The outraged and comical responses to Samantha Brick's blog "There are downsides to looking this Pretty: Why Women Hate Me for Being Beautiful", just about broke the internet. In the blog, the French freelance writer claims to have received various gifts from males strangers, and to have been shunned from females who were friends and coworkers who were just flat out jealous of her looks.
In our PSY 1001 teachings on physical attractiveness, we have learned that while symmetry has proven to be a main contributor to attractiveness, as it provides a sense of health and 'good genes' to the onlooker, further studies also show that people are more attracted to just 'plain average' symmetric faces - as well as 'just average' pets and objects.
Our book also discussed a study of speed dating, when men and women interact with potential dates for a mere three minutes. When all was said and done, men chose to have further contact with 50% of the women they met, whereas women were more decidedly pickier, selecting just 30% of the men to meet again.
Therefore the problem with Mrs. Brick's claims is that she is forgetting to rule out rival hypotheses. The fact that men open doors for her, buy her drinks, even full bottles of champaign could merely mean that she is in the top 50% of attractive females that these men encounter. I don't know if that makes her "too beautiful" or "just average". Given her 40+ years of age, chance offers an explanation for some of the gifts offered to her by men.
Women are not just picky about looks of the opposite sex, we are known to be picky of one another. Although Brick's claims that she is " not smug" and is "not a flirt", the fact that she does not further examine her personality as the possible problematic context and rather uses every piece of 'evidence' to support her claim could be considered confirmation bias. It would have been interesting to see what some of the 'jealous females' would have to say either prior to her writing the blog or in response. The way Mrs. Brick acts around men or in response to male attention could be an indicator of how she is being treated by other women. This is just one possibly theory out of many.
To Samantha Brick. Please think before you speak. There is usually a lot of grey connecting the black and the white.
To read the blog: 'There are downsides to looking this pretty': Why women hate me for being beautiful visit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2124246/Samantha-Brick-downsides-looking-pretty-Why-women-hate-beautiful.html#ixzz1rWp8a5Wo
It is kind of funny how egocentric and naive some people can be. If she truly believes that everyone hates her for being beautiful and that she is being shunned by her co-workers, she should probably start to re-think the possibility that maybe something else is wrong with her.. And not to be completely judgemental, but if people really do search for a face that is more "average" and symmetrical, then I do not think that Samantha Brick fits that criteria.