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6 comments
Against
JenReneeGilley5y ago
**TL;DR -- There is no set-in-stone, universal beauty standard, and even if there was, it's most certainly not objective.**
... You have GOT to be kidding me.
The only "standard" is a social trend at any given point in time, which is subject to and frequently does change.
For example, the current universal "standard" on weight is to be skinnier than a toothpick. But the number of chubby chasers that exist in the world disprove that that's really a standard at all. And, in fact, [beauty standards regarding the ideal weight have changed](https://emilydiscovers.com/2019/11/17/the-history-of-being-fat-and-plus-size-fashion/) since the 1900's, where curvy women were once seen as healthy, wealthy, and -- yes -- beautiful.
Beauty is also individually subjective. For example, most people find that wearing makeup is an essential, do-or-die ritual that one must perform in order to survive out in the social world. I myself find makeup horrendously ugly and, 90% of the time, overdone.
So there is no set, universal "standard," and even if there was, it's certainly not objective.
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MrStrawHat5y ago
You say that yet have shown that there are 'beauty standards' to begin with. Why are there these social trends if all beauty is subjective?
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JenReneeGilley5y ago
Because people have a herd mentality. Trends catch on because people want to feel like they belong in a group, not because something is necessarily objectively standard.
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MrStrawHat5y ago
I disagree. There are minor details which can be popularised through time with regards to make up and clothing, but there are definitely beauty traits and ideals to look to. If you look at paintings of Marie Antoinette and other figures throughout history those looks would still be competitive in today's world.
The science behind this mostly points to an innate preference towards symmetry, the more symmetrical the face, the more beautiful someone is regarded. This is shown even in babies, so it's unlikely a societal trend. I suspect there may be further preferences like these depending upon the sex, especially with regard to body proportions, and it's this reason that obesity will never be truly accepted as 'beautiful'.
With regards to your example, women nowadays may be thinner than in the 1900's but there's a very defined hourglass figure on all the women mentioned in that article. The science also suggests waist-to-hip ratio is a defining aspect of how beautiful a woman's body is. We see the golden ratio in nature all the time, and this extends to the proportions in both the male and female body.
This is why I think that there may be trends and influences which, thinking about it, may be more indicative of wealth, but there will be a beauty standard that throughout time is adhered to.
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Against
bigtexasrob4y ago
The human mind recognizes certain shapes, proportions, and textures as beautiful. Our little mammal brains really like smooth things, the ‘rule of thirds’ and the ‘golden ratio’, and shiny things not common in nature.
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MrStrawHat4y ago
So how is that against?
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