meanwhile

[rm]

Return of the ugly child question:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/03/health/03ugly.html?8hpib

"Although the researchers were unsure why, good-looking boys were usually kept in closer proximity to the adults taking care of them than were pretty girls. The researchers speculated that girls might be considered more competent and better able to act independently than boys of the same age."

Or perhaps we just expect girls to be stolen.

like in Kyrgyzstan

Comments

[labellerose.livejournal.com]

hmmm.... Well, that certainly goes a long way toward explaining my childhood...

**wry grin**

[lawnrrd]

When I first read the Kyrgyzstan story in the Times, I have to admit that I immediately thought of the O. Henry story The Ransom of Red Chief.

[drfardook.livejournal.com]

I'm not entirely sure how such a subjective study got published.

Ok, let's go into a shopping center and watch what parents do with their kids while we rate how cute we think the kids are. Sure... most scientific.

Of course the reporter could have left some information out of the story, but it just sounds like a bad study.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

Perhaps so. However, I've seen a number of studies that indicate both that there are general but definite standards of ugliness and beauty and that the impact of being ugly is at least as important as non-white when determining the sort of prejudice people will face (researchers have done the same equal-qualification job interview studies, with fairly definite results).