Does anyone else have trouble seeing "ugly"?

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Whenever I see people/pictures of people that other people have deemed to be ugly, I have trouble seeing what's so ugly about them. I can see that they look different from widely held standards of beauty, but I don't feel any sort of negative response to seeing them.

Is anyone else like this?

I can see what other people *mean* when they say "ugly", but I cannot recall ever having thought of anyone as actually being ugly. I have seen some ugly scars and deformities people have had, but even those kinds of things do not qualify those *people* as being ugly. However, I must admit to a certain perception of "beauty" ... yet I still would not call that a "standard" of any kind.

I second every single thing in this post. Couldn't have explained it better.

I'm like that.

No, I know it when I see it.

Yes, my perception of beauty and ugliness are definitely different from the norm. I'm repelled by vulgarity though.

Yes and no. I'm usually able to pick out features that aren't conventionally pretty if asked, but that doesn't necessarily make them unattractive to me, though I do find some people (with a broad range of features) unattractive. Naturally, I don't point it out (it would be rude), but it happens. I just ignore it when it does. Typically though, I only see "ugly" (which is worse than unattractive to me) if I strongly dislike a person.

True.

Some years ago there was a "program" explaining the perceptions of beauty; it highlighted a 'symmetry' involved with this, along with the 'proportions' relative to one another,( as the nuts and bolts of this phenomenon). They showed Tom Cruise's face as an example of this beauty.

My inclination is to see someone with the more important inner beauty features. The external is meaningless to me.

I've known someone who ditched his wife for the younger baby doll, only to lament later to me that she and his ex were 'no different' and the attraction became old hat too. (this tore the kids apart).
Materialistic cultures engender this in people, as they are always on the hunt for something better. I've heard men say , "yeah, I'll just trade her in on a new when the time comes." Pretty home, pretty wife, pretty car are all trophys to keep up with the "Jonses," who is someone who doesn't like you anyways . How deep, as there is nothing of value outside of this.... (sarcasm).

Last edited by Mdyar on 31 Oct 2010, 1:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

I can look at a person and tell if they are ugly by conventional standards. However, I rarely see a person and think "UGLY!" Actually that has only happened a few times with pictures of people purposefully making stupid/ugly faces. I certainly do not think everyone is beautiful though. I am very visual and appreciate things I find visually appealing, but I don't find many things, human or otherwise, visually repulsive.

My brother is constantly saying "Wow, she's ugly!" After several years, I think I finally understand that when he and many other people say someone is ugly, it means the person simply isn't attractive enough for them to want to date/have sex with. Oddly, I have extremely high standards for how a person must look for me to be attracted to them in that way, but not being hyper attractive and even being pretty far down on the spectrum of sexually appealing by my own standards does not make someone "ugly" to me.

I don't think anyone is ugly. They have to look really really unattractive to be ugly and I haven't seen that yet.

Instead I view people as unattractive or attractive. I also say average looking.

Yes. I find most people very beautiful. If they are callous toward others, that can damage my opinion somewhat. In general though, I have a hard time seeing ugly. But then I often like things that others might see as ugly because I think they're neat. Like beaky, hawk like noses or overbites.

I can see what people mean by "ugly", and I can see what people mean by "beauty", but some of the most beautiful people I've ever known have not been physically beautiful at all. My Granny, for example, was not at all beautiful, but you'd never know it, because she had such a wonderful smile, and loved us all with such intensity that she became the most beautiful creature in the room.

I remember her telling me when I was little, "you get the face you deserve." Someone who spends their life smiling and loving people will be beautiful, no matter what.

Physical beauty is just temporary anyway. Inner beauty and strength is eternal.

That's really beautiful and so true. You can make yourself pretty or not with what's in your mind. When I was 18 I realized that everyone around me was very beautiful, especially my granny.

I find humans ugly.

I can only stand looking at the people I like.

I'm a funny one.

seeing beauty is a matter of love and will. but i am not there yet. when i see ugly, i am sure ugly sees me as uglier. the hideous spider that i usher out of my house probably thinks i am even more horrifying in my ugliness.

I like ugly: it's so much more interesting and available. Imagine being able to get a whole person just because their facial features are oddly spaced. I call that a real bargain.

On the other hand, I can't stand old, and oddly enough, this feeling has grown stronger as I've aged. People of an age that used to make them look distingushed to me now look like Dance of Death illustrations. I'm grateful that I don't believe what's in the mirror is really me.