"Here's the math: If I did not look the way I do, then I would not be on TV or on two book covers. I would not have a beauty column or an Instagram with more than 100,000 followers. This does not mean that I have not put in work and effort and done my job well, but my beauty is not something that I earned. I did not work for it, yet it has opened doors for me, allowing me to be seen and heard. And for me to pretend that it does not exist denies the ways in which being perceived as pretty has contributed to my success and made the road a bit smoother."—Janet Mock, writing very frankly about the privileges she enjoys because of the ways in which her appearance hews closely to kyriarchal beauty standards.
Her entire essay, "Being Pretty Is a Privilege, But We Refuse to Acknowledge It," is worth your time to read.
It's also a very interesting juxtaposition to the dynamic Shonda Rhimes was describing, which I highlighted in yesterday's Quote of the Day.
[Related Reading: Ugly Girl.]
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