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Although beauty is subjective, a “looks do matter” study from Rice University has shown that women who meet the certain “beauty” criteria experience more success in life.
As F. Scott Fitzgerald told his daughter in a letter of advice, “A social success is a pretty girl who plays her cards as carefully as if she were plain.”
Marilyn Monroe is one woman in history who can credit her beauty for her fame and success. In almost every image of Marilyn Monroe, she’s flaunting her voluptuous body in tightly-fit apparel. She’s the ultimate Hollywood sex symbol, who personifies the “dumb blonde” character in most of her films, which help normalize the notion that beauty and intelligence are mutually exclusive.
There’s also evidence to suggest that beautiful people don’t have to work as hard to get what they want out of life, like a job, or a date.
Students at Rice University used an eye-tracking technology to compare the job interview scores of applicants with facial scars, blemishes, and deformations, to those without. The results concluded that “looks do matter” when it comes to getting hired, and that clear skin and symmetrical faces will more likely earn you positive scores during a job interview.
So what does this all mean for the savvy and beautiful woman? Should beautiful women act oblivious to their looks?
Dr. Nancy Etcoff, a psychologist at Harvard Medical school, believes that “beauty ushers women to a place men want them, out of the power structure,” in her book “Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty.” She goes on to argue that beauty has no place in intellectual discourse because it doesn’t solve or explain anything, but is rather insignificant.
This became true for Marilyn Monroe later on in her career when she couldn’t depend on her sex appeal to get her a raise with Twentieth Century Fox in 1955. She responded by starting her own production company which successfully produced the films “Bus Stop” and “The Prince and The Showgirl.”
So would F. Scott Fitzgerald deem Marilyn’s move as a social success even though she had already earned a reputation as Hollywood’s blonde bombshell, which is a far cry from “playing her cards as if she were plain?”
READ MORE: You’ll Be Shocked at Marilyn Monroe’s Secret Talent
Fitzgerald passed away in 1940, so we’ll never know for sure. But we can draw our own conclusions by acknowledging Marilyn’s individual growth when broke ties with the studios and took control of her destiny.
Self-reliance became the key to her success. Other beautiful and capable woman can learn by example. These women will reject generalizations that beautiful women tend to be ignorant, spoiled, lazy, or foolish. With her dignity intact and a greater sense of self-awareness, she was no longer a pure play sex object defined by her looks. While Marilyn is an extreme case, it stands to reason that no matter how beautiful you are… perhaps, the best career decision is to put your brains first.
This must’ve been F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wish for his daughter.
