We live in a world obsessed with physical appearance. The idea of beauty as virtue is ingrained in our culture, perhaps even more so than ever before. Young women go on health-threatening diets to conform to the Barbie ideal. Psychology students indicate in tests that attractive people are considered more trustworthy, virtuous or intelligent, on a subconscious level. than less attractive people. Unattractive people are depicted in films as twisted, cowardly or villainous, and seen in real life as morally suspect. It even shows in language, in phrases like "an ugly situation", "ugly sectarian hatreds", "things could get ugly".
Perhaps we need an Ugly Pride movement. People of below-average attractiveness (in terms of societal norms) could unite, reclaim the word "Ugly" (much like "queer" has been reclaimed), have Ugly Pride rallies, and push for a society in which people are not judged on superficial criteria such as height, blondness and conformity to the Barbie/Ken archetype.-- acb, May 06 2001 Otto Sump's Ugly Clinic http://cgi.www.khan...p's%20Ugly%20ClinicA place that featured in the Judge Dredd comic stip were you could "get ugly". [Aristotle, May 06 2001] Ugly & Proud http://www.pikespice.com/ugly/Serious, but small. Surely there must be better material on discrimination against ugly people than just the obvious difficulty of landing a job as a model or at hooters. [jutta, May 06 2001] Like this. http://www.essex.ac...ference1/Harper.pdfBritish study on the correlations between beauty and success. (There are lots of US ones, too, e.g. Hamermresh & Biddle 1994; this one had the advantage of being fully online.) [jutta, May 06 2001] I am on this already! http://www.bangable...ex.php?PID=5865&L=1me [futurebird, May 06 2001] mingers http://www.mingers.com [stupop, May 06 2001] Yo, ugly!-- reensure, May 06 2001 U! G! L! Y! Now we have an alibi!-- StarChaser, May 06 2001 Things get ugly in a hurry on Confessional / Confrontational TV 'talk' shows where the 15 minutes of fame is accorded those who believe they set a new standard for aesthetic / physical pleasure. Bottom line for anyone advertising a product is to recoup far more than the investment - and sex sells. This applies to humans on the superficial / sexual sliding scale in public / private arena as well. It seems the 'beauties' have gotten their share. Now, it's as if the 'uglies' want theirs by a backlash. Is the movement already underway? - I think so. Television seems to 'represent' this on commercials - depending on Casting Director and product (not limited to oddballs, etc. but Actual Sellers) and on TV shows - but then again, I don't watch much TV. Film? Depends on the Casting Director and the Screenplay. Radio? I may not see them on the air - but I do in Publicity Stills - including billboards. Posters? The Late Seventies witnessed the boom in adolescent male targeted Stills. I would have to say the media is slowly inching its way to your hope turned to reality. The Ken and Barbie 'ideal' has long been criticized and abandoned by society - not all - but the truly 'better' part of society that doesn't depend on outward appearance to determine status.-- thumbwax, May 06 2001 The word "ugly" means "not very nice to look at". There are some things that are nice to the most. People automaticly dislike ugly people, you can't change it. (I'm tired and a little cranky)-- janko, May 07 2001 Why, UnaBubba, you old extistentialist! But yeah, that about sums it up. I like the Ugly Pride idea, though, because some people with funny hair and big noses have rotten self-esteem and that makes them devalue their good qualities. Accept your ugliness, you downtrodden masses! Abe Lincoln was once accused of being two-faced. He responded (approximately), "Sir, if I had another face do you think I would be using this one?"-- Dog Ed, May 07 2001 Peter, have you ever seen what people are like on the inside? All tubes and goo and oozy stuff. Yucky! Aristotle, any link to JD is a good link! acb, I fear that you're going to run into a problem with this one. How do you define "ugly" or "attractive"? Who is allowed on the rally and who is excluded?-- DrBob, May 07 2001 UnaBubba, I'm not sure if you're aware of it, but in the Southern US at least, 'doings' is a euphemism, as in 'Billy-bubba, the puppy done made a mess on the veranda. Go get some paper towels and clean up the doings'.-- StarChaser, May 07 2001 DrBob, at least in my corner of the country, anyone can participate in a gay pride rally; straight people who do so are taken to be supporting the cause. So by analogy, attractive people could join the Ugly Pride rally as a token of support.
eg. 'straight but not narrow' --> 'beautiful but not ???'-- wiml, May 07 2001 I take your point wiml, but how do you tell the Uglies from the Beautiful Sympathisers?-- DrBob, May 08 2001 T-shirt for Sympathizers: "I'm UGLY on the inside!"-- danrue, May 09 2001 Hey, some of my best friends are ugly...-- globaltourniquet, May 09 2001 Beauty, or at least relative good looks, is overrated. The problem with being somewhat above average in looks is that you can never be sure as to whether or not someone actually cares about you or just thinks they look better with you by their side..... The great thing about horses, dogs, and cats is that they have no concept of beauty. I've never seen a dog refuse to lick a loving owner's face b/c they thought the owner was too ugly.-- Susen, May 09 2001 Susen: Yeah, dogs...they even like you when you smell bad. In fact, I sometimes think they like us humans *better* when we smell bad.-- Dog Ed, May 10 2001 Hey, how about 'Humble Pride' ? Oh, okay then.-- gizmo_man, Jun 07 2002 random, halfbakery