# sarah jessica parker **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2006, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680 "2006-07-16T00:57:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/81 "2006-07-20T15:33:12Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Um, if you only know four women who are better looking for her, then she’s way higher than the fiftieth percentile. Unless you only are acquainted with eight women total. No… I guess I didn’t really explain it completely. Out of my 15 or so _friends_, who range from about 27 to about 36 years old, I can think of six who are prettier in the face, and 4 of those that have better figures. So maybe 50% is a bit of a stretch there, but 75% would be as low as I’m willing to go. It’s not difficult to find women prettier than her- if not for her figure, she’d be completely unremarkable (except maybe for her unusual face). That’s where she stands out some- she does have a terrific figure, but that’s about it in the attractiveness category. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/82 "2006-07-20T15:46:39Z")
> [@bump](#): > > No… I guess I didn’t really explain it completely. Out of my 15 or so _friends_, who range from about 27 to about 36 years old, I can think of six who are prettier in the face, and 4 of those that have better figures. > > So maybe 50% is a bit of a stretch there, but 75% would be as low as I’m willing to go. > > It’s not difficult to find women prettier than her- if not for her figure, she’d be completely unremarkable (except maybe for her unusual face). That’s where she stands out some- she does have a terrific figure, but that’s about it in the attractiveness category. You don’t get to separate out every part of her appearance and compare it to someone else. “Well, her feet are okay, but they’re not as pretty as my friends Suzanne, Carlotta, or Sandrine. Her eyebrows just aren’t as nice as those of my friends Maria, Antoinette, and Martine.” And so on. It simply doesn’t make any sense to talk about “face” and “figure” separately. And out of the fifteen people you know, four are better looking than she is. That would put her in the 75th percentile or thereabouts. I have to say that means you hang out with an unusually good-looking crowd, in my opinion. Thinking of the women in my office (way more than fifteen), I think the only one who seemed as good looking as Sarah Jessica Parker to me left. Pay attention when you’re out and about. Average-looking on TV corresponds to very good-looking in real life. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/83 "2006-07-20T16:00:08Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > You know, you guys aren’t being fair. > > You may not think she’s all that funny - I don’t either - but you can’t judge a comic actor by their _looks_. Take _Seinfeld_ for instance: the most popular comedy of the 90’s starred the three least attractive males on primetime television, and did anyone complain? I smell a double standard here. Except- she is _portrayed_ as being sexy- take “Failure to Launch” for example, where her job is to lure child-men out of their parent’s homes by pretending to be attracted to them (and if that isn’t evil and something no parent would do to their son, I don’t know what is). But she’s not sexy. Or good looking. Or all that funny. Or even a great actress (I am not saying she’s a terrible actress mind you, just not great). But what annoys the shit out of me is that she is _portrayed_ as being sexy while in reality she’s not. True, 'sexy is as sexy does" and looks don’t always means sexy. Beyonce Knowles to me is not sexy, no matter how hard she tries (and she tries very very hard). But she isn’t bad looking at all. OTOH, Janis Joplin was sexy, despite the fact she wasn’t very pretty. But SJP is neither sexy nor pretty. Nor particulary funny. She is a decent actress given the right part, sure. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/84 "2006-07-20T16:41:21Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > OTOH, Janis Joplin was sexy, despite the fact she wasn’t very pretty. If you like [Janis Joplin](http://www.mycheers.com/60's/joplin3.jpg), you may also find [this](http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41102000/jpg/_41102969_shrek_afp203.jpg) person sexy ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/85 "2006-07-20T17:04:28Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > If you like [Janis Joplin](http://www.mycheers.com/60's/joplin3.jpg), you may also find [this](http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41102000/jpg/_41102969_shrek_afp203.jpg) person sexy Which one? ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/86 "2006-07-21T04:15:23Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > You don’t get to separate out every part of her appearance and compare it to someone else. “Well, her feet are okay, but they’re not as pretty as my friends Suzanne, Carlotta, or Sandrine. Her eyebrows just aren’t as nice as those of my friends Maria, Antoinette, and Martine.” And so on. It simply doesn’t make any sense to talk about “face” and “figure” separately. Come on, that’s just silly. You can’t tell me that you haven’t run across girls with absolutely rockin’ bodies, and not so great faces… (the “butterface”), and also girls who are very pretty in the face, but have flat chests, abnormally wide hips, big shoulders, etc… You can most definitely separate face & body when it comes to attractiveness. I never said anything about eyebrows or feet or anything else. And Sarah Jessica Parker is not really that pretty- she’s average facially, but she does have a hell of a body. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/87 "2006-07-21T04:50:21Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Come on, that’s just silly. You can’t tell me that you haven’t run across girls with absolutely rockin’ bodies, and not so great faces… (the “butterface”), and also girls who are very pretty in the face, but have flat chests, abnormally wide hips, big shoulders, etc… > > You can most definitely separate face & body when it comes to attractiveness. I never said anything about eyebrows or feet or anything else. > > And Sarah Jessica Parker is not really that pretty- she’s average facially, but she does have a hell of a body. Sure, you can rate people on the appearance of any of their features. But the point is it’s not valid to say that one person who has a nicer face but an awful body is better looking, or vice versa. And I don’t think her face is particularly amazing, but I also think it has a certain charm to it. But then, I’m not really qualified to judge women’s appearances anyway. (She has a good body? Who knew?) ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/88 "2006-07-21T04:51:25Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Come on, that’s just silly. You can’t tell me that you haven’t run across girls with absolutely rockin’ bodies, and not so great faces… (the “butterface”), and also girls who are very pretty in the face, but have flat chests, abnormally wide hips, big shoulders, etc… > > You can most definitely separate face & body when it comes to attractiveness. I never said anything about eyebrows or feet or anything else. > > And Sarah Jessica Parker is not really that pretty- she’s average facially, but she does have a hell of a body. What he’s saying is that you can’t say that Sarah Jessica is only 50th percentile because half of the women you know have some particular feature that’s more attractive than hers. She’s only 50th percentile if half the women you know are as a complete package more attractive than her. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/89 "2006-07-21T15:12:25Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > What he’s saying is that you can’t say that Sarah Jessica is only 50th percentile because half of the women you know have some particular feature that’s more attractive than hers. She’s only 50th percentile if half the women you know are as a complete package more attractive than her. I know, but I guess we’ll have to just differ on this one. What I’m saying is that she’s at best, 50th percentile in actual prettiness/beauty. She’s just not that pretty. It’s not at all difficult to find women prettier than her- hell, watch almost ANY local newscast, and the women anchors or weather women are better looking. She has a terrific figure, but that’s neither here nor there when it comes to beauty- it’s just her figure. She’d be just as ugly or pretty if she gained weight or lost weight, but she’d have a worse figure. As a total package, I’ll concede that she’s probably better than 50th percentile; I think 75th is where I placed her in one of my earlier posts. The reason I think people get so agitated by her is that she’s _presented_ as being some sort of sex symbol, attractive, pretty, etc… while without the PR machine that’s portraying her that way, she’d probably be considered “cute”, but wouldn’t be a sex symbol at all. She just doesn’t compare with say… Keira Knightley, Carmen Electra, Evangeline Lilly, et al. It’s almost like they took her, and thought “Hey… here’s an average looking actress with a good figure, and a good attitude. Let’s hype her up as sexy so that women who aren’t particularly sexy will identify with her (since she’s not really that attractive) and she’ll be popular.” ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/90 "2006-07-21T15:24:48Z")
> [@bump](#): > > It’s almost like they took her, and thought “Hey… here’s an average looking actress with a good figure, and a good attitude. Let’s hype her up as sexy so that women who aren’t particularly sexy will identify with her (since she’s not really that attractive) and she’ll be popular.” So, she’s like the anti-John Mayer. Mayer is the cute, non-threatening guy who has all the not-particularly-sexy-and-offtimes-downright-homely chicks thinking that he’s calling \*their \* body a wonderland. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/91 "2006-07-21T21:18:41Z")
Something like that… I guess it’s more that her beauty and sexiness and all that stuff seems kind of manufactured, and it doesn’t quite hold up when compared to other women who are better looking. I mean, who’s really going to hold SJP up versus say… Rebecca Romijn in a beauty or sexiness sense? That’s what a lot of us SJP “haters” seem to feel like they (whoever “they” are) are trying to do, and it’s kind of irritating. ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/92 "2006-07-21T21:29:03Z")
She’s always struck me as an excruciatingly whiney clone of Robert Plant. Sorry, I got nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/93 "2006-07-21T21:43:42Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > So, she’s like the anti-John Mayer. Mayer is the cute, non-threatening guy who has all the not-particularly-sexy-and-offtimes-downright-homely chicks thinking that he’s calling \*their \* body a wonderland. :rolleyes: So my revulsion for John Mayer and my affection towards Sarah Jessica Parker are consistent? ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/94 "2006-07-21T21:44:36Z")
I’ve never had the impression Sarah Jessica Parker was ever marketed as a great beauty. She is supposed to be a fashion icon, loves fashion herself and is willing to push the envelope by wearing couture designs so designers tend to like her. I used to watch SaTC, although I sort of hated all the characters and I don’t really know _why_ I was watching it other than the fact that my parents’ had cable …but even on the show her character Carrie isn’t supposed to be “hot”. There was a running theme of Carrie not feeling beautiful enough compared to the women Big usually used to go out with-his wives were all modelly looking (several episodes featuring this issue) and there’s one episode about living in NY with models and how Big likes to look at them while he’s out on dates with her and her insecurity over the fact that she doesn’t measure up to traditional standards of beauty. As Carrie she was supposed to be the quirky, endearing intelligent girl with personality (personally I found her the whiny shallow flake) who had really nice hair and an excellent sense of style, which is why Big could never be done with her despite the fact that he had lots of model pussy at his disposal. I don’t get the sense that she was ever marketed as “hot”-more as “dresses and grooms well” and with a nice body. YMMV on all of the above. Personally I would not qualify her as ugly or exceedingly beautiful…maybe jolie-laide and I am always curious to see what she’s wearing. I do know some people who project attractiveness despite the fact that they may come off a wee bit Monet or underwhelming if you looked at them in an actual photograph. Most often it seems men have this characteristic, but I have known a few women who had it too. Maybe she has it too, who knows. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/95 "2006-07-24T14:36:50Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > So my revulsion for John Mayer and my affection towards Sarah Jessica Parker are consistent? No, no, no. I should have said that Mayer is the _mirror image_ of SJP. You’re supposed to hate both of them! :mad: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680/96 "2006-07-24T21:16:33Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > No, no, no. I should have said that Mayer is the _mirror image_ of SJP. You never see them at the same parties… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sarah-jessica-parker/364680.md?page=4)