Trading intelligence for larger breasts

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
61

What does whether or not it is sexist have to do with whether or not it is a correct supposition? Is it the case that you think it’s unlikely an attractive woman is not more likely to find a higher-paid mate than a less attractive one? I am only trying to present the calculus of the cost for breast augmentation.

I might add that physical attractiveness is likely to result in a better job and salary as well, regardless of spouse.

This may not be the way the world should work, but it is the way it does work.

On the note about how much education 10K would buy, I agree: not much. That’s why 10K invested in larger breasts for a small breasted but otherwise attractive woman is a better bet than say, community college. I don’t think larger breasts are a better bet than a full college education.

62

See here, for example.

“We live in a world as captivated by beauty as it is uncomfortable
with the advantages beauty confers. Even as we remind one
another that it is only skin deep, we pursue beauty with a formidable devotion. The results of this study further attest to the
importance of physical attractiveness, by showing that it influences
self-concept (core self-evaluations), income, and financial wellbeing (financial strain)…Our study suggests that
although skill (in the form of cognitive ability) clearly matters to
financial success, attractiveness matters too. The advantages conferred by beauty may have originated from early human evolution
(Todd, Penke, Fasolo, & Lenton, 2007). As society continues to
advance and evolve, it is interesting, and somewhat troubling, to
observe that such primitive instincts still play an important role in
life outcomes.”

I’m off to judge the Summarize Proust contest.

63

I take great issue with your supposition that breast size is the primary indicator of attractiveness.

Honestly, if I was going to advise MOST people, including you, what they should do with an extra $10k to improve their physical attractiveness, and thus appeal to a higher-paid mate, it’d not be on plastic surgery, but rather a gym membership.

That is undoubtedly true for waitresses, sales people, and receptionists. But most professional jobs (doctors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, analysts, IT) still value a great resume over looks. I work for an international Fortune 100 company known for its great wages and benefits, who won’t even INTERVIEW a candidate with less than a 3.75 GPA. It’s hard to swing those newly-minted boobs around if you never get in front of the interviewer.

And, just as importantly, professionals with real degrees don’t have to worry that their financial security will be in jeopardy should a more attractive candidate appear on the horizon…either at their workplace OR at home.

Nice back-pedal. You do realize that most people don’t pre-pay for their entire college, right? Lots of people only have $10k saved up, yet they are STILL able to get a full college education. It’s called a student loan.

64

Actually just trading away intelligence for nothing would make most people happier, as intelligence leads people to feel less satisfied with what they have. Getting some boobs out of the deal would be a nice bonus.

65

Oh, boobs. I don’t get why women think they are so important. I’m fairly flat, and I really don’t think having larger breasts would improve my quality of life or money-making ability. I wait tables for a living, but I don’t make any less in tips than several of my coworkers with large to massive boobs. We have to wear a formal uniform anyway, no ones boobs look good.

I find my boyfriend ridiculously hot as well as great in other ways, which means I count my romantic life a success. Maybe there have been tit men who wrote me off, but I haven’t noticed or heard about it.

If I was large-breasted, especially on my small body, all it would get me is sexual attention from random dudes, which I’d be very uncomfortable with. A decrease in my quality of life, if anything.

66

I would happily trade some IQ points for access to large boobs.

:eek:
This is hands down the largest bra size I’ve ever heard of. I have two extremely endowed friends, one is 44GG and the other is something like a 40H. I could be getting these numbers wrong, but that’s what I remember. One of them was unable to breast feed her son because her breasts were simply too big (or her arms were too short) for her to hold the child in front of her for it.

67

Just so that you won’t feel like the sole voice of sanity in this thread, I 100% agree with you.

Everything else being equal, a woman with bigger breasts has to work harder than her less endowed sister to be taken seriously in most high-status jobs. And should this be surprise to anyone? If a woman routinely has problems getting men to even look her in the eyes, it will be that much more difficult for them to listen to what she has to say and see the value of her work.

So I would not be surprised if stats showed big breasts to be a financial liability rather than an asset.

68

It’s not clear to me where I said that breast size is the primary indicator of attractiveness. Perhaps you would consider pointing that out to me so that I can correct it.

What I think I said is that an attractive woman with small breasts would be more likely to have a net financial benefit from investing 10K in breast enlargement rather than 10K in education. I do not believe I mentioned whether the 10K represented personal savings or borrowed funds. Perhaps you can point that out to me as well.

Did you have a chance to read the article I cited? If so, you may have noticed the authors looked at three areas which might correlate with income: a better physical attractiveness, a better personality, and a better intellect. All of them have an effect as one goes up the scale.

I don’t believe I said anything about breasts large enough to “swing around” as if bigger is better with no upper limit. What I said was that an augmentation for an otherwise attractive small breasted woman is a better investment than the same amount of money spent on education (10K). An attractive and shapely woman is more likely to do well than an attractive and flat-chested one with 10K dollars more worth of education. This is the only financial calculus I have advanced.

I would personally place a high intellect as the most important of the three factors overall. Physical attractiveness is neither necessary nor sufficient for a typical high-knowledge worker such as a doctor or scientist; in a field such as law it would help in some areas of practice and not in others.

As to the extent to which a professional with a “real degree” (are there other kinds?) has to worry about being beaten out at home or in the workplace by a more attractive candidate appearing on the horizon, you are smoking dope by including the home front. In a well-managed workplace which has professionals, intellect typically takes precedence over attractiveness…but not always (particularly in sales or media-facing fields).

I note you have been hoist on your own petard of bombast by suggesting that a gym membership is as effective an investment on the route to success as is breast enlargement. Both focus on appearance, which is in the realm of attractiveness, and not intellect or personality.

If I were advising a fat woman where to spend her 10K, I might agree that spending the 10K on attaining a more normal weight by gong to the gym might be the best fiscal calculus for her. But if she is already attractive (my original qualification) except for a flat chest, I think the 10K is probably better spent on augmentation mammoplasty than 10K worth of education. If she is capable of getting a full education, that’s the best bet. However 10K will not be enough, and my comment was around that sum of money–since it is approximately the cost of augmentation mammoplasty.

69

I had to go to a shop that specializes in “unusual” challenges. It’s actually, more like scaffolding than anything else.
Now that I’m old and fat, they just get longer. :smiley:

70

Your article correlates attractiveness (among other things) with financial benefits. I cannot find mention anywhere in the article that “physical attractiveness” is defined as having large breasts. Maybe I missed it. Can you point it out to me?

Sure thing, Chief:

…So your argument is that a woman who is already attractive, but small-busted, is not sufficiently attractive to reap the financial benefit mentioned in your study. If “large breasts” isn’t a primary indicator of “attractiveness,” why else would you suggest than an already attractive woman should spend $10k on a boob job?

Read my quote again. I said that if I were to give a blanket recommendation as to how any given person should best spend $10k to improve their PHYSICAL ATTRACTIVENESS, and thus gain the financial benefits mentioned in YOUR cite, then it would not be on plastic surgery, but on a gym membership.

71

Attractiveness–beauty–correlates with success. The study I gave you does not break out which features trigger favorable responses, but I can assure you that breasts are high on the list. Looking around this board might help you research that.

You have grown confused about whether or not I think breast size is the primary feature for attractiveness or success. This certainly varies by individuals making an evaluation. WRT attractiveness, I don’t personally think breast size beats out a pretty face, and perhaps not even an otherwise nice figure (legs; hips; etc). So a chubby, unkempt, facially unattractive woman should probably not spend her first focus on getting a shaplier bustline. I think I can say that for me personally, intelligence is far and away the most important driver for success, and personality second. For me, physical beauty is an introductory point of interest that rapidly recedes if intelligence and personality are deficient.

With a flat-chested woman who is otherwise attractive, though, the equation becomes more interesting. Should I spend 10,000 dollars on larger breasts, or should I spend it getting 10,000 worth of education?

10K doesn’t buy very much education. It will buy a shapely chest. Were I put in the situation of advising such a person–and if I thought her ego could handle it–I’d tell her the augmentation is a better fiscal bet. I think this is the obverse of the postulate underneath the concept implied in the OP. You are essentially balancing the value of breast size against the value of intelligence. Both help with success. Neither is always necessary. Neither is ever sufficient. Trading a little intelligence for larger breasts is simply a variant on the tack of trading a little education for larger breasts.

Now if you throw intelligence into the mix, along with personality, it’s a different question. Should an attractive, intelligent, personable young woman ask me what to do with a 10K investment, my answer would be to spend it toward education, on the assumption that an initial investment in education would be incrementally rewarded because an intelligent individual will stand out and will be more likely to have opportunities created in recognition of initial success related to her intelligence.

If you have to choose (for the point of this exercise) between a shapely figure and a small amount of education (as if those two could be teased out in isolation) for an otherwise attractive woman, I maintain that larger breasts might well be the better financial spend. YMMV, but I am not personally surprised at the several hundred thousand women who have elective augmentation mammoplasty every year in the US, although as a physician I’ve occasionally been startled at high how it ranks for younger women who I might have thought would have better spent their limited funds elsewhere. Must be Cosmo’s fault (or people like me giving bad advice).

72

Listen, Chief, if you could reconcile all those voices taking up valuable real estate in your brain, and present ONE cogent position, your readers might be less confused. Because it seems to me that your position boils down to this: Me Chief Pedant; Me like big titties.

73

DAMMIT! I had an intelligent, well presented post and I got a stupid Timeout error and it ate my Post!!! FUCK!

Take 2:

I follow his argument clearly. He is reparsing his statements, adding different elements to the analysis to show how his response differs and clarify his personal opinions, but his original position is pretty clear.

$10,000 will not buy much education, but it will buy a decent breast enhancement surgery. $10,000 cannot buy you any intelligence. (However, it might gain you some wisdom.)

Sure, you propose a case where a 3.75 GPA is a minimum requirement to get an interview. Breast enhancement alone isn’t going to overcome that hurdle. But for two otherwise well-qualified women candidates with similar experience, appearance can make a difference. It plays a role in success even in those business and professional jobs where it isn’t a required feature. This applies to men, too, just not typically breast size.

Now I personally wouldn’t go so far as to recommend enhancement to anyone, but that’s a personal opinion. I can certainly see the comparison Chief Pedant is making. Certainly for a flat chested woman to go to something reasonable can affect her self-confidence and how others subconsciously respond, without going for a top heavy appearance.

I also agree with you that it is a very narrow case where breast augmentation is the easiest/best appearance enhancement a woman can apply. For some of us, it may even be a negative window.

74

At one time in my life, I would happily have traded IQ for boobies. But then I would no longer have been able to walk and chew gum at the same time…

75

That comes up a lot, does it? :slight_smile:

76

Who needs multitasking when you have bit tits?

77

No, but… aw, rats! Nobody ever offered me that deal anyway.

78

Big tits. Somewhat unfortunate typo there.

79

Thank you for having the patience to try to make sense of all of this. His posts ( and boy howdy some usernames are true) are a mess and I feel like I need some breadcrumbs to find my way home.

My favorite things about his meandering thoughts:

[ul]
[li]The “otherwise attractive” woman in his scenario actually lost some breast in the process. She started out as small breasted and ended up flat chested. Poor imaginary girl.[/li][li]He seems to think that a full college education > than larger breasts which are > than community college. Tell that to the millions of people with “full” college degrees who can’t get a job yet have monstrous student loans to pay to get that full college education everyone tells them they need. While on the other hand there are a lot of 2 year certificate type degrees at community colleges for jobs in careers that are projected to grow. Go figure.[/li][li]His article doesn’t mention large breasts, just attractiveness but he can ASSURE you breasts are high on that list and invites you to look around THIS PLACE for your confirmation. Yes, this place. The place where Maxim’s list of hot women get the haughty nose wrinkling “her? she looks like a 12 year old boy!” and “I like natural looking women!” (while inserting names like Christina Hendricks as their lulzy example of natural looking with her Ronald McDonald hair, heavy makeup, inflated lips, Restylane and Botox injected face, and corsets in every single pic) and anyone who isn’t overweight needs to “eat a sammich!”[/li][/ul]
Good times.

80

Sadly, a lot of guys’ self-esteem seems to require “winning” over anybody around them. If someone else is better at anything than they are (and it’s something at which they’re used to beating others or being praised for), they don’t just feel threatened, they feel diminished. And there are few things less attractive than a grown-up guy pouting like a three-year-old.