Notions of Beauty: Different in Every Culture and Era!

I love Beyoncé and JLO. They have made being bootylicious sexy and being bottom heavy myself I hold them in high regard. Having a callipygous shape in this world isn't always easy when the media aggressively promotes the hopelessly tall and skinny straight up and down types.

What I have come to learn however is that the appeal of different body types changes just like the fashion you wear, only much more slowly. Not even that but it can all depend on where you live and the social conditions around you.

Firstly, what is beauty? Beauty is different for every person and every time period. The old saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder remains truthful today. It is not only the person that dictates what is beautiful; the time period during which beauty is portrayed must be taken into account as well. The aesthetic ideal of the Renaissance is quite different from that of today's typical "beauty." - Larcombe Teichgraeber

It was an incident at TAFE yesterday that brought this subject to my attention. A Tongan employee stopped me during my lunch break to tell me that I have a wonderful figure that would be highly revered back in her country. She specifically noted my 'big legs and pretty face' and indicated at my shapely hips with a hand gesture. It really made my day to hear that somewhere, in some other country I would be considered perfect given that my shapely legs and short stature have been subject to the odd comment of ridicule in their time here in the western world. Interesting, no?

Here are a few examples I've found of what is considered attractive and why in different cultures and times.

• In traditional African tribes, pendulous breasts were considered the most attractive and the women would bind their breasts down flat to promote this look.


• In Ye Olde times, it was more attractive to be curvy and pale as that indicated you were rich enough to eat well and spend your days leisurely inside. Their superficial veins appeared blue through their pale skin and thus explains the term 'blue blood' for nobility. Some women even went so far as to draw blue veins on their skin to attain this exclusive, noble look. Poor people weren't as well fed and had to work in the fields all day thus they were slender and tanned.


• The industrial revolution brought all the 'poor' workers inside into factories and thus it became fashionable to be tanned because that indicated you had enough time and money to partake in leisurely activities outside in the sun.


• In the 1920's the fashion for women was to bind their breasts flat against their chest.


• Small wide set breasts were considered perfection in the middle ages.


• Nowadays large, rounded close set (think cleavage!) breasts are considered the most attractive


• I also read somewhere that in countries where HIV is a problem, the men find curvier women more attractive as being skinny is associated with having HIV.


• Until about a hundred years ago, women in china had to bind their feet in order to be considered eligible for marriage. Bound feet were considered as 'dainty' and attractive because they rendered the woman vulnerable.


• Womanly curves were considered as most desirable in the 1950's. Then Twiggy came along in the 60's with her up and down figure thus sparking the 'new look'. She became the first international super model. Twiggy had said that she 'desperately wanted curves and didn't like the way she looked. She thought everyone had gone stark raving mad!'


• Asians consider a creased eyelid to be very attractive and many undergo plastic surgery to alter their eyelids with an epicanthic fold.

Oh and I remember all sorts of other things like drilling holes in teeth and filling with jewels, head flattening, neck elongations, lip plates. The list goes on! Considering how much society obsesses over beauty, it's incredibly interesting how the definition of beauty varies all over the world and throughout history.

Here are a few links detailing the trends of beauty:
www.letslookbeautiful.com/Beauty_in_Other_Cultures.php
www.fashion-era.com/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty
The Existence of Beauty: An Analysis of Cleopatra's "Beauty"
Beauty through the ages - The Renaissance


So remember, beauty IS INDEED in the eye of the beholder. Yes, ideal beauty might be dictated by fashion and what appeals to the majority of society. But of course the majority of society may like apples and yet there is still a good number out there that don't. So what does that tell you?