Again and again I hear the litany prayed by the youth of this nation. Every child recites it. Every parent teaches it. Always spoke, so much so that people believe it without thinking about its consiquences.
"Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder" is cited every time someone wants to defend ... well ... the apperance of anything. It is hauled out as a cure all for everything that ails the eyes. Now don't get me wrong, I agree with this statement, beauty is relative. The problem I have is with the statements that usually follow it.
People (not everyone, just some) have the annoying tendency to, after reciting the litany, then proceed to complain about society's (or more often just males) veiw of beauty. They critize the idea that of the supermodel beauty, all the while trying to maintain that beauty is an oppinion.
My main point then would be, if beauty really is an oppinion ... then all veiws on beauty are equally valide. That means that all those guys out there who are critized for thinking that one particularly skinny, large breasted archetype is supirior should be left alone. All those complaints against various media for presenting a certain people as being more beautiful than others are really against the idea of realitive beauty. If beauty truly is realive, what is wrong with accepting the media's veiw on beauty? It's relative remember.
And we should also note that we are what define the media's veiw on beauty. If everyone in America where to, at this moment, decide that morbidly obesse women were amazingly beautiful, then the media would present to us morbidly obesse women.
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I think the problem is the idea that all opinions of beauty are equal isn't truly believed widely enough, and perhaps also that "alternative" ideas of beauty are underrepresented in mass media.
But it is underrepresented in mass media because that isn't what the people want ...
And the idea is very far reaching, the problem is that no one really thinks about it, they just recite it.
I guess the problem I have with the idea of beauty mass media focuses on is because so many girls see that and want to be that, even though such a small percentage of women are of that type. Two of my close friends have had eating disorders (anorexia), and it was absolutely devastating to watch and help them struggle with it. Part of the reason was because of what they saw on tv and in magazines, and it hurts to imagine how many hundreds of girls and those around them might be affected by eating disorders.
But as I (think I) pointed out, if the media where to general oppinion were to switch to a view that fat people where beautiful, then there would be a lot of girls trying to get fat and being unhealthy about it. The problem isn't the veiw on beauty it is the veiw of the girl that she needs to conform herself to that.
Smile Like You Care
You're right about beauty being relative.
However, most people do use the standards of the skinny model and the buff dude are as the definition beautiful people in society. We always see it often throughout the media - ads, television, movies, magazines - pretty much everywhere we go. Because such depictions of "what is beauty" is so often dispersed, we tend to generalize and end up thinking in that matter. This is unfortunate, because what is "not beautiful" ends up being the obscure, bland, weird, and uncommon, such as the obese, disabled, or poor. The dire consequences of this mindset is discrimination for "ugly" people, which I seriously have apathy for.
Basically, what I am saying is that corporate business and the media are to blame for such stereotypes of what is ugly and beautiful. This is mainly why I doubt that fat, or larger, men and women will definitely not be predisposed as beautiful, in the media, anyway. Whatever sells for corporate business is what they will put out. The majority of women just happens to be thinner than not, and so are the men likely to be "broad" rather than as skinny as female supermodels. Considering this, many fashion and beauty products are catered to these people, hence, the more buyers there are, the more money is accumulated by corporate business.
If many people deem many things are ugly, they probably are ugly themselves (in demeanor, physically, or in personality). Rude, crude, mean, ignorant, etc. are ironically people who "think" they are genuinely beautiful. Those who condone the inclusion of all and have appreciation for all possess real inner beauty. In which case, such people who acknowledge this are the most beautiful of all.
To clarify things about myself, I am happy to be non-discriminatory, which is why I think that real beauty and inspiration is everywhere. I rather like the quote by John Keats: "Beauty is truth, truth is beauty." The "truth" is that "beauty is only skin deep", though even such inner beauty is also hard to find.
A.C.S.
Reading you reply, I realized that there was some things that Is should have added to my blog. Mainly that we shouldn't judge a person because they are beauty. That is to say that I can find a certain person attractive, but that doesn't mean that I can say anything else about them. Also, just because I find a certain person attractive and another person unattractive doesn't mean that I will like the first and dislike the second. Beauty should not be a bases for which you like someone.
Smile Like You Care