Let's face it - we're all pretty superficial, no matter how much we deny it. It's no secret that attractive people get special treatment in society. They're more likely to get hired for jobs, and it's a lot easier for them to find dates. In general, they're perceived as healthier, wealthier and more trustworthy.

It seems like beautiful people have very easy lives. But in a story published by The Cut, a woman in her late 50's says that being attractive has its pitfalls. She claims that in her youth, she was so pretty, she was intimidating. "My looks definitely opened doors for me," confesses the author. "I never interviewed for a job I didn’t get." But on the downside, her gorgeous looks drew ire from other women, making it difficult to make female friends. In fact, she believes her only pure friendship was with a gay man.

"One of the worst things about being beautiful is that other women absolutely despise you. Women have made me cry my whole life. When I try to make friends with a woman, I feel like I’m a guy trying to woo her. Women don’t trust me. They don’t want me around their husbands. I’m often excluded from parties, with no explanation...It’s kind of like being born rich, people don’t believe that you feel the same pain. It’s a bias that people can’t shake."

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When it comes to dating, the woman admits, "I never had any trouble getting guys, but I got bored easily and moved on. I should have taken the good ones more seriously." As she pursued these fleeting relationships, time flew by, and she realized her biological clock was ticking. "Of course all those great guys I didn’t take seriously when I was in my 20s were gone," writes the author. At the age of 35, she finally got married, considering him to be the "last decent man standing." But she still looks back at her old flames, wondering, "what if?"

In reaction to this woman's story, people were conflicted. When beautiful people complain about hardships, it's hard not to roll your eyes.

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This Twitter user is skeptical that other women conspired against the author, plotting acts of sabotage to get her fired from her job.

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Meanwhile, this Twitter user defended the author, recommending that we practice empathy.

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Writer Jessica Wakeman provided the best defense of the article, explaining how tricky it is to discuss beauty privilege. When attractive people try to do it, they're accused of navel-gazing, and skeptical hordes demand photos to prove the alleged hotness. Wakeman argues this does not advance the conversation in a positive direction. Claims of jealousy should not be scoffed at and dismissed.

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No matter what you look like, life isn't easy. But at the same time, most 'regular' people would trade places with a 'beautiful' person in a heartbeat.

A woman has opened up about being cursed with beauty so intimidating that it stops her from making friends.

Now, you have to appreciate a woman with confidence, but one woman from Basingstoke in the United Kingdom has recently made some bold claims about how her natural beauty is affecting her ability to form friendships.

Fran Sawyer, 55, is convinced that people, especially other women, don't want to be around her because of her appearance and overwhelming amount of confidence.

Speaking to the Daily Star, Sawyer opened up about her qualms with being so physically attractive.

"Women just judge me, everyone judges me," she said. "They judge me because I’m glamorous, and when you’re glamorous and attractive it’s really hard as you just want to be liked and you never will be."

She continued, suggesting that those said people must be insecure when they meet her: "If they were confident they wouldn’t worry about it, but I make an effort with them because maybe I’m so confident that I try as they’re a bit insecure. I try my hardest to make friends, but it just doesn’t work out."

In the past, the 55-year-old alleged that while she was on the school run, she was told by a past headteacher to move away from the building's gates as she was "upsetting the ladies" with her presence alone.

Though now she's come to the conclusion that it's just because people are "jealous" of her.

"I think the internet has gotten easier but the women are jealous," she told the outlet, referring mainly to her social media activity, where she posts numerous "sexy" selfies.

"I could wear no makeup, go in a pub, and women don’t like me," she said. "I used to go to the school gates – my son went to a private school – and the headmistress would say to me 'you’re upsetting the other ladies, can you park down the road.'"

She admitted it "used to really hurt" her, but she decided to take the negativity and turn it into a positive by fundraising instead.

In the past, Sawyer used her online following as well as pictures of herself to raise £100,000 ($125,500) for charity with a few selfies.

Even though the social media personality describes herself as a "gobs****", which is an informal, British term used to describe someone who talks a lot of s***, she claims that she's still "grounded" and doesn't think she's "Miss World".

She continued: "But I haven’t particularly got women friends and if so, they don’t invite me out with their other friends.

"And I’ve never been invited to a wedding, it’s really weird," she added.

Despite her lack of friends or invites to events, she said she doesn't let that affect the way she behaves as she doesn't "worry about other people's opinions".

She added: "I had quite a few women saying 'why are you doing sexy stories at 50, you should be ashamed of yourself.' But I’ve worn the s*** badge for years and I’m quite proud of that.

"As my mom says, they wouldn’t be able to do it and they’re in their 40s, so why worry about them!", she concluded.

Well, it seems as though Sawyer's got enough confidence to make the world go round - you gotta respect the hustle.

Featured Image Credit: Martin-DM/Getty

It's incredibly hard not to feel some of the colossal pressure placed on all of us to look our best at all times.

People - especially women - have been presented with unrealistic images of what their bodies 'should' look like for decades now, but the phenomenon is arguably at its worst right now: in the age of social media.

Now, not only are women confronted with images of airbrushed perfection on the covers of glossy magazines, they're seeing such paragons of filtered beauty every time they scroll through Instagram on their phones.

This teenage influencer got a plastic surgeon to verify that her butt is real:

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Yet there are those who're trying to combat the unrelenting stream of washboard abs and blindingly white teeth that makes up much of Instagram.

Movements such as the Grombré trend, which encourages people to embrace their grey hair, and the body positive movement, which encourages people to embrace the skin they're in, eschewing the impossibility of an Instagram model physique.

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And plus-size model Kate Wasley is certainly doing her bit to encourage her followers to learn to love their bodies.

Accompanied by two stunning pictures of herself, Wasley wrote;

"I remember looking at these photos when they were first taken and thinking ? I wish I had of worked out harder before this trip. Looking back now I think DAMN GIRL you were looking finnnne, as if you wasted your energy worrying about your body & not indulging on this holiday cause you were self conscious. I’m feeling this in just a few years. Imagine in 40 years time when I look back at think why didn’t I take all these opportunities or go to these events and have a few cocktails and make memories because I felt crap about my body? It’s all a state of mind. For 2020 I’m making a conscious effort to live in the moment and enjoy it and the last thing that’s going to hold me back is the fear of what other people think of my body."  

Check out her post in full right here:

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And she's since posted another series of snaps encouraging her followers to be less hard on themselves:

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Hopefully, with more and more people like Kate Wasley spreading a body positive message, the unrelenting pressure of body image will begin to ease.

An influencer has claimed that she's hated by other women for being too "attractive".

TikTok user Brenttany Sharraine took to the social media app on August 3 to explain what life is like being too "attractive" and how it's resulted in other women disliking her.

She said in one video: "Here are a few things I've noticed as an attractive woman in society. And this is not pretty privilege or anything - this is just me giving you guys my experiences on how people treat me.

"Yes, I do get a lot of stares and I get a lot of compliments too. Some people gaze and some people scowl at me."

She added: "I have never in my life noticed a man scowling at me, so it says a lot. I've been told I come off very intimidating, although I'm not mean at all to people.

She continued: "When dating, I've met everyone's families - parents, sisters, brothers - I've always met them, even if it's not serious and we've only known each other for months.

"I've been invited to events and meetings with business partners, I'm aware now as a woman in her late 20s that I've been used as a trophy before."

"I don't allow that anymore," she added.

Sharraine said: "I've been told by women that they thought I was a b***h when they first met me, I've been told by plenty of men that I look expensive, I've been excluded from friend groups even if I created the friend group."

However, the influencer said that her good looks have had a downside, and she left school with barely one friend.

She added: "People would think I was being self-absorbed and not humble simply because I was pretty.

"My own confidence was not enough so it makes sense that I left high school with barely one friend."

Needless to say, the video did not go unnoticed on TikTok and it has been viewed over 383K times, with many rushing to the comments section to share their thoughts.

One Twitter user wrote: "You are GORG but I honestly think it's your confidence more than anything. I can feel it through the screen and people HATE when women love themselves."

A second added: "all the people saying you're not that pretty in the comments are the people who would scowl or try to trophy you lol."

While a third wrote: "Is this a joke? I'm not hating but I just don't see it. Love ur confidence tho. where'd u buy it? I need some. 4 real 4 real [sic]."

A fourth then added: "This post makes me feel so seen! I have heard all the same things."

Featured image credit: Alamy / True Images

What with the prevalence of social media and advertising these days, it's very easy for people to become self-conscious about the way they look. We're constantly being told that we're too fat or too thin, too short or too tall, too glamorous or too plain - and, after a while, it really starts to take its toll.

Issues like this are especially difficult for people who have underlying health problems that affect the way they look.

Many individuals - younger people especially - suffer from skin conditions such as acne or eczema, while others may have to deal with issues such as hair loss or involuntary weight changes. But one woman, Sam Smalling, deals with a particularly difficult health problem: she looks pregnant.

Smalling, a former model, recently uploaded a picture of herself in a tight-fitting dress to Instagram. In the snap, she appears to have a swollen stomach - and any onlooker would probably assume she was pregnant. However, she captioned the pic: "Before you congratulate me, please read on," and went on to explain that her physique was actually down to Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

"Before you congratulate me please know that although it looks like I'm six months into a pregnancy, it's actually just my IBS playing up at its worst," she wrote.

"It's taken some guts for me to post this but hopefully it's for a good cause and people won't be cruel. Instagram is so bad for making girls feel insecure, so many filters, editing and 'best angles'. Then we compare the images we see to our unedited real life and often feel like ?. So here's some reality for ya!"

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Smalling then went on to explain that she has been suffering with the illness for most of her life, along with other health problems that worsen her condition:

"I've suffered with extreme bloating since I was 15. I was also diagnosed with endometriosis when I was 18 which is said to also contribute to IBS.

"If someone else had spoken out about something like this when I was younger (or even now) it would have made me feel that bit better in that situation. So if one person with an 'embarrassing' problem sees this and feels comforted by it then it will be worth it."

The former model then went on to cite some statistics, saying that about 20 per cent of people have IBS, and 10 per cent suffer from endometriosis - so there's no reason to be quiet about the condition.

"It's uncomfortable and sometimes painful but the worst part is I feel super unattractive," she said. "It affects the clothes I buy and wear because although I can breath in, I can't breath in [sic] 24/7."

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"IBS is a b***h but I'm learning to accept it while I work out how to make it f@&k off for good," she said.

"So if you suffer from IBS or any other problem that causes your body to do embarrassing things just know you're not the only one. Everyone has their struggles even if they're not obvious to see on social media."

Finally, she rounded off with some excellent advice:

"Focus on your good bits, focus on your growth and as I've heard 'never compare your behind-the-scenes to other people's highlight reel'."

And she's totally right; just because other people might look a certain way, that doesn't mean that they're healthy or unhealthy - or even happy or unhappy. Everyone should stop worrying about how others look, and focus on being whatever makes them happy.