An Ongoing Attraction
Ruminating on "Shallow Hal" and the movie's fusillade of fat jokes, I began to wonder exactly what makes for an attractive external shell. How much does weight factor into the ratings game, especially in a land like America where 90% of the populace has over 30% bodyfat? Just who are these viewers who point fingers and laugh with their bowls-full-of-jelly bellies?
At this time, I had recently stumbled upon the Hot or Not website (www.hotornot.com), and was intrigued at the ratings system, my own reaction to rating others' images, and how my perceptions differed from the crowd's ratings. Why are some judged so near a perfect 10, and some, so average to my reckoning, dismissed so immediately as a perfectly imperfect 1? How is this appearance thing gauged?
And, to be honest, I poked my own self in the gut, wondering how I'd rate.
Don't we all. Why else put one's image up on a virtual bullseye like Hot or Not? I'm not seeking attention. Maybe, deep down, I still have the body image of a 13 year old. Maybe, but I don't believe so. Using my own images seemed more honest than doctoring Brad Pitt's, or any of my unsuspecting friends'. Not as much fun, but more fair.
Before continuing, take 5 minutes and visit Hot or Not to get a feel for the ratings process. The site is financed on banner ads and, I suspect, an underlying vortex into some dating service for lonely people fixated on externals. You may find it interesting, or trite, or disturbing. I find Hot or Not all of these. You have been warned.
Let the pseudo-scientific experimentation begin with, appropriately, a test of Integrity.
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