Pretty privilege is the privilege that comes from having a physical appearance that more closely matches the societal standards of beauty.
Watch or listen to the live discussion on Pretty Privilege, or keep scrolling to finish reading:
Review of Privilege
Before I dive into pretty privilege specifically, I want to review 4 important points about privilege in general.
1) Though some people are definitely more privileged than others, everyone reading/listening to this has some degree of privilege.
2) Privilege is not “all-or-nothing.” Many people act as if, you’re either always privileged all the time in every way or you have no privilege whatsoever or that the little you have doesn’t matter. Even a little bit of privilege can matter. We should not think that because I don’t experience the maximum amount of privilege in every moment of my life that the times when I am privileged are insignificant.
3) You don’t have to see or be aware of your privilege in order to have it and benefit from it.
4) It’s important not to equate having painful experiences with not having privilege. Pain and privilege can often coexist. It is common that having a form of privilege makes someone a target of resentment or backlash. For example, being wealthy might make you a target for theft and robbery, or false friends who only want to get close to you for your money. But those negative threats do not negate the privileged position of being wealthy.
If you’re looking for a speaker or facilitator for your next colorism event, learn about Dr. Sarah Webb’s colorism keynotes and workshops.
Pretty Privilege
I first became aware of this term while listening to a talk by Janet Mock. She talks about pretty privilege not only in general terms, but also at the specific intersections of being a mixed-with-Black, curvy yet thin, trans woman. She has some spot on statements that are worth including here:
“Pretty privilege can give way to more popularity, higher grades, more positive work reviews, and career advancement. People who are considered pretty are more likely to be hired, have higher salaries, and are less likely to be found guilty and are sentenced less harshly. Pretty people are perceived as smarter, healthier and more competent, and people treat pretty people better. Pretty privilege is also conditional and is not often extended to women who are trans, black and brown, disabled, older, and/or fat.”
-Janet Mock
Mock also acknowledges the downsides of being seen as a pretty girl such as objectification or stereotypes about pretty girls lacking intelligence or work ethic. But then she says something else that I think hits the nail on the head:
“I’ve noticed that it’s more acceptable for pretty women to complain about objectification, the male gaze, and the ways in which beauty can undermine intelligence and contribution, but rarely do pretty women complain about — or, rather, acknowledge — the access their prettiness extends to them.”
-Janet Mock
The last thing I’ll note about pretty privilege in general before I explain how it relates to colorism, texturism, and featurism, is that pretty privilege is more slippery than other forms of privilege because perceptions of beauty are so subjective. Just because we perceive someone as pretty, doesn’t mean they have pretty privilege. And just because we perceive someone as not pretty, doesn’t mean they do not have pretty privilege.
This is why I defined pretty privilege the way I did in the very first line of this post. It’s about how closely your unique combination of physical traits and the way you choose to package those traits match or do not match cultural ideas of “prettiness.”
Packaging Prettiness
Women and femmes in particular can take measures to increase their chances of being perceived as pretty. Wearing makeup is definitely the most common, but so is choosing specific hairstyles, usually long and straight, or specific types of clothing, such as high heels, corsets, push-up bras, etc.
However, girls and women whose natural features are already considered pretty, such as having a naturally even skin tone with no scarring, benefit from pretty privilege even without careful packaging. In fact, one of the advantages to pretty privilege is being able to still be seen as pretty when you’re not dressed up or fully made up.
Pretty Privilege and Men
Although “pretty” is a gendered term usually deemed a feminine, female, girl, woman descriptor, men and masculine presenting individuals do have a version of this as well.
I think about this in relation to colorism a lot because many dark-skinned men are considered heart throbs, but they always have facial features typically associated with white men–thinner noses and lips. They also tend to have more defined facial structure in general and are either slim or very fit.
However, patriarchal society does not judge or police men based on perceived attractiveness nearly as much as women.
Pretty Privilege and Colorism, Featurism, and Texturism,
When taking into account colorism, featurism, and texturism, the basic structure of pretty privilege is that people of color with lighter skin, narrower noses, thinner lips, lighter eye color, and looser curls or straighter hair, benefit the most from pretty privilege. These features are generally deemed inherently desirable and inherently pretty.
Case in point, when Black folks say that an interracial couple will have “pretty babies,” they are using shorthand for “light skin, thin features, loosely curled hair, etc.” Without even knowing what a child will actually look like, folks automatically assume they will be “pretty” as long as they have those features.
So light-skinned people are more likely to benefit from pretty privilege because lighter skin is seen as inherently prettier. But a light skinned person with a wide nose and type 4 hair or large lips will not have the same degree of pretty privilege as someone their same color but with a slim nose and green eyes.
And while darker skin is not the societal idea of pretty, a dark-skinned girl with hazel eyes, or long hair, or a slim nose, and a slender frame could be privileged relative to other dark-skinned girls. I think, Tatyana Ali, Tika Sumpter, Kesha Knight Pulliam, Aja Naomi King, and even Issa Rae are iconic for this. Even though these women are dark-skinned, their features and hair have allowed them to play certain roles.
I also think about these quotes from Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair:
“Mama says she doesn’t know where I was when they were handing out color and hair. . . . But at least I’ve got nice features, she’s thankful for that . . . . she’s glad I don’t have a wide nose and big lips like Grandma and other colored people.”
-April Sinclair, Coffee Will Make You Black
And she later makes the opposite observation:
“Denise had some meat on her bones, large eyes, a wide nose, full lips, and was light-skinned. Mama would call Denise “yellow-wasted.” That’s what she called light-skinned people with hair nappy enough to be straightened and/or African features.”
-April Sinclair, Coffee Will Make You Black
Pretty, again, is a gendered term, and so is skin tone. Because light skin is associated with femininity and “pretty” is considered a feminine trait, these correlations contribute to the perception of light-skinned people as pretty. And because dark-skin is masculinized, it’s less likely to be associated with prettiness.