The YouGov Body Image Study started by asking the public how much physical appearance matters in today’s society. The vast majority of people in the UK – 89% – say physical appearance matters, either a great deal (46%) or somewhat (43%).
This view is held more by women than men. Half of the women (52%) say physical appearance nowadays matters ‘a great deal’, compared to 39% of men who say the same. This view is particularly prevalent among 16-24-year-old women, where six in ten (61%) share this opinion.
Just 9% of Britons say that physical appearance doesn’t matter very much or at all today.
Our research reveals that nearly nine in ten Britons (87%) think that those who are better looking are treated more favourably because of their good looks. Just 5% think those who are better looking are treated neither favourably nor unfavourably and 3% think they are treated less favourably.
Men aged 16-24 are less likely than women in the same age cohort (80% vs 91%) to think pretty people are treated better, as do 25-39-year-old men (81%) when compared to women the same age (89%). This distinction, however, disappears among older age groups: 88% of men vs 90% women aged 40-59 both say more attractive people get better treatment, and so do 87% of men vs 86% women aged 60 and older.
If people are treated differently because of their looks, then it makes sense that looks could affect people’s personalities. Two-thirds of of Britons (68%) think that a person’s looks make a difference to their personality, including 16% who it has a “great deal” of impact.
The older people are, the more likely they are to think that looks impact personality: 61% of those aged 16-24 compared to 69% of those aged over 40.
A quarter (25%) think that looks don’t have much or any impact on the way somebody behaves as a person.
The meaning of beauty and whether it is universal or not has been widely debated.
Seven out of ten Britons (69%) think physical beauty is mostly subjective – that is to say it is more dependent on a person’s own feelings and opinions. Fewer than one in five (18%) think that beauty is more objective. There is a notable gap between young and old men when it comes to this question: among men 60 and older, 75% think beauty is mostly subjective, while this view is shared by 65% of men aged 16-24.
Seven out of ten Britons (69%) think men and women perceive physical beauty differently. Women (74%) are more likely than men (64%) to hold this view, and 16-24-year-old women in particular are more likely to think so compared to 16-24 year old men (74% vs 56%).
Only a quarter of men (26%) and one in five women (19%) think both genders have similar understandings of beauty.
This article is part of a wider study conducted by YouGov: