If you are willing to have your appearance arbitrarily evaluated by TikTok, you too can participate in the “fun.” TikTok users use composite photos to determine if they are “hot or not.”
This “hot or not” trend utilizes the same Shapeshifting effect that individuals have utilized to determine their celebrity doppelganger, Marvel doppelganger, and ethnicity.
However, as we’ve previously mentioned, the effect is not as good at locating similar-looking individuals, so your results may vary. And unless you’re one of those one-in-a-million individuals with a rock-solid self-image, you should avoid this specific trend altogether.
The Trend Utilises the So-called “Attractive Face Scale,” Which is Based on Images From the Website Hot or Not
TikTok users are comparing themselves to the “Attractive Face Scale” devised by Pierre Tourigny, a Flickr user from Gatineau, Canada, who claims to be a photography lover and statistics programmer.
When he uploaded the scale to Flickr in 2006, Pierre explained that he created the 30 composite images from a collection of photos from the now-defunct website Hot or Not, where “people rate others’ attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 10” and “an average score based on hundreds or even thousands of individual ratings emerges in a matter of days.”
Pierre stated that he downloaded the photographs, arranged them by rating, then utilized the SquirlzMorph software to generate multi-morph composites of rank groups.
“The portraits are hazy since the original photographs are low-resolution, and there are variations in posture, haircuts, glasses, etc., so I could only utilize 36 control points for the morphs,” he continued.
Pierre’s conclusion? First, morphs “tend to be more appealing than their sources because facial asymmetry and skin imperfections tend to balance out,” and second, “fat is not attractive.” (If you believe or agree with this, please educate yourself on the topic of fatphobia in society.)
Since Tiktok Users Already Battle With Body Image Judgments, Feel Free Not to Join in the Fad
Some TikTok users may regard the “hot or not” trend as frivolous, but others may take it extremely seriously. And it might be a significant issue.
NBC News reported in July that TikTok users were already complaining that the application was distorting their body image before people began comparing themselves to a grid of false faces.
Brittani Lancaster, a TikTok body-positive activist, told the publication, “When I first downloaded TikTok, I saw a lot of extremely negative body image videos.” It is not worthwhile to continue viewing these posts if they are detrimental to your mental health.
Sissy Sheridan, an actress, and social media sensation wrote in May 2020, “I liked my figure before I downloaded TikTok.”
Therefore, it is perfectly acceptable and perhaps even advised to avoid this “hot or not” trend. In any case, there is no evidence on how this Shapeshifting effect determines which face to transform yours into, and the “Hotor Not” premise and attractiveness rating is unproductive and unhealthy. Let’s just agree that everyone is hot and call it a day!
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