It is not only her clothing and demeanor. She actually asks in an entirely different way when dressed down or dressed up. With the bus, for example, when she is dressed down she stands apologetically asking "can I get in free?" Whereas dressed up she just smiles and walks past the driver giving him a choice of making a scene or ignoring her behavior. With the taxi dressed down she just pleads apologetically "can I ride free?" Who wouldn't say no? Dressed up she phrases it in a way that is more designed for agreement. "Could I just jump in literally only to that bridge..." It's hard to say whether this is the result of the costume giving her more confidence or whether she wants to have success in making her point with the film she is doing. If there was no difference at all it might be interesting from a scholarly stand point, but it wouldn't make a good viral video.

What I feel is going through their mind as I'm watching is also that they see her plain self as "the normal public", the people they serve everyday, hence they want that Normal Person to pay them, because if she doesn't pay, none should pay. And they see her sexy self as an exception, they seem to actually pause and consider the person in particular, and not as in the flux of people going through their business (and that they might want to be considered back by this person is .. well, an incentive). It's a total difference, between treating people as part of crowd or individuals...

I'm a young girl and I really need to know:
does life suck as an unattractive woman?

While I agree that she does act a bit differently in each outfit--more so in the beginning of the clip than the end, I think that it still shows what studies have shown for years--that more "attractive" people are well received. The 30 Rock example of "The Bubble" with Jon Hamm is a great exaggeration of this concept.

Additionally, I thought this was a great--albeit not "scholarly"--approach to open dialogue about how appearance matters--especially with women. This video was interesting because it is literally the same person, just with different clothes, hair, and makeup (and let's face it, a bit of a different attitude). While watching it her at the bar, I wanted her to go and change into the "dowdy" version while the same folks were there. That would've been really interesting to see.

This is not just a female problem. As an unattractive man, it's hard to get any attention from the ladies.

But men, can't just go make themselves look pretty like most women can. We have to get rich and and powerful to get anything from the opposite sex.

I have to walk around with a wad of $100s and a magnum condom just to noticed, and I still must settle for the scraps.

In most of the scenes, we don't get a side-by-side comparison of how she approaches people or asks. In every case, when she is dolled up, she doesn't use the word free. The only exception was at the ice cream stand, and then she is turned down except for a small flake. At the bar, she is very flirty when she is dolled up. Was she approached by the men or were they simply standing near her? When she is "dowdy" there aren't very many people in the bar at all. Too much variation in the experimental methods.

It's not that I don't buy the theory, it's that I don't buy her experiment. This is a woman who, in her area (England?), is already relatively conventionally attractive: tall, thin, long flowing hair, young, and WHITE. This is not "plain" vs. "pretty," this is the same conventionally attractive girl going out twice, once dressed in a trendy, flattering outfit, and once dressed like she's been scrubbing floors all day. This makes the assumption that ANY attractive girl who dresses like a hobo will be ignored, and ANY girl who puts on a miniskirt and heels and makeup will get nice things. That's flat out untrue. As someone who in many ways is incapable of fitting into cultural norms of beauty, despite (I think) being pretty attractive, this wouldn't work on someone else. If she was unusually attractive (as opposed to relatively attractive and well within cultural norms), and probably blonde, she would be able to get drinks at a bar, even if she was dressed like a hobo and visibly filthy. Even though I dress more like her "attractive" persona on a daily basis (minus the heels), I have never been offered a drink or a free item like that in my life, and HAVE been passed up for more conventionally attractive girls, including some who were wearing torn sweatpants, no makeup, and literally, visibly unclean. What's the difference? I am black, and have short "ugly" hair, and no matter how I dress or what makeup I wear, I will not get the special treatment she did here, at least not in the same scenarios. The same would be true for, say, an overweight woman or a woman who was obviously much older.

And yes, she ABSOLUTELY acts differently in many of those situations. I'm writing off the bus situation AND the carousel situation entirely. Asking "can I get on the bus for free" NEVER works, unless maybe if you're a small child. Just getting on with a crowd of people and not saying anything works fairly often, no matter what you look like, if you're subtle enough. I know people of every attractiveness level who've snuck on to public transportation. Also, when she's wearing the "attractive" clothes, her body language is significantly more flirtatious and her manner of speaking is more pleasant. When she's wearing her "plain" clothes, she is either quiet and reserved, or just walks up and say "can I have X for free?" When she's dressed up, she smiles, she cocks her hip out, she swings her legs, and her manner of speaking is more coy. At the carousel? The person who denied her was a woman. Now, I can't ASSUME that the woman at the ticket booth is straight, but everyone who gave her something free was a man, and probably responding to the flirting just as much as the clothes and makeup.

This is going to be the largest problem that feminism needs to address and discuss. This is female privilege, and a fair portion of why society which has seemed so "imbalanced" in the worldview of feminism, is actually stable and self-sustaining. Sex is power, and women hold that power, use that power, and know that power. Though they deny it or pretend to be unaware of it or assume that it doesn't work for them, it's expressed day by day by every woman in this society because that is how we raise and teach our women. Feminism, rather than addressing this and attempting to eliminate this power struggle, actually has encouraged women to use their sex, to embrace it, to be proud of the label "slut."

It's gender warfare, and all the more nefarious because nearly every woman denies doing it.

I think she looks pretty attractive either way...

When women ask me if I am going to buy them a drink I ask them if they are going to buy me one. I don't care what she looks like. I don't know you, so why are we paying for each other's food or drink?

I'm surprised that no one else has made the observation that perhaps the clothes themselves influence the way she feels. She goes into the experiment conciously knowing that this is her sexy look and that this is her ugly look. How can that not influence the way you interact with people? It sets your self-esteem at a certain level and just try walking around flirty and confident with, 'I am ugly' in your head. Which greatly portrays how people who are told that they are not conventially attractive feel on a daily basis. In contrast, if you have, "I am very attracive right now' in your head, of course you're going to be happy, flirty and more confident with yourself. You look hot, you know you look hot and people are giving you free stuff. It's hard not to feel great. My point is that maybe she wasn't asking different to make her experiment go her way, but she gnuinely felt different in those cloths and mind sets. Maybe?

I think that Casey has a certain point.

While it is not true that every woman has this power and uses and abuses it, it is true that this is an issue us Feminists have avoided and we should probably put some thought into this.

This perceived power is the source of some of the hatred and fear displayed against women.

I did something very similar to this. I usually dress in comfortable, androgynous clothes, have short hair, don't shave, no makeup, etc. One day on a whim I decided to see what life would be like if I "made an effort" with my appearance. I borrowed a feminine form-fitting halter top dress, combed my hair, wore jewelry, and smiled at everyone that passed me at the grocery store. The change was unbelievable. People talked to me, smiled back at me, and seemed generally more aware of my presence.

Fortunately, people are usually still nice to me when I dress the way I normally do, but this was different. It was very clear that my clothes and attitude were crucial to the attention I got. I'm not sure anyone was thinking I was "sexy" but embracing femininity (plus being young and white, as someone mentioned above) was enough. I felt so much more visible. I didn't like it, but that's just me.

I wasn't even doing it perfectly either, what with my hairy legs and Chacos.

I actually think her "acting differently" in the two personas has more to do with how others are reacting to her visually. When the ice cream guy is acting flirty, she can act flirty in response and get a free candy. When the bus driver gives her the eye she doesn't even have to talk to him to get a free ride. When everyone's initial reaction is to treat you better you act differently because you're being treated differently to start with.

I don't actually believe that she is getting anything for free here. There is actually a huge cost, and that is her humanity. People are giving her things in exchange for permission to see her as an object, and not a person. This is very clear in the end of the video, when the man buying her champagne is dominating the physical space all around her. although she calls him "very nice" this could quickly turn into an assault or rape situation for her. the price that women pay for being considered physically attractive is not addressed in this video.

First off, let me say that I find these types of articles very interesting and a way to incite discourse about the benefits of a conventionally attractive appearance. However, I hope I don't sound privileged when I say that it's important to not treat people differently based on attractiveness in EITHER direction.

Over the past 2 years, I've had a not conventionally attractive coworker who will periodically give speeches on how all the women in our workplace (except her, naturally) were hired for their looks. She has asked me, point blank, out of nowhere, "Do you think [boss] hired you for your boobs?" And although I work hard and consider myself reasonably intelligent, I am accused of getting by only on looks and nothing else. For the record, I'm very average-looking, albeit with a large chest. When this happens, I feel belittled and objectified.

Has this happened to anyone else? Again, I hope I don't sound like I'm flaunting some real or imagined privilege in any way, I'm just curious, I think the commenters have great insights and I'd like to know if other people could shed light on what I'm experiencing.

nn