Mom Says She's Been Shunned By 'Bigger Moms' At Her Kids' School Because She's 'Too Good Looking' — 'They Must Be Jealous'
We all know that good-looking people have it easier in life, but this model and mom says the opposite is true.
Ekaterina Jurkova / Shutterstock, Canva A mom in the UK says she's facing a problem that most parents face now and then: not always getting along with other moms at her kids' school. But for her, it's more than just simple interpersonal conflicts. She thinks it has more to do with jealousy.
Model and mom Sabine Roll-Cohen says she's a victim of 'hot phobia' — being harshly judged because she's so good-looking.
Being that she's what you might call a professional "hot person," Roll-Cohen says that she's having a rough go of it when it comes to dealing with other moms.
She says she's been vilified by other parents for being "too good-looking," a notion that has come to be known as "hot phobia," aka "pretty privilege," and has become an increasingly hot topic, so to speak, on the internet and social media.
Photo: Instagram / sabine_cohen
Roll-Cohen likes to wear revealing, sexy clothes everywhere she goes, and she says it's caused conflict with other parents.
She likes to dress sexy when dropping her children off at school, opting for revealing and low-cut options. "I like to wear small shorts, or a low dress, or a tiny crop top," Roll-Cohen, who is also a personal shopper, told the UK's The Sun newspaper. "I like to feel sexy."
But those outfits come with a cost. "The other mums don’t talk to me when I look nice, they just turn their noses up," she says, a dynamic that switches entirely when she dresses down. "When I am dressed in my jogging bottoms, they decide to speak to me, it’s strange."
Photo: Instagram / sabine_cohen
She's also been an outcast at the birthday parties her kids attend. After she wore a revealing crop top and "some skinny jeans which showed off my perky bum" to a recent kids' bash, she says "every single mum at the party, apart from my friend, ignored me." When she asked her friend why she was being cast aside, her friend suggested "maybe you wear the wrong outfits."
Roll-Cohen thinks other moms are 'jealous' of her good looks, especially the 'bigger' and 'less sexy' moms.
“I think they must be jealous," she said of the other moms at her kids' school, "as I do have a good body. I’m size eight, 5ft 7, I don’t go to the gym and I don’t have to watch what I eat."
She says that many of the other moms, on the other hand, are struggling to maintain their looks following their pregnancies. "A lot of these ladies are bigger and less sexy after having children and I think it annoys them that I look so good," she says. "If jealousy is an illness, I hope they all get better soon."
Photo: Instagram / sabine_cohen
But Roll-Cohen refuses to change her style or her approach. “What can I do? I’m not going to change who I am to please them," she told The Sun. Rather, she thinks the moms in her part of North London should take a page out of her book.
"People dress nice where I live... but the women don’t tend to be sexy," she says. But she's taking the polar opposite approach. "I love wearing see-through outfits, off the shoulder numbers and short skirts... I know I’m not 20 anymore, but I still feel young."
The concept of 'hot phobia' is unsurprisingly controversial, but there is some data to back it up.
There's no denying that hot people simply have it easier in life — there's reams of science, including evolution itself, proving this to be true. But there's also studies that have shown that having above-average good looks also carries some detriments, or at least limitations, including being ostracized in precisely the way Roll-Cohen claims to be.
For example, studies have shown that good-looking people consistently enjoy greater career success, but as sociologist Dr. Lisa Slattery Walker explains in the video below, that all depends on what the career in question is, exactly.
"In settings where seriousness and expertise and experience are valued," she says, "being 'too attractive' actually makes people discount what you have to say." And as with everything, Slattery Walker says this effect hits women far harder than men.
And a study found that while good-looking people are often better liked by their peers, they are also more likely to be bullied by the same sex in school as children and in the workplace as adults. They also frequently give off negative first impressions due to people assuming they're self-centered and entitled.
Of course, comments like Roll-Cohen's about so-called "bigger moms" and "less sexy" women being jealous of her probably don't exactly help to endear her to her fellow moms at school. Kindness and acceptance are two-way streets, of course, so we would all probably do well to be a bit less judgmental.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.