Beauty and the bank account

http://www.careerbuilder.com/Custom/MSN/CareerAdvice/ViewArticle.aspx?articleid=297&pf=true

Apparently if you are ugly you will make less money than your attractive coworkers. Kind of like if you are ugly you will also get fewer dates than your coworkers. As with any study, I have no idea what methodology they used or what criteria was used to define beauty, but I'm sure it has its flaws. I was pleased to see that they did acknowledge the fact that beauty might get you in the door, but if you are a complete wanker at your job you will get fired. All this talk of beauty reminds me of the show Beauty and the Geek.

http://thewb.warnerbros.com/shows/beauty-and-the-geek

Obviously the women are all considered beautiful, and the men quite geeky. Add to that enough stereotypes, put them all in a house, and you've got yourself a show. The geeks talk Star Trek and the women prance around in bikinis. What struck me about this show were the group dynamics, and the underlying genetics that we all have. We all want our offspring to have the best chance for survival, and people who have certain traits are more desirable to us. Some scientists say it is the asymmetry of the face and body, and other say like Shakira that “the hips don’t lie.” Which begs the question, which of our raunchy ancestors boned Neanderthals?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/01/15/humans.neanderthals.ap/index.html

My opinion is that attractive people might seem to get ahead, but unless they have other traits that make them employable, it’s unlikely that they will be able to remain at their job. Their attractiveness just gives them more chances and opportunities for advancement. I recall a TV network once did a study where they had one attractive woman and one “ugly” woman stand next to a broken down car by the road. The attractive woman got more than double the offers of assistance from passing motorists than the “ugly” woman. I don’t put too much emphasis on looks, there are many people I think are beautiful that others don’t, and some supermodels might be incredibly beautiful but if their brain has nothing intelligent to say they are not really “attractive” in all sense of the word.