Pretty Privilege

What is pretty privilege? Is it being able to get more opportunities and success in life solely based on one’s traditionally attractive features? Yes. It’s also being able to get praise for doing the bare minimum because you’re attractive. The saddest example of pretty privilege is doing numerous problematic things and being able to get away with it because of how drop dead gorgeous you are. In today’s world, there are countless examples of people who have pretty privilege. Perhaps it’s someone you know in real life, or someone you see on Instagram. Today, I want to talk about celebrities and social media influencers who have pretty privilege, and their cult-like fans who refuse to believe this kind of privilege exists. Keep in mind that it does exist.

Street Style Fashion

Starting off with something light, let’s talk about the constant praise of models like Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid, for their “unique” street style. Obviously these two are beautiful and they can wear whatever they want, but I think as a society we need to agree that wearing a crop top and baggy jeans isn’t redefining the meaning of fashion. Kendall and Bella, along with other supermodels receive constant hype over their bare minimum street style outfits, when there are other celebrities who actually have unique outfits, that are not only trendy, but also reflect their own personal style. Someone who has been killing the street style game for years is Rihanna. She not only follows the trends, but she sets them too. All of her outfits are the perfect mixture of creative, style, trend and always have that signature touch of Riri that we all know and love. Every time I go on Instagram, I see so many pictures of “model street style”, but I feel like I’m just looking at a teenage girl at the mall. These celebrities obviously have money and stylists, so you would think they could use a little help to dress nicer! At the end of the day, these models are already so stunning, with perfect bodies, and clothes are only the accessory, which is a life I would love to live.

Famous for Being Pretty

The biggest culprit of this phenomenon is Tik Tok. Tik Tok is like a machine that is constantly pumping out untalented, conventionally attractive people and making them famous for no reason. It feels like it has been a really long time since someone got famous for having some sort of talent, those days have been left behind us, sadly. I won’t lie, Tik Tok has some really funny, talented and creative people on it, but they aren’t the ones who receive celebrity status. Think about every talented tik toker you know, are they hanging out with the Kardashians? No, I didn’t think so either. When I go on Tik Tok, I’ll see videos of “attractive” people just lip syncing, with millions and million of likes. That’s it. They’re just LIP SYNCING. My brain fails to understand how we made people with no talent so famous.

Problematic Pretties

The most awful trait of pretty privilege is the constant avoidance of apologies, or getting away with doing something problematic. Let’s talk about Addison Rae for a moment, she’s conventionally attractive, skinny, and white. A couple years back, she retweeted a video of someone saying the BLM movement was a cult. Yes, she agreed to that disgusting, uneducated, and ignorant statement. She was seen at a BLM protest back in May, but never apologized for retweeting the video. I know that people can learn from their mistakes, but you can’t learn until you acknowledge what you did first. She never addressed the situation and people forgot about it because she’s pretty. You can’t tell me that the reason she got away with it wasn’t just because she’s “pretty”, because if you think about it, she didn’t do anything to fix the situation, and the only reason she got famous was because she’s pretty. She is now set to star in a high budget remake of She’s All That, despite everything she has done and refused to take accountability for. The same thing happened with Madison Beer. She was caught having a whole photoshoot at the BLM protest, and was even exposed by the photographer who did it. She didn’t open up to it nor apologize. What a surprise, she got away with it, because she’s pretty, skinny and white!

I think the lesson we learned today is, as long as you’re pretty, skinny, and white, you have infinite chances to succeed, no matter how bad of a person you are!