# On the whole, are there more attractive people in life than unnattractive ones? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 26, 2017, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913 "2017-06-26T14:42:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/41 "2017-06-27T02:13:44Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I find that the older I get, the more people I find attractive. Either my tastes are getting broader, or the contrast with the deterioration I see in the mirror makes me less judgey. šŸ™‚ I think most well-groomed people are somewhat attractive. The opposite for me. Iā€™m pushing 60, and I think the vast majority of people are ā€œunattractive,ā€ especially compared with 40 years ago. It could be hormonal. As a horny teenager, I would have boned the crack of dawn and got turned on by just about any female, but nowadays not that many people do anything for me. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/42 "2017-06-27T02:22:49Z")
Few people, to me, are attractive and few repulsive. Most of who I see are pretty much average. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/43 "2017-06-27T02:52:00Z")
An interesting survey might ask, ā€œAre you more attractive than the average person?ā€ Iā€™m betting around 70% would say they are above average. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/44 "2017-06-27T03:26:58Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > An interesting survey might ask, ā€œAre you more attractive than the average person?ā€ > > Iā€™m betting around 70% would say they are above average. I am required to register my body with the local police wherever I go, due to excessive swooning on the part of the fairer sex. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/45 "2017-06-27T03:34:19Z")
Ugly bags of mostly water. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/46 "2017-06-27T03:35:57Z")
Sentient meat. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/47 "2017-06-27T05:31:13Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > We could tell you, but then weā€™d have to kill you. When? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/48 "2017-06-27T05:47:10Z")
When I was younger, I used to say that most girls were attractive. But now I realize I was only thinking about those who were age appropriate and ignoring the rest. At that time, I didnā€™t even think of older women as sexual creatures. Even as a teen, when I had exactly one teacher I thought was cute, the idea of having a crush on her seemed weird. At that time, the majority of women were not attractive to me. But, as Iā€™ve gotten older, my subconscious age range has only gotten bigger, and with it a lot more women are attractive to me. So maybe itā€™s actually true now? I dunno. I will say that I would expect a situation where you show off you body, like a water park, to have a disproportionate number of attractive people. I donā€™t feel I am physically attractive, and so I rarely go anywhere where Iā€™d need to wear a bathing suit. And I know others, both men and women, who feel the same way. Plus those parks tend to skew younger, which also changes the proportions of attractive people. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/49 "2017-06-27T06:14:38Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > [Average faces are more attractive](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1990.tb00079.x) > > If we define ā€œattractiveā€ as scoring within two standard deviations of the populationā€™s mean ā€œattractivenessā€, then most people you see out in public are going to have some attractiveness to them. The super beautiful (who have an attractive score thatā€™s greater than two standard deviations of the mean) will be disproportionately represented in mass media. The mediocre masses can do a few things to enhance their attractiveness, but itā€™s not like they will look like a monster if they donā€™t. The majority of the ugly (the people who have an attractive score thatā€™s less than two deviations of the mean) will likely not be found out in public. Not because they are ashamed/embarrassed, but because they probably suffer from debilitating congenital birth defects or physical disorders that making getting around difficult. > > Since the majority of people have or have had significant others, I think itā€™s safe to assume that most people are ā€œfunctionallyā€ attractive. I get the feeling that those people who are stupendously attractive, by the modern standard, are not very appealing to me. I think in particular of a certain rich guyā€™s daughter, who looks like she had five times my average yearly income done on her face, and it looks plasticky. I tend to think most people consider ā€œattractiveā€ to be someone they can relate to, but then again, most people are probably not like me. > [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > ā€¦ going to hone in on the ā€¦ Now, that was very unattractive. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/50 "2017-06-27T06:26:42Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Its not all bad. Shop at a walmart in a college town if you want to see pretty girls everywhere. Then again anywhere in a college town is full of pretty girls. Youā€™ve obviously never been to [People of Walmart](http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/). ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/51 "2017-06-27T07:19:10Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Youā€™ve obviously never been to [People of Walmart](http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/). I have my doubts about that site. Not about the authenticity of the images, but that the very existence of the site has fomented a sort of performance art attitude. People are going there in outrageous attire just to get their click of fame. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/52 "2017-06-27T13:01:23Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Walmart is a pretty mainstream store, it isnā€™t the dregs of society. Criticizing the customers of Walmart is one of those base prejudices youā€™re still allowed while retaining moral superiority as a non ā€˜-ist/-phobeā€™. It also often seems to assume some particular location or region, perhaps where a majority of people vote for the ā€˜evilā€™ political choice. šŸ™‚ That said, thereā€™s a Walmart across the parking lot from the Costco we go to, within easy distance of a fair cross section of up scale to working class areas of northern NJ. And the Walmart crowd is definitely down scale from the Costco crowd. Both crowds are pretty heavily non-ā€˜whiteā€™ and and/or foreign born (often speaking non-English among themselves) because the area is, but still noticeably different. Maybe thatā€™s obvious and people think of Costco as up scale, but Iā€™d think of it as ā€˜mainstreamā€™ too. Different parts of the ā€˜mainstreamā€™. When weā€™ve shopped at the Walmart thatā€™s the only big store for some miles in a rural area of the upper Midwest one of our kids lives, then sure thatā€™s also a different crowd, at Walmart, than in northern NJ. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/53 "2017-06-27T13:18:09Z")
I think that people are getting more attractive. John Derbyshire has a simple theory on this which I think is probably quite correct: better health care, better prenatal care, smoking less ubiquitous. Of course, obesity is increasing, but our standards of beauty are changing there too. If most of us are fat, weā€™re not too likely to consider fat people unattractive. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/54 "2017-06-28T01:40:11Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I think that people are getting more attractive. John Derbyshire has a simple theory on this which I think is probably quite correct: better health care, better prenatal care, smoking less ubiquitous. > > Of course, obesity is increasing, but our standards of beauty are changing there too. If most of us are fat, weā€™re not too likely to consider fat people unattractive. Thats an interesting line of thought. Reasons people are more attractive: Less time in the sun (the sun ages your skin) Less smoking (smokers look older) More science about what actually makes someone attractive means we can do something about it (we arenā€™t flying blind) More cosmetic surgeries More consumer products designed to beautify people Better health care Reasons people are less attractive: Higher rates of obesity Access to the internet and mass media raises our standards of what counts as ā€˜attractiveā€™ I know for me, when I look at pictures of young people from 30+ years ago they almost always look much older than their age. People in their 20s sometimes look like they are in their 40s. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/55 "2017-06-28T02:34:53Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Reasons people are less attractive: > > Higher rates of obesity > Access to the internet and mass media raises our standards of what counts as ā€˜attractiveā€™ > > I know for me, when I look at pictures of young people from 30+ years ago they almost always look much older than their age. People in their 20s sometimes look like they are in their 40s. I donā€™t know if people are becoming less attractive, but Iā€™ll add another explanation to the mix: People, especially women, are freer to fly their own flag than they used to be. Every day I see people walking around with full sleeve tattoos, cellulite-laden thighs, and creative wardrobe choices. The ā€œWhat Will People Think!?ā€ mentality was much more prevalent in previous generations. Now people seem to take a ā€œIā€™m going to do meā€ approach to life. Iā€™m going to study what I want, get a job doing what I want, date who I want, and Iā€™m going to look like how I want to look. Damn what anyone else says! On the less extreme end, women donā€™t feel as much pressure to ā€œdo it upā€ all the time like they used to. It used to be that women had to wear make-up to be considered ā€œprofessionalā€. And you had to wear heels too, and maybe show off those gams. But now we have more flexibility in our work uniform. I always try to look presentable, but looking ā€œbeautifulā€ isnā€™t something I think about while at the office. There are a lot of women where I work, and most of us are nerdy. So we can relax and not care about the kinds of things our mothers wish we cared about more. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/56 "2017-06-28T07:24:35Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I find that the older I get, the more people I find attractive. Either my tastes are getting broader, or the contrast with the deterioration I see in the mirror makes me less judgey. 2 words Macular Degeneration šŸ˜ƒ ---
**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:** [June 28, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/57 "2017-06-28T15:29:00Z")
**Hilarity N. Suze** , I am not an artist, but I have noticed that artists do tend to find beauty in everything. I also have friends who are fitness buffs, and theyā€™re on the other extreme: unless you have abnormally low body fat, they wonā€™t consider you attractive. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/58 "2017-06-28T15:53:35Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Reasons people are more attractive: > > Less time in the sun (the sun ages your skin) > Less smoking (smokers look older) > More science about what actually makes someone attractive means we can do something about it (we arenā€™t flying blind) > More cosmetic surgeries > More consumer products designed to beautify people > Better health care > Reasons people are less attractive: > > Higher rates of obesity > Access to the internet and mass media raises our standards of what counts as ā€˜attractiveā€™ In my job, I encounter applicants for disability benefits. Out of several thousand over the past few years, I canā€™t recall a single ā€œlookerā€ or either gender. So yeah, your sample matters. Personally, I think most people (myself included) are just ā€œOKā€ - such that they are essentially invisible unless you happen to have to interact with them more closely. Also, my personal bias tends to correlate attractiveness with some degree of fitness. Iā€™d probably say there are fewer attractive people than unattractive, because being attractive enough to catch my eye requires a combination of several factors - looks, fitness, grooming, attire, facial expression, body habitusā€¦ Whereas it might take only 1 or 2 of those factors for me to consider someone unattractive. Say a frowning grossly obese person. Doesnā€™t matter how well they are dressed, or how smooth their skin, they donā€™t tip the attractive scale for me. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/59 "2017-07-23T18:30:52Z")
More and more as I look at the people around me, I feel I am trapped inside _The Simpsons_. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913/60 "2017-07-23T19:53:21Z")
As I often do, I will have to fall back on Seinfeld: JERRY: Elaine, what percentage of people would you say are good looking? ELAINE: Twenty-five percent. JERRY: Twenty-five percent, you say? No way! Itā€™s like 4 to 6 percent. Itā€™s a twenty to one shot. ELAINE: Youā€™re way off. JERRY: Way off? Have you been to the motor vehicle bureau? Itā€™s like a leper colony down there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-whole-are-there-more-attractive-people-in-life-than-unnattractive-ones/789913.md?page=4)