There's theoretical lookism and applied lookism. I've blogged more about the former than the latter. The latter includes beauty makeup and cosmetic surgery, among other things.Lookism goes to the movies.Because many of you have asked for Before and After pictures of famous faces, not just cleft lip and palate kids, I looked around for some.Mostly I found Before and After pics of movie stars. And specifically pics of female actors. They are pressured more than male actors to continue looking good … [Read more...]
Has Trump really caused an increase in bullying?
This article by an editor at Reason.Com appears to be a fair, "let's-wait-and-see" assessment of the causes of the recent spike in bullying. That's why I'm posting it here in its entirety.Most of us are amateur social scientists to the extent that we know the difference between randomly selected subjects in a study and self-selected ones. That's the problem here.The author of the article, Robby Soave is an editor at reason.com.Explaining the spike in bullying."The Southern Poverty Law Center … [Read more...]
Cleft lip charity to benefit from Trump’s “Apprentice.”
Besides revelations regarding Trump's cabinet picks, last week saw news about his signature TV show, "The Apprentice." Trump plans to be executive producer of his hit NBC show which will be hosted by none-other-than Arnold Schwartzenegger starting January2, 2017.Many feel Trump should focus on the new job he won in his stunning election upset. But, there is … [Read more...]
Facial symmetry & why some clowns scare us.
Stephen King's It— a 1000 page epic of a shape-shifting evil from beyond time— features a clown named Pennywise. The clown doesn't This dancing clown grins through all the horror and gore in It and exudes malevolent wit. While King’s villains are often frightening, Pennywise's wit approaches camp without really being funny.Zach Handlen describes It as "set largely in a single small town in Maine. [W] hile it spans decades, the main action takes place in two distinct time periods.—1958, which … [Read more...]
Facial symmetry is sexy, but why?
Facial symmetry has been felt to be attractive, even sexy, because our DNA correlates symmetry with good health. But Stephanie Pappas reports on a recent study that calls all this into question:Despite the widespread assumption that symmetry might be a sign of good health, studies have turned up little evidence of a link between the two. A few small studies have linked facial asymmetry with some short-term health woes, like scratchy throats, but many others have found no links at all.However, … [Read more...]
Measuring facial symmetry in cleft lip kids and everyday people.
How the heck did Dr. Coe manage to visualize the tangle of my oral tissue and muscle when he sewed me—Humpty Dumpty— back together? As I wrote in my memoir, "With final form and functionality in mind, Dr. Coe set about joining the two sides of my face. The union had to be exactly right so that when the scars contracted, they would not notch the red vermillion of my lip or distort the area between my lip and nose. ...All this had to be figured out fast, as tissues begin to swell … [Read more...]
“Lookism” and dishonesty about ugliness.
In my last blog, I wrote about the kids edition of "Ugly." Today, I'm writing about the adult version that brings up a complicated lookism issue: can we be butt-ugly honest about the role of looks in society?Ugly & Lookism.First, let's hear from the "subject" of this inquiry, Robert Hoge.To hear Hoge tell it, he was born with a giant tumor on his forehead, severely distorted facial features, and legs that were twisted and almost useless. His mother refused to look at him when he was born, … [Read more...]