pretty people

During dinner the other night, the Mathemetician made an interesting comment that I have been pondering for days. He said:

"The pretty people that I know tend to be far more self conscious than their more average counterparts."

I think he's right. Most of the people I know happen to be quite pretty, and also, quite insecure. I think about the beautiful, intelligent girls I know, who fall into bed with mediocre guys that in the end treat them like shit, who are wooed there by flattery, as if no one had ever told them they were pretty before, as if they were hearing such compliments for the very first time. I think of the gay friend of mine who acted truly surprised when referred to him as totally hot, despite the fact that I found headshots and an old modeling portfolio in his room once, who I know believes, deep down, that he could turn any straight guy by virtue of his looks alone.

In a sense, we live in a culture where pretty = power. Things happen more easily for pretty people: they get served first in bars, are more apt to be approached for anything really. They are simply more marketable. Then why are these pretty people so self-conscious, so powerless?

Is it because beauty is something that can be taken away? Or because it's emminently subjective, something that inevitably fades with age?