The ‘Sexy but Ugly’ trend takes over social media

Written By Elizabeth Shaffer

We all know the one friend who obsesses over one of the following celebrities: Pete Davidson, Post Malone, Benedict Cumberbatch, Adam Driver, Jeff Goldblum or Rami Malek. They all hold a spot in the “Unattractive but Attractive” club. The “Sexy but Ugly” society. Whatever you want to call it, we all know what it is. It’s the friend who thinks Pete Davidson is the hottest man alive and it makes you stop and think about if you even know what “hot” means.

This phenomenon, we’ll call it “Sexy but Ugly,” as this makes the most sense, is somewhat new. It might be the male equivalent to the body positive movement that is mainly happening with women. Those who would never be looked at as attractive ten years ago are praised with crown emojis and “Queen” comments on Instagram. The body positive movement with men is continuing to evolve, as those without killer jawlines are now looked at as hot. We are not just looking for Brad Pitt’s. Unique features are seen as more and more attractive, with model Winnie Harlow becoming a household name despite having vitiligo. Even the Kylie Jenner’s of the world wouldn’t be seen as attractive ten years ago when heroine chic was still prevalent. Even Bill Hader with his not so straight teeth or Rami Malek’s ever clenched jaw are seen as hot.

The men mentioned before not only are interesting to look at, but they are lovable. Who can say that they don’t want to hang out with Post Malone, or think that Adam Driver seems like a great dad (or daddy in this case) or that you wouldn’t want to laugh with Pete Davidson. This level of interaction through social media means we not only see a person’s face, but their personality. We see their entire lives, and we base their sexiness off of them as a person, not just the photo of them in a magazine. I fell in love with Post Malone when I saw him eat Olive Garden breadsticks with Jimmy Fallon and saw him as a teddy bear. This is in contrast to his unkept, tattooed face appearance.

The final point that allows those to be “Sexy but Ugly” is thanks to those who are sexy. We can all see a Nick Jonas or Brad Pitt, readily available on Instagram. Tinder is saturated with a million men in the Pittsburgh area that go to the gym and have Ryan Gosling’s haircut, these men are everywhere. We see an over saturation of six pack abs, jawlines that could cut, and the Calvin Klein worth smolders. We never see a teddy-bear face with “always tired” tattooed under the eyelids, or a man with Crohn’s Disease and racially ambiguous features that makes us laugh on SNL. The culture of beauty is evolving, along with who we find attractive. So, if I want to call Bill Hader hot, leave me alone.