The Problem with Pretty Privilege

If you’ve been on TikTok or YouTube for a while, you might have heard the term "Pretty Privilege" being thrown around. While it's been making waves in online communities, this isn’t a new concept. Humans have been scientifically shown to have a beauty bias – letting the outward appearance of something influence how we perceive other aspects of said thing. On TikTok alone, videos under the #prettyprivilege tag have gotten more than 185 million views.

"Pretty Privilege" is a concept that hypothesises that people deemed more attractive, by socially-accepted beauty standards, stand to benefit from more advantages and are provided more opportunities that are not awarded to people found less attractive.

The perks of "Pretty Privilege" may seem superficial and shallow, in the form of free drinks in clubs or a bigger portion of food at no additional cost. But what happens when this concept starts to have very real consequences that affect the larger things in life?

There have been reports stating that less attractive people are likely to get harsher, lengthier sentences in laws of court, when compared to their more attractive counterparts. Attractive people are also perceived to be more capable in every aspect of their lives – including being more skilled at their jobs. This means that “better-looking” people are automatically viewed as more proficient at what they do without having to prove it, simply because we regard them as more beautiful. This phenomenon is called “The Halo Effect”, where our positive perception of one aspect of someone consequentially positively influences and extends to all other aspects of them.

It’s been said that the people who stand to gain from "Pretty Privilege" are usually those who possess Eurocentric features – big eyes, sharp noses and fair skin. Just think about the biggest celebrities in entertainment right now: Kylie Jenner, Bella Hadid and Emma Chamberlain. But don’t be mistaken, "Pretty Privilege" isn’t limited only to women. Recall former gang member Jeremy Meeks, dubbed the "Hot Felon", whose stunning mugshot in 2014 propelled him into modelling fame, walking the runway for brands such as Philipp Plein and Tommy Hilfiger.

Throughout the Covid-19 period, Australian actress Rebel Wilson has publicly been on a journey towards fitness. The ‘Hustle’ actress has been making use of her Instagram account to document her progress photos along with her showbiz-related content. In a recent interview, the 42-year-old commented that people were treating her differently after she lost weight. After reaching her goal of 165 pounds (about 75kg), Wilson noticed that people would “offer to carry [her] groceries” or “hold doors open for [her]”.

Wilson’s instance is neither the first nor only occurrence. In the music scene, singer Adele was also lauded by the public for her “glow-up” in late 2019, after she lost 100 pounds (about 45kg) in 2 years. This perception that people have to be thin to be considered beautiful encourages more fatphobic sentiments in our already-critical society.

Conversely, people who have been recipients of "Pretty Privilege" have been taking the time to show on platforms like TikTok that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for them either. For women, in particular, attractiveness also gives way to being fetishised, and they are presumed to be sexually available, perpetuated solely by their looks. Merits that good-looking individuals achieve with their skills are also dismissed – assumed to be a result of their attractiveness, rather than being attributed to their hard work or competence.

While it can be argued whether "Pretty Privilege" truly benefits anyone, one thing is clear – we’ve been letting the outward appearances of people wield too much power. It may be worthwhile now to look past outdated beauty standards and value the other qualities that people around us possess instead.