"They Were Pretty Cute..."

It was a typical day of work.  I was sweaty and gross, covered in awful smelling dishwater.  I had a great meal (chicken sandwich with pesto, brie, grilled chicken, and sliced apple) courtesy of my fantastic chef crew.  And, of course, I was on the lookout for more reflection material.

It came in the form of one of the male bartenders.  He came back to the kitchen laughing and smiling, talking about some incident that had happened up towards the front of the restaurant (the rest of us in the back rely on our brother and sister workers in the front of the restaurant to relay any interesting information about the customers, since we have virtually no direct interaction with them).  He was telling us about these two women up towards the front of the bar who were absolutely irrevalent, very, very drunk, and making some sort of funny scene. 

The scene, what these women were doing, is irrelevant to this reflection.  What struck me was something that the bartender said. As he launched into his description of the events, he said that there were two ladies in the front - pausing - and saying that "they were pretty cute."  

The reflection here is basically on what we deem is important information to relay to others about others, and how these judgement calls might give insight into our assumptions or ideologies.

It does not surprise me that the first (and only) piece of information that the bartender chose to share about the two women was that they were cute.  Often I found that when both guys and girls attempt to convey some valuable information about a female they are trying to describe, it has to do with her looks and physical attractiveness.  Why?  I couldn't really say.  

Some of it probably has to do with the fact that beauty is often something celebrated in women.  It is also something used to keep women in subjugated positions, denying them other qualities and merely giving credit to their looks and physical appearance.  

I do not think that the bartender was wrong in describing the women as cute.  I do not think it was some misogynistic attempt to insinuate that the only worth these women had were based on their looks.  What I am interested in, however, is why we choose to say certain things about certain people.

I am not trying to go crazy here and over-analyze everything that anyone ever says, but I think this is a valuable exercise for a person like myself, who is looking to uncover my hidden assumptions and ideologies.  It is important to ask questions about why I choose to describe people or events certain ways, why I choose to interpret things people say in certain ways.

Are there any other instances you may have encountered that may point to personal or social assumptions regarding certain types of people?