The "ugly" people must endure these 8 discriminatory attitudes
There is a lot of talk about racism or sexism as a form of discrimination, and these phenomena receive a lot of media coverage.
But nevertheless, Discrimination due to physical appearance is a very common and socially accepted type of discrimination , known as "aspectism." The unattractive people suffer a series of discriminatory consequences that we will review in this article.
Discrimination due to physical appearance and its consequences
Discrimination due to the physical aspect or aspectism is a very widespread phenomenon at present . In a culture that rewards physical beauty, ugliness is punished in different areas of people's lives: interpersonal relationships, work, social events ...
Some experts like the North American psychologist David Marks agree when affirming that "the ugly people suffer aspectismo (lookism in English), that is to say, the discrimination by matter of the physical aspect, that happens with more frequency than the racism or the sexism of which much is spoken nowadays and that is socially very punished ". The aspectism goes unnoticed and does not seem that the thing is going to improve , because neither there is an interest nor social conscience to solve it.
Discriminatory attitudes toward the ugly
Some time ago, Juan Antonio Herrero Brasas, Professor of Ethics and Public Policy at the California State University (USA), who usually teaches at some US multinationals, told the newspaper El Mundo that: "when I'm going to give talks to executives In these large companies, all attendees have an imposing physical appearance. There are almost no individuals that can be classified as ugly. "
So. Are less attractive individuals discriminated against? What discriminatory attitudes do they suffer? In the following lines you can find a list of discriminatory consequences that ugly people suffer.
1. They are more likely to suffer bullying and mobbing
It is common to hear news about the harassment that some children or adolescents may suffer in school or the institute (bullying) or some employees in the workplace (mobbing). This harassment does not have to be physical, but it is usually psychological.
A well-known case of cyberbullying for this reason is that of Lynelle Cantwell , a Canadian teenager who was chosen as the ugliest girl in the institute by a group of anonymous profiles that disseminated this fact through social networks. Luckily, Lynelle did not remain silent and has appeared in various media to expose what happened, with the mission of raising awareness of all this harsh reality suffered by many children not exactly graceful in terms of physical appearance.
- Related article: "Cyberbullying: analyzing the characteristics of virtual harassment"
But this phenomenon is not only exclusive to the youngest, but adults also discriminate and harass because of the physical aspect. According to a study conducted by a group of researchers from Michigan State University and the University of Notre Dame (United States), which was published in the journal Human Performance, the ugly are more likely to be harassed at your workplace. The subjects of the study were 114 employees of a health center located in the southern United States.
2. They earn less money than the handsome ones
Some scientists also claim that ugly people earn less money than handsome men.
The University of California carried out a study that was published in the Journal of Economic Psychology, and the results show that less attractive people earn that 12% less than average than handsome individuals . As the group of scientists explains: "these conclusions are applicable in different societies and in different places of work".
3. Less job opportunities
But not only the less attractive people suffer from discrimination, but they also have fewer opportunities to work. This concludes a study conducted in 2010 and led by Ze'ev Shtudiner and Bradley J. Ruffle of Ariel University in Israel and the University of Ontario in Canada. According to the results, a normal person has to send twice as many resumes as attractive people to get a job.
Also, a study by Sergio Urzúa and Florencia Bóo Martín carried out in 2011 concluded that the handsome, compared to the ugly ones, they receive 36% more answers from the companies in which they apply for a job .
4. They are seen as conversationalists, not objects of desire
The ugly are victims of a series of stereotypes. An example of this is the great impact that the agency "Ugly Models" has had for not hiring attractive but ugly models.
Hollywood surely has something to do with this fact, but the truth is that the ugly are seen more as conversationalists than as objects of desire . In relationships with other sexes, they are usually relegated to the role of friends, so they have less chance of reaching something else.
5. And they have less opportunities to flirt
Therefore, this causes that the ugly ones are less accepted by the others as far as the relations of couple and, in consequence, tie less. In fact, It causes quite an impact when someone sees an ugly person with an attractive person . On these occasions, it is often thought that there must be an economic interest behind it. As if the ugly did not have qualities to fall in love with others.
In reality, the ugly have a series of seductive weapons and qualities that can be highly valued by other people. If you want to know what they are, you can read our article: "Why do the uglies link? 7 keys to understand it "
6. They go unnoticed in social events
And it also looks weird when an ugly is popular. Generally, ugly people are not the popular people in the institute or the "cool" people at parties.
The ugly are often in the background and are often rejected by people who do not take two minutes to know how much they hide inside. Being handsome or beautiful opens many doors, being ugly or ugly closes them .
7. They are less remembered
Beautiful people are more remembered than ugly people. This is what an investigation led by Michael Baker, of the American University of East Carolina, which was published in the scientific journal, shows. Evolutionary Psychology.
According to the conclusions, the fact of looking at faces of attractive people can be pleasant for the human organism and improve the memory, reason why the ugly people are less remembered than the beautiful ones. Not only that, but the same research discovered that beautiful people increase the motivation and concentration of the people with whom they relate.
8. They receive less help
There are many studies that show that beautiful people receive more help than ugly people. For example, an investigation that was published in Frontiers in Neuroscience showed that men are willing to accept treatment that is not advantageous for them if a beautiful woman asks for it.
Also, there are many social experiments that have been carried out in recent years and that show this reality. Below you can see two videos that exemplify how men treat beautiful women and how they treat ugly women:
As you can see, the attractive woman was escorted to the place she intended to go and was even invited to eat. And in the case of ugly women, What is the reaction of the people? Well, the opposite happens. Here you can see it:
