I was wondering what everyone's take is on this. I have noticed that being thin forgives being unattractive. For example, if you have two women standing side by side and -
Woman #1 is thin, has a great body, great fashion sense, and an unattractive face and nothing special hair
and Woman #2 is 50lbs+ overweight, not toned, great fashion sense, and has a gorgeous face and luxurious hair
- if you asked people to vote on which one was better looking (or if you only polled men and asked which one he would want to date), most people would pick the thin woman.
I realize beauty is subjective, but I have heard women described as beautiful who, strictly judging by their face alone, I would not call beautiful. However, they are thin and look good in the clothes they wear. I have also heard overweight women being put down about their looks who, strictly judging by their face alone, I would call beautiful. However, the overall effect of their appearance is lessened because of their weight (and possibly their clothing choices are limited because of being restricted to plus size shopping options).
Of course, there are the women we all love to hate who are both thin and beautiful by anyone's standards! However, I am not talking about "those" women. Rather, your average woman who gets a few "extra points" either on or off her appearance based on weight alone.
So, does being thin make up for not being beautiful? Do people perceive thinner women as being beautiful even if they really aren't?
I know this is a really shallow post - so please don't hate me! It's just an observation I have made and wonder if anyone else has noticed this. Don't ask me if this is a category where I fit in, because I am overweight and not particularly beautiful. However, I do wonder if my "pretty points" would/will rise when I get to my goal weight.
what i've noticed is that guys who are into skinny chicks will pick the skinny chick regardless of what she looks like while guys who like chicks with some meat on their bones will pick the big chick, regardless of what she looks like.
my bff and i - she's tall and lanky, i'm short and stumpy. if a guy is attracted to her or to me, there is no chance EVER of them coming onto the other of us like you hear so often.
you know what? it's like blondes, redheads, big boobs, oriental girls - if a guy's into big boobs, he's not going to pick the skinny chick unless she's sporting a rack. if the skinny chick's got black hair but he's into blondes or redheads, that's what will tip the vote.
Last edited by threenorns; 04-16-2012 at 06:30 PM.
I'm sure it does for some people but I don't think its as straight forward as that. From what I've seen, its 50/50 on men who gravitate towards someone who's attractive rather then a perfect body, and vise versa...
Thin doesn't necessary mean beautiful, just like ugly doesn't necessary mean unattractive...Personality dominates
I think it depends what we consider skinny and what we consider over weight. I would definently choose the prettier girl even if she was 25-50 pounds over weight, but if you are boarding the obese line, I think that's when the skinny yet unattractive girl starts winning.
I haven't posted to 3FC in a long time but I had to respond to this.
To answer your question about polling men I think a very high percentage would choose the thin but not so pretty woman versus the overweight/pretty face woman. Yes, I know it's subjective but all you have to do is look around. I think the men would even tell you the the overweight woman has a pretty face but if the next question is "Which one would you like to take on a date?" nine times out of ten he'll go for the thin one. Sad but true.
There's a negative stigma attached to dating heavier women. The term "chubby chaser" isn't supposed to be a compliment so I wonder if it has less to do with actual physical attractiveness and more to do with reputation.
I think most men that I've encountered definitely like a woman on the thinner side. There are exceptions and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I can say this based on my personal experience. When I was heavier, I would sometimes make such an effort to look my best (mostly for myself of course) but I was invisible to the world. Now, I can go out with no makeup and my hair a frizzy mess or in a pony tail and I get treated quite differently by men. It's sad but true. However, I would like to add that the same thing goes for women. I feel like women find me so much more interesting now (not everyone because some of my closest friends treat me the same) and they want to be my friend much, much more....I also get invited to a lot more social gatherings. At first, I found myself offended by all of this, but now, I just don't really pay attention. I think it's part of our society to judge people based on their weight. It's possible that maybe my increased confidence sends out a different message, but it's impossible for me to ascertain if that's really what's going on.
I have to wonder whether it's biological rather than simply liking thinner women over prettier women. Attractive is a nice plus, but we are programmed to look for mates who will produce healthy offspring... and obesity in many cases will hide all those visual clues that point to health.
Quote:
Originally Posted by valalltogether
i believe this is known as a butterface. i'd rather be 50lbs overweight, quite frankly. weight can be shed. you can't shed ugly.
Indeed. As long as I were still healthy, I'd probably be willing to put a few pounds back on if doing so would make me pretty.
Last edited by chickadee32; 04-16-2012 at 08:48 PM.
actually, oddly enough, skinniness is what hides the natural signs of fecundity.
you have to remember that this so-called preference for thin is a very very recent phenomenon and it's limited, culturally speaking.
the majority of the world is still aligned with mother nature, who prefers women with big hips (that's why they're called "child-bearing"), big boobs (all the better to breastfeed), and junk in the trunk (means she's more likely to survive a long, cold winter with little to no food and so will her babies).
the obsession with thin in our society is, let's call it what it is, a form of pedophilia, since thin women look pre-pubescent and was first encountered with the "flapper" girls of the 1920s.
it's also to do with sex - by looking pre-pubescent, it gives a subliminal impression of virginity (which is utterly and completely ridiculous as anybody who's had the unfortunate experience of initiating a virgin will attest).
Last edited by threenorns; 04-16-2012 at 09:02 PM.
I definitely agree there's a cultural influence, and that wanting a skinny mate in (primarily) western European cultures is a recent phenomenon. I was really thinking of normal weight vs. morbidly obese - which does often hide or alter the symmetry and waist to hip ratio that are visual cues of health and attractiveness for many cultures.
I may have had bigger hips and boobs when I was 280, but they were hard to distinguish from my large waist - whereas now my waist vs. hips are clearly distinguishable. There are, of course, those who still have a "womanly" shape at high weights (I just wasn't one of them) - and I do indeed think we (collective we) generally find those women more attractive than another overweight woman whose shape is different.
I don't know, I agree it's probably a matter of individual preference. However, I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "you have such a pretty face...if only...."
I guarantee you one thing though, put their annual salaries below in the picture, and thinness/beauty starts to take a back seat. :P
Does Being Thin Trump Being Pretty?
