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This really is a tough question to answer without sounding conceited.
There are advantages AND disadvantages to being "pretty" or "beautiful". I have been offered jobs without even completing the interview process and offered huge sign on bonuses, etc (particularly when I was in my 20s). Men offering expensive gifts, trips, and to "keep" me etc. But I have also had a stalker, have been assaulted (in a situation that was partially based on my looks) and had a few male bosses (and one female boss) be "extremely inappropriate" (in ways that I won't get into here)
Trying not to sound whiny but it can be a double edged sword.
It is hard to answer, but I no longer find myself getting those advantages as I get older so I guess I can safely answer without sounding conceited these days.
I have experienced all of what is mentioned above. The positive and the negative. I have been followed, stalked, propositioned. I have been proposed to repeatedly and out of the blue, given jobs after only introducing myself, given free stuff in stores, free services (car repair, etc), and for many years I never ever would have worried about a flat tire or breakdown since someone always stopped to help within moments, and sometimes more than one person..
I have also been treated like an idiot, groped by strangers, assumed to be "easy", accused of trying to steal husbands AND wives, and have had a very difficult time making female friends since all the way back to junior high.
I am (well was) considered to be very pretty but more than that, sexy, just a combination of my physical features and the way I carried myself I guess. I was one of those girls that developed very early and with rather extreme curves, so this garnered much attention both good and bad and from both sexes. I was not "trying" to be that way. I was just "drawn that way", in the words of Jessica Rabbit... and it was at times wonderful and awful.
I have certainly benefitted in the past with free "stuff" and perks and courtesies but I have also felt objectified, envied, and patronized for the same reasons.
Time and some weight gain and the natural progressions coming with age have made all of these issues (and benefits) moot though and I am not really sad about it. I don't count on being able to talk/flirt my way out of traffic tickets anymore but then again I don't drive like an ahole anymore either so it works out. It is weird now though, that this is mostly a past tense thing.
ps: oh, well i just remember one boss i had a few years ago told me, after i started working, that he hired me cause of my resume picture, and cause i was beautiful. But he was more teasing with me than being truthful, i think. Thats the closest to "beautiful privilege" i got, and i dont think it was even true.
Well shoot OP. I'm a man and I've never told a woman she's beautiful unless I meant it. I'd bet $1 your boss worked up the courage to say that much and waited to see how you'd react.
Beautiful people totally have it easier in life than the less attractive ones. Walk into any unemployment office and count the number of beautiful women you see there. Go to any city where public transportation isnt the norm (Los Angeles for example) and you will almost never see a beautiful woman waiting at the bus stop (unless she's just outside of USC or UCLA waiting for a school shuttle).
Ever see an ugly barista at Starbucks? Not me. Ever seen a beautiful girl working the drive through or french fries station at McDonalds? Not me.
I have. This McDonalds I used to go to a few years ago had nothing but stunning women from Central and South America.
Growing up, people were always nicer to me than my cousins, including other family members. I had long hair and looked biracial and those type of things tend to get you more preferential treatment in the black community. I was too young to understand what was going on, I just knew it was something. It wasn't until I grew up that I understood. I'm glad I was a shy kid that hated attention (so I didn't get a big head about things) and I'm glad my cousins didn't grow to hate me. I still get some favorable treatment today, but it's mostly because I still look like a teenager, although I'm 30. Got me a few free beers once when I pulled out my ID and proved my age to some doubters working at a venue =D
Growing up, people were always nicer to me than my cousins, including other family members. I had long hair and looked biracial and those type of things tend to get you more preferential treatment in the black community. I was too young to understand what was going on, I just knew it was something. It wasn't until I grew up that I understood. I'm glad I was a shy kid that hated attention (so I didn't get a big head about things) and I'm glad my cousins didn't grow to hate me. I still get some favorable treatment today, but it's mostly because I still look like a teenager, although I'm 30. Got me a few free beers once when I pulled out my ID and proved my age to some doubters working at a venue =D
This reminded me of something that happened when I was in my teens. I won't get it the hair texture/skin color thing but there are a lot of grandchildren on my mother's side and I have a ton of first cousins. At a family function, my grandmother made the mistake of saying that I was her most beautiful daughter in front of several of my other female first cousins. Those words literally caused a rift in my relationship with some of my cousins that still continues now years later.
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