“Why pretty women succeed more as YouTubers than plain-looking ones?” Jessica asks

 

“I’ve been learning conversational English from four YouTubers,” Jessica says to Wati. “I noticed that beautiful YouTubers have more subscribers than the plain ones.” She gestures with an open palm. “Can you tell me why?” 

Wati takes a deep drag on her cigarette. “Simple reason. We humans are programmed to be attracted to beautiful faces.” She blows a stream of smoke upward. “Dr Alan Slater, a psychologist at the University of Exeter has found out that even babies prefer attractive faces. In the study, babies were shown two images side by side, one showing an attractive face of a model and the other an unattractive one. The results showed they spent more time looking at the attractive face than the less attractive one.” 

“So the cliché ‘there’s beauty in everyone’ is baloney?”

“Of course.” Wati jerks upright. “New York Times-bestselling author Anna Zaires once wrote ‘There is no beauty without ugliness, just as there’s no happiness without sorrow. We live in a world of contrasts, not absolutes.’ ”