Very interesing.
Gonna post this here just in case reddit will delete this, it usually doesn't allow truth to exist for too long.
Your Anatomy is Your Destiny
Discrimination
When I say "a man's looks dictate every aspect of his life," people say "oh, insecure people who worry about that stuff are so unhinged."
I want to draw your attention to an
article in the New York Times written all the way back in 1981.
This is interesting because it's an old article from 40 years ago that has a lot of insight into the problems men face today. This was written by a female university professor.
When I hear people say "oh, you're just an inkwell dude," I have to ask: is she an inkwell as well? Are you gonna call her one too?
The article reads:
"Minneapolis studies of physical attractiveness show that people do, in fact, judge a book by its cover, often with dramatic effects on those being judged. The findings suggest that expectations based on physical attractiveness can become self-fulfilling prophecies that may strongly influence the course of a person's life."
Precisely. You might even say "
determine the course of a person's life."
Most people are usually only concerned about how they're perceived by the opposite sex, but your
looks dictate other aspects of your life as well.
When you say this out loud,
people don't like it because it goes against their core belief that
people are in charge of their futures.
But looks indeed do strongly influence the course of a person's life.
Looks often trigger a chain reaction. One thing triggers another and leads to the next.
Looks are really such a major determining factor of
every avenue of life.
I'm not saying you can't accomplish something great otherwise, but you'll have to be exceptionally talented and hardworking.
You'll have to work twice as hard to get the same chances and opportunities.
"Dr. Berscheid said the importance of physical attractiveness is growing and will continue to grow as increases in geographic mobility, frequent job changes and divorce subject more people to 'onetime' or 'few-time' interactions with others, in which they are judged on the basis of first impressions."
What she said indeed came to pass, but I'm sure even she was surprised at the
magnitude of it.
"The psychologist, who has been studying the effects of physical attractiveness for the last 15 years, said the findings 'give new dimensions to Freud's statement that "Anatomy is destiny."'"
This was really insightful coming from her, considering that it's an article from 1981. She talked about these issues in the 60s, about the importance of looks, how it shapes other aspects of your life, how it'll be even more important in the future.
And she was proven right.
"'Genetic determinism is anathema to Americans, who want to believe everyone is born equal, with an equal chance for a happy life,' Dr. Berscheid remarked in an interview here. 'It's simply not so. The most important factors governing success in life are genetically determined: appearance, intelligence, sex and height.' She cited a continuing study at the University of Minnesota of identical twins who had been reared apart. The study, she says, is showing that 'genetically identical children turn out to be very similar even though they grow up in very different environments.'"
She almost nailed it. The idea of genetic determinism is indeed anathema to most people on earth, not only Americans. It's an uncomfortable idea. It challenges the validity of a lot of moral values and beliefs in society that comtemporary laws stand up on:
free will,
justice,
the belief that we're in charge of our lives and decisions,
the idea that we are responsible for our fates,
the notion of objective right and wrong, etc.
The idea of genetic determinism brings a lot of these ideas into question.
The most important factor is indeed looks, first and foremost, which is genetics.
Then, I'd say opportunities and environment, rather than sheer intelligence, are the next most important. I slightly disagree with her here.
Which country you were born in,
your race,
which family you were born into, all of which are determined by luck.
Next in order, according to Berschied, is a person's sex. That is true, but it's the other way around.
It's girls who have a head start over boys.
Then again, she was born in 1936, and she grew up in the 1940s and 1950s when
women didn't have de facto equality, so I'm gonna give her a pass here.
"The preferential treatment of physically attractive people starts right after birth, Dr. Berscheid noted, and continues throughout childhood, adolescence and into adulthood. These are among the more telling research findings, all of which involved normal-looking people of varying degrees of attractiveness:"
Keep in mind that scientifically more airtight studies that came out in the last 40 years
not only confirm the aforementioned evidence, but also show that looks are
even more important than previously thought.
The rabbit hole goes even deeper. A baby born yesterday knows it's over for you.
This is beyond brutal, man.
"As women become more independent socially and economically, Dr. Berscheid sees them placing a greater emphasis on the attractiveness of men, 'who are now in the "meat market" just like women have always been.' She cited the recent advent of male centerfolds and male nude dancers as examples of women's interests in how men look.
Another factor has been the importance women today place on love as a criterion for choosing a mate. In 1967 only 24 percent of women questioned said they would marry only if they were in love, but a decade later, 80 percent said 'being in love' was a necessary condition for marriage."
She really saw it coming considering that she was born in 1936 and grew up in the 1950s. But even she likely underestimated the
effects of looks,
the invention of dating apps, and
more in the new millennium.
"'When romantic love becomes an important factor in social choice, physical attractiveness becomes important also,' Dr. Berscheid told a symposium on the psychological aspects of facial form last year. The symposium brought together plastic surgeons, dentists and others who produce facial changes that often affect patients more powerfully than the functional defects they correct.
Sometimes patients react badly -'with pain and bewilderment' - to significant improvements in their appearance, Dr. Berscheid told the meeting at the University of Michigan. This reaction could result from the realization that
we are not just loved for ourselves but for what we look like, she suggested."
This is a tough pill to swallow for a lot of people.
"Dr. Berscheid believes there is a hazard inherent in denying the impact of physical attractiveness: 'Unattractive children who are unpopular may wrongly attribute their lack of popularity to some flaw in their character or personality,' she says. Such an error, she believes, could result in lasting and painful scars."
Again, she nails it. It happens all the time.
Which is why a lot of naive men fall victim to PUAs and redpill scammers. Those guys blame themselves: "oh, I must be doing something wrong," when
it's usually about their looks.
The main takeaway is this:
Anatomy is destiny, and you can't really fight destiny.
So don't be a free agent in life. Let the blackpill guide you.