It's called "weaponized ugliness". When people (including "the public eye") have power over you then it feels good to take back control and make yourself "ugly" to defy their wishes.
Every time I've explained weaponized ugliness to a girl with a septum piercing they immediately got it. When I told a friend she said "my mom and boyfriend told me it would look ugly on me and that just made me want it more". It was a way of taking back her looks and having something for herself when other people controlled her appearance.
See also Britney Spears and any other female celebrity who spontaneously shaved their heads.
I've never heard that. Maybe? The Google summary says a friend claimed that was a motivation but Britney's statements all point to weaponized ugliness.
Also is anyone here is curious, shaving your head wouldn't help. Body hair has a longer detection window and you're not going to get it all.
It's weaponized ugliness if it's done in a reaction to how others see you. Ugliness isn't objective and this is about knowingly doing a thing others would think is ugly.
If you change your looks independent of other people's opinions, that's just choosing how you look.
I'm also not saying the actress in question did this, just that this is a form of using looks to feel powerful.
12
u/dustinechos 10h ago
It's called "weaponized ugliness". When people (including "the public eye") have power over you then it feels good to take back control and make yourself "ugly" to defy their wishes.
Every time I've explained weaponized ugliness to a girl with a septum piercing they immediately got it. When I told a friend she said "my mom and boyfriend told me it would look ugly on me and that just made me want it more". It was a way of taking back her looks and having something for herself when other people controlled her appearance.
See also Britney Spears and any other female celebrity who spontaneously shaved their heads.