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MUJ | Culture

What Exactly Is Ugly?

Avni Singh Student Contributor, Manipal University Jaipur
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at MUJ chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Ugly means something unpleasant or repulsive, especially in appearance. This implies calling someone or something ugly completely depends on you and has got nothing to do with that specific being or non- being. With how you perceive, what you like, and how you think to define beauty.

What I dislike may appear perfectly normal, or even lovely, to another person. What you love may be disturbing to me. It’s a matter of perception. It’s a matter of what’s within. 

So when I label something as “ugly,” it doesn’t necessarily mean that it is. It only means that, at a given instant, I was not able to enjoy its shape, its richness, or its history.

It gets worse when this judgment is directed at people. When “ugly” is no longer a description for an old chair or a sloppy painting and is instead reserved for someone’s face, body, or skin. We use that word so flippantly, not knowing how harshly it hits.

But what if the person isn’t ugly, what if you’re just not able to perceive the beauty?

Supposedly, your eyes are accustomed to discovering defects rather than tales? 

We don’t understand how our perception of beauty is formed, through filters, through magazines, through the infinite cycle of “perfect” faces on our screens. We’re constantly being informed about what’s attractive, what’s “too much,” and what’s “not enough.”

And thus, we learn progressively to neglect to see beauty in its most raw, real state.

Perhaps the individual whom you refer to as ugly has a face that tells a thousand stories. Perhaps their laugh is the one which is loudest in the room. Perhaps their kindness is louder than your beauty definition.

If you stop for a moment, the term “ugly” does not so much define a person, it reveals you.

It reveals what you prize, what you comprehend, and how deeply (or superficially) you are able to perceive.

So perhaps, before we call a person ugly, we should take a moment to wonder:

Is it truly they who are without beauty, or is it us who are without vision?

In the end, ugliness isn’t a fact.

It’s merely a mindset.

halloween pumpkin dog toy
Photo Courtesy of Chewy

And when you learn to look through compassion rather than comparison, you will see that nothing, and no one, is ugly. Everything is different. Anything has its own purpose, its own beauty waiting for somebody to finally notice.

Maybe we’ve been taught to see beauty in a narrow frame, a face symmetrical enough, a body small enough, skin clear enough. But the truth is, there’s no universal definition of “beautiful,” just like there’s no universal definition of “ugly.” The way we perceive others often mirrors the way we see ourselves. So, when we call someone ugly, we’re really exposing our own insecurities, our own lack of understanding. Beauty isn’t a checklist; it’s an essence, a story, an energy. And once you learn to look beyond the surface, you realize, ugly never really existed.

When you begin to pay attention to the small things, the sound of someone’s laughter, the way someone’s eyes light up when they speak of their passion, the strength in someone’s quietness, you see how absurd it is to deem a person “ugly”.

But real beauty isn’t polished. It’s messy, uncurated, alive. It’s the freckles, the scars, the cracks that hold stories. Calling someone ugly says more about how blinded we are by standards than how they actually look. The world becomes a better place once you stop judging it so harshly.

For more, follow up on Avni Singh | Her Campus and Her Campus at MUJ.

Avni Singh

MUJ '27

Avni Singh is an Editor at Her Campus at Manipal University Jaipur, where she shapes stories that are both reflective and emotionally authentic. She's a member of the core editorial team, shepherding stories that stick with you and editing with instinct. She applies a keen eye and a gentle heart to the words that cross her desk. Avni brings an observant, contemplative eye into each work she touches — whether it's wrapped in sarcasm, tenderly, or something in between.

She is studying B.Tech in Data Science and Engineering — a career path she took out of curiosity, and she pursues it with patience (and likely caffeine). Books and blank pages have long been her constants — places where she can feel too much and still make it beautiful. She doesn't always do what's trendy, but she speaks the language of the kind of expression that counts.

Apart from deadlines and Google Docs, Avni is fueled by playlists, personality-infused wardrobes, emotional resonance, and daydreaming like a side hustle. She believes in writing that reflects real feelings, romanticizing the mundane, and reading between the lines of everything. She's here to hold the pen softly — and still make it bite. If you give her your story, she will likely rewrite it as a lyric by the end of the day.