Are You Ugly? Do You Have A Good Life?

Are you beautiful? Is it enough?

Readers! I’m researching an upcoming Ask Ugly column and would love your help.

A young woman is seeking advice re: how to accept that she isn’t “one of the beautiful ones” and therefore may not experience the professional and romantic successes of her “prettier” peers. What she’s really asking is, I think, Is it possible to have a “bad” face and a good life?

Of course, I could (and will) cite studies on pretty privilege and lookism; analyze one of my favorite Heather Widdows quotes (“The extent to which beauty is believed to deliver the goods of the good life goes far beyond what beauty actually delivers”); and unpack the differences between beauty and appearance, insecurity and inequality, etc. while acknowledging that ideas of “good looks” and “the good life” are subjective and ever-changing. I know reality is messier and more hopeful than a list of definitions and data points, though. So: Will you answer this (anonymous) poll on the link between beauty and “the good life” for me?

The poll is a quick multiple choice form. For those who are willing, there’s also room to elaborate. Tell me how beauty labor has benefited you, how it’s destroyed you, how it’s helped you at work, how it’s hurt your relationships! Tell me that you’re ugly and desperately loved, or gorgeous and desperately jealous, or average-looking and unbothered! Tell me you regret being deep in cosmetic debt, or tell me it’s totally worth it! Whatever!

(Note this is a highly unscientific poll. I will not be using the collected information to make general claims; I’m more interested in digging into individual answers.)

Consider contributing to the research here. And again, it’s anonymous! Answer freely and forward to a friend.