At the Beheld, Autumn Whitefield-Madrano discusses how prettiness can become an implicit contract in which small favors come at the cost of a broader complicity:
I’ve never consciously exploited being a young-enough, attractive-enough woman for personal gain. But that’s just it: I’ve never consciously done it. How many times have I told myself that I’m just being friendly—and meant it! I am a friendly person!—quietly knowing that on the back end there’s a small reward that I might not get if I weren’t a young-enough, attractive-enough woman?
