6 ms·

I've always been amazed at the hypocrisy of all of this. A portion of attractiveness is culture-invariant, and quantifiable based on measurable factors such as

I've always been amazed at the hypocrisy of all of this. A portion of attractiveness is culture-invariant, and quantifiable based on measurable factors such as facial symmetry. Study after study have demonstrated that humans innately treat attractive individuals better than others. Yet we obsess over skin colour and genitalia, without a single peep about the physical appearance discrimination that most humans take part in.

burnished 4y ago
Because that starts to verge on telling you who to find fuckable instead of who to treat as a peer. Plus the level of baggage is completely different. I'm surprised at your surprise.
- mrshadowgoose 4y ago
  I think you've mistakenly scoped my point to solely "the dating game". Physical discrimination in that scope if of course, completely understandable, and IMO completely okay. However, it's been shown repeatedly that "fuckability" results in better treatment in most other aspects of one's life, including things like job opportunities, career progression, and general treatment in non-romantic social interactions. All of these are scopes that modern society hyperfocuses on when race or gender are involved. That's the hypocritical aspect of it.
  - burnished 4y ago
    Whats hypocritical about it? What are you possibly going to do about it that isn't already covered under a more general and better fitting "lets find ways to treat each other fairly that minimizes the opportunity for our monkey brains to fuck up and associate traits and characteristics with superficial features. there has got to be a way to do this, jesus christ"? By focusing on just that aspect, fuckability, you imply that there is something different about this trait that needs special attention outside of finding ways to deal with each other fairly despite the tendency to judge based on appearances. There isn't a way that doesn't start getting weird immediately.
    - ramblerman 4y ago
      Please go up and actually read the post you are responding to. It sounds like you agree with OP but are just being obstinate. OP is using "fuckability" as an example of something that doesn't get attention to highlight we shouldn't have any special categories and indeed just "treat each other fairly".
QuadmasterXLII 4y ago
For hundreds of years, among other injustices, it was a valid and socially acceptable business model in the Americas to buy a 13 year old girl, keep her locked up and rape her repeatedly, and sell her children ( your children! ) to recoup costs. Much of our policy is just reflections of that catastrophic trauma in the descendants of all involved.
lifeformed 4y ago
Two reasons: Short people have not faced anywhere near the scale of injustices as Black people in America historically have, so there is not much of a cultural desire to right the wrongs done to short people or people with slightly lower facial symmetry. Secondly, all those characteristics are subjective, and are continuous measurements, not discrete properties. How do you define short or unattractive?
- xenocratus 4y ago
  https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/715141 https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/715141 > Notably, the magnitude of the earnings disparities along the perceived attractiveness continuum, net of controls, rivals and/or exceeds in magnitude the black-white race gap and, among African-Americans, the black-white race gap and the gender gap in earnings
  - notahacker 4y ago
    That's equal to the black-white and gender gap after affirmative action programs and laws making penalising minorities and women in hiring processes illegal though....
    - xenocratus 4y ago
      Does it matter? The discussion above is about people obsessing right now about a subset of characteristics, while ignoring others. What happened happened, we should worry about what we can do right now to improve fairness.
- feanaro 4y ago
  How is race a discrete, and not a continuous, property? It seems quite obviously continuous too.
  - ibrahimsow1 4y ago
    Race isn't a discrete category. Ethnicity is closer to what you're describing.
pydry 4y ago
This has been the same for all culturally accepted biases. Theyre all completely ok until theyre suddenly not and then a maelstrom of controversy accompanies its transition from ok to unacceptable.

burnished 4y ago

Because that starts to verge on telling you who to find fuckable instead of who to treat as a peer. Plus the level of baggage is completely different. I'm surprised at your surprise.

mrshadowgoose 4y ago
I think you've mistakenly scoped my point to solely "the dating game". Physical discrimination in that scope if of course, completely understandable, and IMO completely okay. However, it's been shown repeatedly that "fuckability" results in better treatment in most other aspects of one's life, including things like job opportunities, career progression, and general treatment in non-romantic social interactions. All of these are scopes that modern society hyperfocuses on when race or gender are involved. That's the hypocritical aspect of it.
- burnished 4y ago
  Whats hypocritical about it? What are you possibly going to do about it that isn't already covered under a more general and better fitting "lets find ways to treat each other fairly that minimizes the opportunity for our monkey brains to fuck up and associate traits and characteristics with superficial features. there has got to be a way to do this, jesus christ"? By focusing on just that aspect, fuckability, you imply that there is something different about this trait that needs special attention outside of finding ways to deal with each other fairly despite the tendency to judge based on appearances. There isn't a way that doesn't start getting weird immediately.
  - ramblerman 4y ago
    Please go up and actually read the post you are responding to. It sounds like you agree with OP but are just being obstinate. OP is using "fuckability" as an example of something that doesn't get attention to highlight we shouldn't have any special categories and indeed just "treat each other fairly".

QuadmasterXLII 4y ago

For hundreds of years, among other injustices, it was a valid and socially acceptable business model in the Americas to buy a 13 year old girl, keep her locked up and rape her repeatedly, and sell her children ( your children! ) to recoup costs. Much of our policy is just reflections of that catastrophic trauma in the descendants of all involved.

lifeformed 4y ago

Two reasons: Short people have not faced anywhere near the scale of injustices as Black people in America historically have, so there is not much of a cultural desire to right the wrongs done to short people or people with slightly lower facial symmetry. Secondly, all those characteristics are subjective, and are continuous measurements, not discrete properties. How do you define short or unattractive?

xenocratus 4y ago
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/715141 https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/715141 > Notably, the magnitude of the earnings disparities along the perceived attractiveness continuum, net of controls, rivals and/or exceeds in magnitude the black-white race gap and, among African-Americans, the black-white race gap and the gender gap in earnings
- notahacker 4y ago
  That's equal to the black-white and gender gap after affirmative action programs and laws making penalising minorities and women in hiring processes illegal though....
  - xenocratus 4y ago
    Does it matter? The discussion above is about people obsessing right now about a subset of characteristics, while ignoring others. What happened happened, we should worry about what we can do right now to improve fairness.
feanaro 4y ago
How is race a discrete, and not a continuous, property? It seems quite obviously continuous too.
- ibrahimsow1 4y ago
  Race isn't a discrete category. Ethnicity is closer to what you're describing.

pydry 4y ago

This has been the same for all culturally accepted biases. Theyre all completely ok until theyre suddenly not and then a maelstrom of controversy accompanies its transition from ok to unacceptable.