16 March, 2010

Beauty...

What is beauty? How do we define it? Is it something that society tells us it is? Or is it how we view each other without bias(if that's possible). Our society depicts beauty as an achieved status. You can become beautiful in a sense. You apparently weren't beautiful before but if you wear this and look this way you will then become beautiful. The media influences a great deal of what we think of ourselves and others. We judge each other on the norms that society has given us that depict what beauty is. What a sad realization that is. That our society tells us what is beautiful and to make ourselves look that way or you wont be considered beautiful. Which is mostly an assimilationist attitude. You have to look this way and if you don't then you aren't what we, as a society, consider beautiful. Well beauty in many ways is a matter of opinion. What one person considers beautiful another may disagree.

Our culture puts an emphasis on woman to be thin. Which, in my mind, is an unrealistic point of view. Simply because everyone is genetically different. Not everyone genetically can be thin. Some have large bones or even diseases that keep them from becoming the "ideal". And what is the "ideal" woman in America? One that is thin and not considered overweight or "fat". Even though the ideal of woman, over time, has changed. It was once ideal for a woman to be stocky and boyish looking like in the 50's with the flapper. And now it has changed to a voluptuous woman. Not large, but curvaceous and thin at the same time. But how many women can actually achieve this? Not many.

2 comments:

  1. I get what you're saying, physical beauty is a matter of opinion, and I think internal beauty (much more important, as it is what enhances your true beauty outside as well) is what is real and honest. Just so you know though, the boyish/boxy look with the flappers was the 1930's. The 1950's had more curvy women, they were emphasizing an hourglass silhouette (I love fashion history!)

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  2. It isn't necessarily fitting into what society says is beautiful, but you have to be realistic too on what is beautiful. Someone who doesn't brush their hair or wash their face, doesn't matter how beautiful they might be, won't look that way. Certain things do enhance your beauty, and we should put on the outside how we feel on the inside. If you're dark and ugly and mean on the inside, guess what? It reflects on how you look on the outside. If you have a good, kind happy heart, you want to show that on the outside too so people can see who you are. Because like it or not, we have eyes and people do make judgements on who you are by what you wear/how you look.

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