"It hurts to be beautiful" is a cliché I grew up with. "It hurts not to be beautiful" is a truth I acquired on my own. But not until finishing the research that led to this Article did I begin to grasp the cumulative cost of our cultural preoccupation with appearance. Over a century ago, Charles Darwin concluded that when it came to beauty, "[n]o excuse is needed for treating the subject in some detail." That is even truer today; our global investment in appearance totals over $200 billion a year. Yet when it comes to discrimination based on appearance, an excuse for discussion does seem necessary, particularly for a legal scholar. Given all the serious problems confronting women—rape, domestic violence, poverty, child care, unequal pay, violations of international human rights—why focus on looks? Most people believe that bias based on beauty is inconsequential, inevitable, or unobjectionable.

They are wrong. Conventional wisdom understates the advantages that attractiveness confers, the costs of its pursuit, and the injustices that result. Many individuals pay a substantial price in time, money, and physical health. Although discrimination based on appearance is by no means our most serious form of bias, its impact is often far more invidious than we suppose. That is not to discount the positive aspects of beauty, including the pleasure that comes from self-expression. Nor is it to underestimate the biological role of sex appeal or the health and fitness benefits that can result from actions prompted by aesthetic concerns. Rather, the goal is to expose the price we pay for undue emphasis on appearance and the strategies we need to address it...