A few weeks ago, a video was making the rounds on Facebook about a woman given the option of entering one of two doors. One was marked "Beautiful", one was marked "Average." I'm not clear on why there wasn't a door marked "Below Average" or "Ugly."
I didn't watch the video. So I don't even know why I'm commenting on this. But from the comments, I guess the point was everyone (or at least every woman) should believe he or she is beautiful?
But if we're strictly talking outward appearance, while I get that different people find different things beautiful, can't we agree that most people are "average"? Isn't that the definition of the word "average"? And what's wrong with that?
What's wrong with acknowledging or admitting that you're not beautiful (or at least not beautiful when another choice is average)? I'm not. Maybe I'd pick beautiful if the only other choice was ugly. But does it matter that I would acknowledge or admit that I'm not beautiful? Not at all. It doesn't mean I don't have value. It doesn't mean I'm not smart, or not nice, or strong, or friendly, or don't have a good heart (not that I'm claiming all those things!). It just means I'm not a super-model (assuming that super-model is the definition of beauty, but I think it's a fair marker when you're comparing it to "average" and presumably also to "ugly"). And that's really okay for me. As long as my husband finds me attractive, I'm okay with going through the beauty door that marks me as average. Looks aren't everything. I don't think I need to be beautiful, or use some product to make me beautiful. Average seems pretty fine. I'm content. I don't think I'm overly critical of myself.
Plus, if everyone was beautiful, then wouldn't beautiful be average by definition?
Not sure what I'm really wanting to say, just on my mind.
I agree ... but I am even worse given my current fields of work and research (i.e. statistics) ... I was troubled by the inherently truncated distribution as well as the 'confirmation bias' of the study.
ReplyDeleteMy thought was that they should have five (at least) doors - beautiful, above average, average, below average and ugly. The interesting thing for me would be not just establishing a distribution based on a decent size population, but replicating the experiment in a number of places and seeing in each area how these things break down based on loads of different demographics, and also how things change if you alter the labels used for the doors from 'beautiful/ugly' to things like 'strong/weak' or whatever.
Also, I only made it about 30 seconds before I eye-rolled my way out of it ...
I like the idea of altering the labels. Most days I'd have to go through the "bitch" door if the other choice was benevolent. It would be cool to just have a bunch of different attributes and have people pick their best -- beautiful, strong, smart, kind, funny, etc.
DeleteI absolutely cannot STAND this commercial. I abhor it in every single way. Number one, what you said. If we're all beautiful, then just like that, we're average. But number two, why the heck are my only options, "beautiful" and "average"? What if I don't give a crap about which appearance door I walk through? How about a "creative" door and a "no imagination" door? "Nice" or "cruel"? Why is beautiful or average the most important judgment we make about ourselves?
ReplyDeleteI've never seen that video, but I imagine it's from a company selling products to make women feel beautiful? I agree with you completely. It just puts the emphasis on physical appearance only. There's nothing wrong with being average. I'm fine with it too!
ReplyDeleteDove soap. I guess if you didn't use any soap at all ever, it might be hard to feel even average since you'd probably smell bad and have lots of bacteria and dirt on you, but it definitely doesn't seem like a "beauty" product.
DeleteWhatever happened to beauty is only skin deep and you can't judge a book by its cover? I try so hard to teach my son to see beyond the physical. If beauty is in the eye of the beholder then we are all beautiful to someone!!
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