Beauty Essay

Beauty. What is it? Where does it come from? What should we do with it? These, among others, are questions widely debated in today’s society. As Charles Darwin once said, “It is certainly not true that there is in the mind of man any universal standard of beauty with respect to the human body” (source G). Using this and many other points from varying sources I will answer these long disputed questions. So what is beauty? People most often think of beauty as a very specific standard you have to reach or you don’t fit in. You know those rules: long hair (preferably blonde), long legs (tan, of course), very slender, and a great fashion sense. In fact, 57% of women agree that “the attributes of female beauty have become very narrowly

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.” – Confucius. Beauty has had a specific image or ideal for the past 100 years from the help of pop culture and advertisements that women are constantly viewing daily. We can go through the different ideas of beauty through idolized women in the past who were often considered to be the ideal beautiful. With the help of makeup and the aid of different styled clothing, women were able to fit in to form into the ideal beauty.

The feminine beauty ideal, as defined by Louis-Baker Sperry and Liz Grauerholz in The Pervasiveness and Persistence of the Feminine Beauty Ideal in Children’s Fairy Tales, is “the socially constructed notion that physical attractiveness is one of women’s most important assets, and something all women should strive to achieve and maintain.” (Sperry and Grauerholz, 2003). Under the feminine beauty ideal, beauty is seen as a central part of womanhood; doing femininity or womanhood necessitates doing beauty. In accordance with this, a 2001 study found that women’s bodies must, in order to successfully reach an idealized state of femininity, be actively maintained and regulated through beauty rituals in a way that men’s are not. Thus, through

Since the beginning of civilization there have been beauty standards, but as time has gone on, they have continually evolved and changed into what they currently are now. What was once beautiful two hundred years ago may only be average or desired by some, whereas in the past that may have been the most popular look or body type. However for decade’s women put beauty to the side and focused on the evolution of their rights and equality, but now since they have attained many of the same rights as their male counterparts the importance of gender equality seems to be changing. Currently many women are resorting back to issues of beauty and looks because of the societal norms that have come to be popular and important to the masses.

Throughout history women specifically have felt the need to change their physical appearance in order to be accepted by societies beauty ideal. Social media has influenced women to believe that the word “beauty” defines the outward appearance according to the internets definition — “beauty is a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.” The definition itself allows anyone to mistakenly interpret the word “beauty” to determine whether or not the physical appearance is attractive enough to be considered beautiful. There are so many emphasis placed on a person’s physical appearance that makes one “beautiful" and “desirable" such the numbers on a scale or measurement, youth, color of skin, etc., but for those who do not meet the media’s ideal expectations are judged or ridiculed. Social media perceives a strong influence on women and what people define beauty to be, but realistically, humans are built to be compelled by enhanced images that are presented in advertisement that create an illusion and fantasy that people admire. The ideal physical appearance that is propagated tends to connect with numerous organizations whose profits promote cosmetics to illuminate facial structures, photoshopped images of famous figures seen in magazines or ads, and cosmetic procedures including liposuction, breast enlargement, and plastic surgery to attain the perfect body ideal. With the continuation of women believing in

“What is a beautiful woman?” (Darius Washington 2014) There are a lot of deep scars in society. Thanks to the media, we have become use to extremely unrealistic standards for beauty. The exemplary that has been dragging society down for the past few millennia is that everything is wrong with you and you need to change yourself to be accepted as beautiful. The media is driving the public’s view of beauty by sending strong messages about physical perfection everywhere we turn. To certain people the media is considered the most influential education resource in today’s

The society of the American culture has defined beauty as a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight (Oxford Dictionary). In this generation, society focuses majorly on physical attractiveness. Beauty is more than a physical trait because there are still people who don’t meet the “beauty standards” and are still beautiful, people are not happy after cosmetic surgeries, and overall beauty is not about harming ourselves which is found men and women constantly do.

“In other news, the standards of beauty in American Society have once again been updated. The majority of society has received the information while the wretched few are unaware.” These are the words that would be recorded had there been reported. These unwritten standards define the very appearance and mindset of millions daily. Beauty standards are constantly evolving, changing the way humans observe themselves and others. While many people are able to accept and adapt to these changes, others suffer because they are impervious to these beauty standards. Those who are able to accept and adapt to these changes maneuver their way through society, whereas, those who aren’t easily influence are often ridiculed

The Beauty Myth was written by Naomi Wolf. It was originally published by William Morrow and Company in 1990 and then was republished by Harper Perennial in 2002. Naomi Wolf is an author, social critic and political activist that raise awareness in society and politics. She also encourages people to take control of their lives and voice their concerns in order to take control of their lives. She has written many books with her landmark book being the beauty myth in which she challenged cosmetic and marketing companies about unrealistic beauty ideas.

What is beauty? According to society, to be beautiful you must have long legs, big boobs, and curves in all the right places. For years, the world of media has brainwashed young women into believing that to be beautiful you must have smooth skin, long lashes, and cake on makeup. Commercials, magazines, and other forms of social media have fabricated this image of what a “perfect woman” should look like. However, the harsh reality is that most of us don’t, I know I certainly don’t. Yet countless girls like myself still try to fit into this mould of perfection. Countless girls like myself go to great lengths just to come out short of perfection. And all too often, these great lengths come at a cost.

All around the world there are different standards of beauty. American culture has made a standard for beauty in contemporary music, movies and fashion. Billboards and magazines feature celebrities and models that indirectly hurt young women's self-esteem. Women feel pressured to achieve a standard of beauty that is nearly impossible to obtain set forth by the media. The standard has reached to such an extreme that bullying other women because of their appearance has become a normal part of society and women will go to any measure to try to fulfill society’s expectations. Society has normalized the idea of a woman, being an object and is reflected through the media. These standards of beauty are influential and the exposure of the media to women is putting a lot of pressure for them to change their physical appearance. Society's emphasis on beauty damages women’s physical and emotional development which can ultimately lead girls to alter their appearance in extreme ways, therefore the media needs to be more responsible about how they portray women in the media.

Some people believe beauty is what’s on the outside that matters. We see it every day in magazines, television, campaign ads, etc. People have the idea stuck in their head that in order to be beautiful you must have; clear skin, a skinny body, and wear tons of makeup. Having these flawless features doesn’t mean you’re beautiful, but it doesn’t mean you’re not either. Some people just have amazing genetics and good looking parents that blessed them with what the media would claim as “perfection”. Does that mean these people are truly perfect? Of course not, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. However, people will continue to live ignorant lives and continue to body shame others. Physical appearance has been an issue since the beginning of time, and has always set high expectations for people.

What is beauty? What should we consider in order to define the beauty? “Generally, beauty refers to the characteristic or characteristics of an object that entail human pleasure to one or more senses.” (Beirnet) However, when discussing the definition of beauty in today’s society, thin, fair-skinned, and long-haired are all words that are in the top five adjectives used. Should we ,then, writhe in despair for the ideal of beauty which is allowed for few people? Definitely, we should not. Women in the world must strive to find out their own sense of beauty whether it is inner beauty or physical beauty because it would not only improve self-confidence but it also emphasizes individual specialties

Beauty /ˈbyo͞odē/ noun- a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight. Everyone is born in different shapes and sizes; some are small, tall, fat, or thin; some are brown-skinned, white-skinned, or black-skinned; some have frizzy, curly, or straight hair. But it doesn’t make them any less beautiful. Yet, most of us spend time looking at ourselves in a mirror, pointing out our insecurities, and comparing ourselves to other people. Our society has created an unrealistic beauty standard that caused many problems.

This tall, slender girl has smooth, silky arms with tiny goose bumps, her skin is cool like the air in fall, allowing her to be neither hot or cold. On her wrists, she has indentations from the numerous bracelets she wears daily. Her right hand has a fresh wound from her favorite sport, basketball. As you focus in on the skin that stretches over her hands, she has scars both old and new, both small and big. Her feet are crusty looking, yet feel smooth and cold. She has long delicate fingers allowing you feel the hard bones of her fingers under her smooth skin.