance. I don’t think she’s attractive, but I also think that if you could put me inside her body I could get her to look attractive: improve her personal hygiene, get her in more figure-flattering clothes, tweeze her eyebrows, get some highlights in her hair, put on a bit of makeup, work out and build up some muscle tone. Makes me wonder what she thinks about me. Maybe in her eyes, she’s a natural beauty and I’m too high maintenance to be attractive! ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-a-very-attractive-sibling-do-you-recognize-that-theyre-attractive/827656/23 "2019-01-15T18:03:24Z")
My sister and I look very alike, and I know that it looks much better on her than it does on me. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-a-very-attractive-sibling-do-you-recognize-that-theyre-attractive/827656/24 "2019-01-16T21:02:49Z")
This is a very interesting question. I don’t have a factual answer, but I do have a strange anecdote that I think may show that there is a dissonance in opinions. I come from a very large family from one set of parents (double digits number of siblings equally split). When the siblings assign “look-alike” siblings compared to when the in-laws do, the comparisons are wholly different. And when I ask my partner more specifically about ranking attractiveness, there is also a hugely different ranking between the two of us. I think we are all quite healthy and athletic and decent looking, but I would say my parents when younger were more attractive than any of us children. My hypothesis is that siblings have spent significant amount of time and experience with one another and that clouds/alters/combines to focus on other factors. Now that I’ve been apart from them for decades, I am amused to see how Nebraskan looking one sister is and how Wisconsin my brother is, and the list goes on. So no, I don’t think that siblings can look at each other with the same attractiveness measure as they do to the general public. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-a-very-attractive-sibling-do-you-recognize-that-theyre-attractive/827656/25 "2019-01-18T18:50:10Z")
My half-sister is cute as a button. She has the same nose that I do, inherited from our father’s line, but she wears it much better than I do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-have-a-very-attractive-sibling-do-you-recognize-that-theyre-attractive/827656.md?page=1)