Oh, no, it ain't pretty being beautiful

Research finds that good looking people are more likely to be hired and to nab a higher salary than unattractive people. And they are promoted faster.

Need a favor? Your chances of getting a stranger to help you increase significantly if you're attractive, duh. Apparently, even babies prefer good looking faces to plain ones. Yes, those little scoundrels already notice looks.

The other day, I found this article in an old issue of a beauty magazine: The Beauty Curse. Yawn. So the beautiful people are at it again. Trying to defend their looks with a list of woes that come with their beauty, telling us mere mortals that life is not always a beach even for them, that being gorgeous isn't all it's cracked up to be.

The list started off with "beautiful women know you think they're basically stupid and shallow". Please. It's not hard to show a smidgen of intelligence (if one has it, of course). On the other hand, it takes more effort to look presentable.

Then it went on to say that "even extreme beauty doesn't guarantee success". Yeah, but it sure gets that foot in the door! Witness the amazing ascent of Indonesian Idol wannabe Delon, purely on the basis of his female fanbase alone.

A friend told me a story of an attractive friend, who was bluntly told by a married architect that the reason she was offered the job of personal assistant was because of her physical attributes. Never mind the tests and essays everyone, including the attractive girl, had to take for the position.

A personnel director of an international advertising agency once asked me if I knew account executives who would like to move there. I told her I would be glad to relay the job opening to people I know who would presumably be qualified for the job. She hesitated for a minute, then had the nerve to ask me whether the people I had in mind were attractive.

In shock, I told her that beauty is a relative matter, but the people I had in mind were women in their late 30s, if she had to know. She cheerily told me not to bother because their client specifically asked for a perawan. For those of you who do not speak a word of Bahasa Indonesia (shame on you, it's such an easy and nice language), perawan can mean two things: an unmarried woman (usually young, otherwise she's a perawan tua or old maid) or a virgin.

Presumably, any which way has a certain attractiveness to the opposite sex. Of which description the client of that agency really meant, I would not, will not, presume.

A University of Texas psychologist pointed out in the article that "research shows that attractive people are aware that others think they use their looks to get ahead". Well, there's no smoke if there's no fire, etc., etc. I know some beautiful people who relied on their brains and resourcefulness to land a job, but let's face it, when pressed, these people do use their looks.

And what about "men, less picky, love the exceptionally gorgeous anyway -- for a time"? Nice try. Being jilted is probably every lover's nightmare, gorgeous or not.

The Gorgeous Bettys of this world lose sleep over the day they get wrinkles and therefore lose their man. The Plain Janes lose sleep over whether or not they will get a man, and if she finally gets him, the day she would lose her man to Gorgeous Betty.

It's a toss-up, but I think Gorgeous Betty has the edge. Anyway, in the case of stunning people who marry for money, there was never any love to speak of in the first place, so when the spouse lavish attention to a more attractive, usually younger, plaything, don't take it to heart and just enjoy the money.

Another friend has an interesting theory that the less than fortunate in the looks department happily pays to see beautiful people doing absolutely anything. Hence the ridiculous amount of money people throws at actors, actresses and models.

I am no Quasimodo and I am not bitter. I just find it silly if people start whining about things that actually benefit them. It's like Beethoven complaining how his musical talent kept him from being taken seriously as a wrestler.

And if they're really honest with themselves, for all the sob stories they tell, I bet they wouldn't trade their looks for anything. We live in a world that value appearance almost above everything else and it's not going to change anytime soon, so you've got the advantage. That's nothing to be apologetic about, just don't bemoan "the curse".

-- Krabbe K. Piting