The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Sept 17 that science suggests why certain politicians win election to the highest offices in the land. Might this come into play in the GOP primaries here in the US? 'You betcha,' to use one of the fave expressions of Sarah Palin, a veteran of a recent campaign for VP (along with Senator John McCain for POTUS).Lookism research findings apply to America as well as Australia.A former beauty queen, Palin watched as lookism reared its ugly head recently when … [Read more...]
We’re all guilty of lookism regarding severe disfigurements.
Psychologist Irvin Rock perceptively wrote in 1974: "Even photos of familiar faces -- famous people like Franklin D Roosevelt, for instance -- will look unsettling when flipped upside down. Just as, if you tip a square enough it stops being a square and starts becoming a diamond, so rotating a face makes it seem less like a face. The mind can't make immediate sense of the inverted features, and reacts with alarm. A bigger change, such as taking away the nose, transforms the face severely enough … [Read more...]
Apps that let you enhance your selfies———lookism gone wild?
Have lookism apps gone too far, even in a selfie world? As if selfies aren't enough of an indulgence, we now have apps that let narcissists enhance their selfies from head to toe. An "instaglam" app, called Bright eyes: clean up your image with Perfect365 ModiFace, is a powerhouse in the virtual makeover world. The app developers* are responsible for an app which lets people try on make up and another which allows one to "virtually" whiten ones teeth (Virtual Dentist). The Perfect365 … [Read more...]
Shocking before/after celeb photos. Lookism or what?
Lindsay Lohan, George Clooney, Gwen Stefani, Britney Spears, Kourtney Kardasian, Kate Moss, Rachel McAdams, Kim Catrall. Celebrity Photos Before and After Photoshop. What do you make of the photoshopping in these pictures, offered online recently? Shocking? Ho hum? Just more evidence that sexist males control the media? And what affects you most? The blatant sexism? The agism on display where photo editors removed crows' feet, smile lines, and other signs of age and/or personality? … [Read more...]
Lest you think lookism is a girl thing. . .
Soccer Gods must be handsome. Sportswriter Tom Dart has just shown us that lookism can despoil the male world as well as the female world. He used to cover World Cups for The Times of London, where he was a soccer writer for over a decade. However, since moving to Texas he has covered U.S. sports for outlets including The Guardian and SI.com. Here's his Mar 2, 2015 story in its entirety. It's from his soccer gods blog: Real Madrid accused of looks-ism by Barcelona … [Read more...]
Can lookism infect a “veiled” society?
Journalist Farahnaz Zahidi , a sub-editor at The Express Tribune in Karachi, has asserted that lookism is an issue in Pakistan. I suggested in my last blog that —contrary to some assertions—few people in Pakistan would be familiar enough with female faces for lookism to be a problem in that country. (Unfairly, lookism swirls primarily around female faces, tho male faces—and bodies of both genders—come into play sometimes.) To make my case, I stated that there were plenty of Muslims in … [Read more...]
Fairest of ’em all? Is lookism also a problem in Islam?
Pakistan has the second largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia. Islam is the official religion of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.This means many women cover their faces partly or fully in public. Lookism in Pakistan? In light of these figures, a lot of women probably wear veils in Pakistan. Thus, it's amazing that lookism is a problem in this Islamic country, just as it is in the West. While I've not delved into all the whys and wherefores of "veiling" women's faces, I do … [Read more...]