Introduction
Modern society is characterized by constant media appraisal of beauty. Every boy and girl receives the message that being beautiful is important in life. Entire industries revolve around the concepts of physical attractiveness and appeal. Yet, despite the overall acknowledged role of beauty in society, many struggle with identifying elements that characterize a person as beautiful. Comparing and contrasting, illustrating, and cause and effect explanatory strategies will offer insight into the essence of contemporary beauty standards, the most evident examples, and their origins.
Discussion
The comparing and contrasting strategy will allow for ascertaining what is currently considered beautiful. Although beauty is a subjective concept and its expression is highly dependent on the geographical, economic, and social context, some physical features are most commonly considered attractive. Laham argues that “men tend to prefer women with large wide-set eyes, full lips, high cheekbones, a small nose, a narrow jaw, and full breasts; and who have a low waist-to-hip ratio” (75). This implies that a woman with small eyes, narrow lips, low cheekbones, a large nose, a wide jaw, small breasts, and a large belly would be considered unsightly.
Even though most of the beauty standards revolve around women, certain cultural expectations of male beauty exist as well. Laham lists the following features as most commonly considered beautiful: “a heavy lower face, high degree of facial symmetry, masculine facial dimorphism, broad shoulders, a relatively narrow waist, and a V-shaped torso” (75). In contrast, a man with a lighter face, evident differences between the right and left sides of the face, feminine features, a large belly, and a waist larger than shoulders would not be considered attractive.
Both physical ideals are common in that they accentuate sex-specific characteristics and promote weight stigma. In the same way, physical femininity is preferable for women, masculine features are suitable for men. However, the low weight ratio is a more unifying standard of male and female attractiveness. Current society praises slim bodies in both sexes while criticizing excessive fat. Body size is a significant psychological pressure point for the majority of people, albeit it does affect women more to such a point that many develop mental illnesses because their weight prevents them from feeling beautiful (Ciciurkaite and Perry 35). Therefore, the most distinctive characteristic of present-day beauty standards is low weight.
The illustrating strategy will allow an understanding of the beauty standards via the use of real-life examples. The most appropriate way to locate a woman considered more attractive than others is to analyze the results of beauty pageants. These competitions have been designed specifically to compare female contestants and crown the winner as Miss World, Miss International, Miss Earth, or Miss Universe – the most-known pageants in the world. The most evident element of these competitions is that most of the contestants and winners have similar body types, which fit into the previously described ideal (Willett-Wei and Shaw). The most meaningful change over the years is the increasing ethnic diversity of contestants, who still possess similar physiques.
However, beauty pageant winners are not as famous as cinema celebrities. Jayne Mansfield, Kim Novak, and Marilyn Monroe exemplify women with hourglass figures (Laham 80). Penélope Cruz and Angelina Jolie showcase the beauty standard for lips (Laham 157). Scarlett Johansson, Minka Kelly, and Emilia Clarke are praised for their seductive hair (Aziz, Neelum, and Akhtar 81). Finally, the most important beauty standard is youthful appearance, with photographers and cinematographers attempting using various techniques to hide one’s age as is the case with Charlize Theron (Aziz, Neelum, and Akhtar 84). These women are recognized as beauty icons in the industry and the general population.
As most of the media attention centers on ascertaining the most attractive women, icons of beauty among men are less evident. Nevertheless, there are cinema stars that have gained the most recognition for their appearance. For example, in the media perception, Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Keanu Reeves are seen as objectively attractive (La Force). Another example of the cinema industry emphasizing male beauty is Tom Cruise’s role in the movie Top Gun. The only physical feature that would not characterize him as beautiful is his short height. However, scenes were shot in such a manner that this subtlety is almost not seen by the viewer, which further corroborates the established beauty standard for men.
The cause-and-effect exploratory strategy explains the origins of contemporary beauty standards. Even though there is evidence that infants who have not been exposed to media narratives react to beautiful faces more positively than to unsightly ones, the perception of beauty itself has changed over history (Aziz, Neelum, and Akhtar 78). One of the oldest explanations for why beauty is considered important lies in the perception of attractive people as noble and their opposites as evil (Srivastava 4). Even though cultural awareness has moved beyond this assumption, the reaction of toddlers suggests that such behavior is unconscious.
The biological explanation of physical attractiveness attributes the perception of beauty to the ability of humans to procreate and provide for the future. For instance, wide shoulders allowed men to carry prey that would feed the family, while “a tight, muscular rear is necessary to make the strong forward thrusting motion needed for successful sperm transfer during sex” (Pease and Pease 315). Meanwhile, the youthful appearance of a woman’s breasts, long legs, and rounded buttocks communicates the message of her fertility and childbearing ability (Pease and Pease 306). Even though the complexity of the human body is too high to make such assumptions, these signals are unconscious as is the perception of beauty.
Finally, mathematical proportions of parts of the human body are also a strong causative factor of attractiveness. The historic standards of Ancient Greece accentuated the importance of symmetry for beauty (Aziz, Neelum, and Akhtar 77). The beauty of the universally acclaimed portrait Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is also attributed to the use of facial symmetry (Laham 71). This aspect has been passed on through generations and is currently one of the most important criteria used in beauty pageants to identify the winner (Srivastava 4). As a result, there is a mathematical explanation of beauty, which has persisted through history and is expressed in the form of symmetry.
Conclusion
In conclusion, comparing and contrasting, illustrating, and cause and effect explanatory strategies showcase that society’s beauty standards are both unique and consistent with traditional values. The recent hundred years have seen the codification of principles of physical attractiveness for men and women. Symmetry, low weight, and sexual dimorphism determine whether a person is considered attractive or not. Most elements of beauty have a biological or mathematical explanation, which causes the unconscious perception of beauty. Combined with media exposure, it explains why current beauty standards are so similar despite the diversity of cultures and societies.
Works Cited
Aziz, Selina, Neelum Almas, and Amer Akhtar. “Feminine Beauty in the Hyperreal World: A Postmodern Analysis of Esquire’s Women We Love.” Journal of Gender and Social Issues, vol. 20, no. 1, 2021, pp. 77-88.
Ciciurkaite, Gabriele, and Brea L. Perry. “Body Weight, Perceived Weight Stigma and Mental Health among Women at the Intersection of Race/Ethnicity and Socioeconomic Status: Insights from the Modified Labelling Approach.” Sociology of Health & Illness, vol. 40, no. 1, 2018, pp. 18-37.
La Force, Thessaly. “Viggo Mortensen, the Unlikely Leading Man.”The New York Times, Web.
Laham, Martha. Made Up: How the Beauty Industry Manipulates Consumers, Preys on Women’s Insecurities, and Promotes Unattainable Beauty Standards. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2020.
Pease, Barbara, and Pease, Allan. The Definitive Book of Body Language: How to Read Others’ Attitudes by Their Gestures. Orion, 2017.
Srivastava, Simpi. “Global Production of a Feminine Ideal: Behind the Scenes of Beauty Pageants.” Glocalism: Journal of Culture, Politics and Innovation, vol. 1, 2020, pp. 1-15.
Top Gun. Directed by Tony Scott, Paramount Pictures, 1986.
Willett-Wei, Megan and Gabbi Shaw. “THEN AND NOW: How the Miss Universe Pageant Has Evolved over the Last 69 Years”. Insider, Web.