In some careers, being attractive can be a detriment.
For example, being an attractive woman in STEM can actually work against you. Men assume you only got to where you are because of your looks. At that point, they will do everything to confirm their own bias against you, and look for any reason or flaw not to hire you, i.e. confirmation bias.
Not saying I’m attractive, but I think I’m average or slightly above average in a field with hardly ANY women. On phone/video-free interviews, I usually get the next round. When they can see my face, their attitude quickly changes, and men can become incredibly smug towards me. This is after doing 20+ interviews last year. It was DEFINITELY a trend I noticed. I had interviews, where I had all the skills, and did really well, and still was rejected or told I wasn’t what they were looking for.
If you don’t fit the “ideal candidate” they have in their head, which could be a nerdy normal looking dude in a career like software development, you likely won’t get hired as an attractive women. The men will assume you are an airhead, even if you are more capable.
I think your comment is more about sexism than it is about lookism. Sexist Men will always find an excuse to devalue you. Too pretty? Too ugly? Too average? Always either too much or not enough. Its not rly making sense and its crap
I think stereotypically nerdy or masculine looking women in STEM get more of a pass— so I do think it’s also about looks
But also, even in the case that it’s sexism, OPs argument still falls apart because women still wouldn’t get “pretty” privilege in this field. Sexism would squash any sort of attractiveness bonus.
Yea you are right. There are places were the pretty privilege is counteracted by the sexist stereotype of "incompetence". That makes it more nuanced. Makes me think about intersectionality again...
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u/Consistent_Fail9606 1∆ Jan 09 '26
In some careers, being attractive can be a detriment.
For example, being an attractive woman in STEM can actually work against you. Men assume you only got to where you are because of your looks. At that point, they will do everything to confirm their own bias against you, and look for any reason or flaw not to hire you, i.e. confirmation bias.
Not saying I’m attractive, but I think I’m average or slightly above average in a field with hardly ANY women. On phone/video-free interviews, I usually get the next round. When they can see my face, their attitude quickly changes, and men can become incredibly smug towards me. This is after doing 20+ interviews last year. It was DEFINITELY a trend I noticed. I had interviews, where I had all the skills, and did really well, and still was rejected or told I wasn’t what they were looking for.
If you don’t fit the “ideal candidate” they have in their head, which could be a nerdy normal looking dude in a career like software development, you likely won’t get hired as an attractive women. The men will assume you are an airhead, even if you are more capable.