The Newest Trend to Brag/Complain About: Women with 'Pretty Privilege'
Source - A slew of young women have taken to TikTok to reveal how they benefit from being really, really, really good-looking.
The content creators have shared videos discussing their “pretty privilege,” saying they’re showered with free gifts and attention simply for being conventionally attractive.
Chicago-based beauty Anjola Fagbemi ... claims she scored drinks, Uber rides, surf lessons and $500 tickets to Lollapalooza all free of charge, for no other reason than the fact that she is stunning.
Fagbemi says the people who gave her the gifts weren’t expecting anything in return and were simply excited to be in her company. ...
Similarly, Kentucky-based blonde Mermaid Keels claims ... she benefits from her beauty every single day in a variety of different ways.
“It can be little subtle things you wouldn’t notice,” she explained in a viral video.
“Not being charged for that extra drink or dessert at a restaurant, or having someone offering to put the air in your tires instead of seeing you struggle doing it.”
Stunning Olivia Paulsen says she’s been called a “bitch” simply for being hot.
Meanwhile, a TikToker named Allii says there are numerous perils that come with being pretty.
She claims it can be hard dating and making genuine female friendships when women are intimidated by beauty.
You know, TikTok gets a bad rap. Gen-Xers and above tend to think it's nothing but narcissists with crippling daddy issues begging for attention. Some sociologists think it has a negative effect on the public's overall mental health. China, where it was invented, limits the amount of time young people can spend on it and similar platforms. And there's always the possibility it was sent here by Satan in order to corrupt humankind with the use of ring lights, filters, belly shirts and autotune, 30 seconds at a time.
But then a story like this comes along, and it demonstrates how TikTok can be a force for good. What it has to teach us. I mean, this is truly revelatory.
Until now, who knew there was such a thing as Pretty Privilege? Attractive women getting things they did not earn, or even ask for, merely on the basis of their good looks? Goods and services, benefits and courtesies being done for them, simply because men find them attractive?
I'd be curious to hear some experts in the field of social media explain where and how this began. Does it predate TikTok itself? Started with Snapchat, perhaps? Instagram seems made to create just such a phenomenon.
But if I had to guess - and I suppose I have to since I just painted myself into this rhetorical corner, I'm going to say it started somewhere around the time men came down out of the trees and taught ourselves to walk upright to spot predators in the tall grass. In other words, right around the time we stopped choosing sex partners based on how their pheromones told us it was babymaking time, and instead started using our eyes. Call me a Neanderthal, but I'm pretty sure this has been hardwired into our brains pretty much since they became our brains.
What do these women think, they're the first ones in history to get guys to spend their disposable income giving them things because they're allegedly hot? How do they think women ended up in harems, sleeping on silken mattresses while others in the tribe slept on the desert sand? Their arts & crafts? The Pharaohs didn't fill their palaces based on personality. Roman emperors didn't choose concubines in alphabetical order. Disney princes don't move hags and witches into their castles. In more modern times, Richard Gere gave diamond necklaces to a street hooker who looked like prime Julia Roberts. He wouldn't have pulled up in a white limousine outside the apartment of one who looked like Danny DeVito. (Respect.) There are dating websites for Sugar Daddies to meet young, attractive women that have been around since before these TikTokers fathers abandoned their mothers. But sure, they're the first ones ever to recognize Pretty Privilege.
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All that said, my heart goes out to these intrepid young ladies. As someone whose boyish good looks, bright blue eyes and winsome smile have carried me through life, I can appreciate that it's not all it's cracked up to be. Yes, I've benefited from my Handsome Privilege. But there will always be those who resent me for it and think my Silver Fox attractiveness is all I have to offer. It's hard to make male friendships because they're so intimidated by me. All I can do is empathize and wish you solidarity, sisters. Let's stay #PrettyStrong.