Why Do We Lash Out at Someone's Looks?

By Sarah Wexler, Allure magazine

Of course it's unacceptable that 16-year-old Willow Palin, Sarah's daughter, wrote a homophobic slur ("Your so gay...Your such a f**got") to a male schoolmate who criticized her mom's TV show on Facebook-he said it was "failing so hard."

(Another problem is that she doesn't seem to know the difference between "you're" and "your.") Willow continued, "I have no idea who you are, But what I've seen pictures of, your disgusting...My sister had a kid and is still hot."'

Related: The Latest on the Sarah Palin Controversy

She's only 16, so we guess it's not surprising-but it made us think about the bigger topic of randomly attacking someone's appearance. It's beyond immature to do so when you feel criticized. Going after someone's looks is a move from the lowest common denominator school of fighting: rather than responding to the criticism, you bring up something completely unrelated, just hoping it's damaging and hurtful enough that the other person will back down. The topic is so sensitive, and being called unattractive so hard to recover from, it's no surprise it often works.

Have you ever been unfairly attacked over your appearance?

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Photo Credit: IMDb.com