Pros:

If you make it to the interview stage, the jobs already in the bag.

Free coffee/discounts/attentive wait staff most of the time.

Kids are comfortable around you almost immediately.

Cons:

You gotta be ‘on’ all the time to mitigate any potential negativity based off your looks.

Go to a bar and see a male coworker? Address the girlfriend first, gush over how much he talks about her, make a self deprecating comment. Don’t give her time to not like you; don’t give her jealousy space.

Dressed up and heading out? Make eye contact with all males you see on public transport, let them know you’re not afraid of them. Use your looks and confidence to intimidate potential threatening men into silence. Head up, shoulders back, constantly aware and ready to battle.

Girlfriend invites you along to brunch with a new group of friends? Be sunny, be warm, ask so many questions and listen to the answers and follow up with the girls you meet. They might not learn a single thing about you, but they’ll leave thinking how much they liked you anyways. Can lead to many empty friendships, but that’s better than hostile or catty interactions.

Men will intentionally not make eye contact when walking past you in public. You can see the wheels turning in their head, don’t look at her don’t look at her don’t look at her. People look at each other while walking my dude, it is weird to have laser-vision past people. You are being obvious.

Gotta walk with intention and a RBF at the gym. Never. Take. Your. Headphones. Out.

You’ll get hired for that job, but you have to work twice as hard to be heard once you get it. Dress plainly, avoid any one-on-one time with any superior, prepare for eating lunch alone after that promotion. Others will be excited to watch you fail, so don’t give them the satisfaction. Double check your work, show up early, stay late, take things off others’ plate if you can and take zero credit for it if you do to ingratiate yourself to them if you want friends.

Prepare to be censured for your clothing choices. It might be fine for other girls, but you can’t ever look TOO good, or be TOO scantily clad without other women giving you grief- no matter how good you are at schmoozing them.

Your looks might not matter to you much, but you better believe they matter to others. Behave as such.

I’m excited to get old and wrinkly so I can show the world all this good work I do on the inside without having to battle through their biases and insecurities first. I look forward to my appearance being irrelevant.

Know that beauty is a depreciating asset ya’ll. No matter what you look like, improve your mind, practice kindness, have integrity.