Two young girls sit in front of the camera, microphones clipped to the fronts of their shirts. Wearing a full face of makeup and gold jewelry, the girls laugh and take turns repeating “Mama that burn,” a reference to a viral TikTok video.
The girls in the video are 15-year-old Tiktok influencers Embreigh Courtlyn and PresLee Faith. They deleted the original video, which received many negative comments.
Although the original video was removed, users in the comments of a re-uploaded video have been overwhelmingly critical of the two girls for having “pretty people humor,” a term used to describe people whose “only” personality trait is that they’re good-looking. Many users have made parody videos in response to the original, showing other examples of “pretty people humor” and sparking a widespread conversation about the phrase on TikTok.
As a concept, “pretty people humor” has some real backing. Research shows that, on average, people perceive those they’re attracted to as funnier than those they perceive as less attractive. It’s not a far-off conclusion that attractive people may put less effort into being funny because they don’t have to.
But this is not a particularly new concept — as evidenced by numerous articles on the topic from a decade ago — so why are Tiktok users now fixated on “pretty people humor”?
Courtlyn and Faith are being ridiculed online for behaviors that aren’t just common among “pretty people” but among Gen Z as a whole. What the two girls are engaging in is referential humor — a form of comedy popular with Gen Z, who often makes jokes related to social media references and internet memes.
It’s not a coincidence that two teenage girls are at the center of this criticism. This is another case of women being used as scapegoats for the faults of society around them — a pattern we’ve historically seen.
We see the same “pretty people humor” backlash in another video posted by a fan account dedicated to Courtlyn as part of a trend where users share their ‘nerdy’ interests. The fan account created the video using interests of Courtlyn’s, including Target, Roblox, the TV show “The Summer I Turned Pretty” and Taco Bell. Many users in the comments were quick to condemn the video as an example of Courtlyn’s “overconsumption,” simultaneously accusing Courtlyn of falsely portraying herself as a “nerd,” despite her not being the creator of the video.
Both of Courtlyn’s videos contain aspects of Gen Z culture that are unideal, but popular nonetheless: our overconsumption, overreliance on referential humor and ingenuity online.
The parodies and criticisms of Courtlyn and others like her could mark a big moment: We’re beginning to recognize the faults of our generation. But, rather than take ownership and confront these faults head-on, we attribute them to a frequently antagonized group: young women.
Based on a study conducted between male and female employees, women are shown to face disproportionate criticism when compared to men. In part, this could be due to a widespread societal belief that women are somehow “morally superior” to men. It’s why, subconsciously, we may place higher expectations on women to perform in a way that is reflective of high moral standing — a belief system that trickles down to our expectations for two random girls on TikTok.
Ultimately, it’s dangerous to mask hate toward anyone as beneficial social discourse. The term “pretty people humor” can open up a proactive conversation about the value we place on appearance, but only when discussed between adults in a respectful way.
Further, it should raise red flags that many of the users partaking in this conversation are young women. The current discussions around ‘pretty people humor’ are only enabling young women to compare themselves to other women they see online.
The two girls at the center of this criticism are just that — young girls. Instead of treating them appropriately, we’re using them as stand-ins for our own cultural anxieties. Young women should not be expected to answer for our cultural shortcomings, and we shouldn’t be outraged that young girls online — even pretty ones — happen to demonstrate the same faults or cringy humor as the majority of Gen Z.
The “pretty people humor” trend is serious, but not because it’s some injustice that attractive people are “less funny” than the rest of us. Rather, the trend opens up a serious conversation about a habit we continue to perpetuate online: hate disguised as humor, sociological discourse or other seemingly benign content.
What looks like an innocent critique of someone’s humor is in fact a recycled story — one where women are held up as the problem, when really, they’re just the most convenient target.
Nora Harr is a second-year English and computer science combined major. She can be reached at [email protected].
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