TakingITGlobal - Panorama - Beauty and Culture

Published on: Jul 11, 2003

Topic:

Type: Opinions

https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=1546

Imagine, if you will, the beautiful Cinderella and her ugly stepsisters - and we become aware of appearance’s implications in society. I, too, am wary of judgments based upon attractiveness, but never did I imagine a family member would engage in the same practice and furthermore, make a seemingly outrageous conclusion. My grandmother thinks I am too fat, she often shakes her head in my direction and laments: “That girl will never be wed.”

Society and its people succumb to what the environment has taught them to be attractive, often presuming their ideals of beauty to be universal and eternal. Beauty, however, fails to transcend time or culture. Attempts to enhance may be perceived as deliberate distortion. Cultures judge factors of attraction differently, weight is only one such instance.

Jamaicans, for example, appreciate women of girth; they equate obesity with wealth and well-being. In Jamaica, natives refer to thin as mawga - a word synonymous with meager. Likewise, Europeans of the 18th and 19th century considered large females to be ladies of status and wealth. This belief resulted in the proliferation of nude, Rubenesque models in artworks. Thinness or being mawga suggested poverty. The economic and social circumstances of those times had likened obesity to nobility.

In contrast, modern media and society infuse our youths with the idea that thin is beautiful. But, if we were to fly down the Gulf or time travel 200 years, dieting would be absurd.

Unfortunately, inane quests in the name of beauty extend beyond weight issues; skin color preference is another ideal that is not universal. Many of my peers often frequent tanning salons in search of the perfect tan. Though, in many countries, tan is ugly and pale is beautiful.

For instance, Europeans occupied Indochina during the Age of Imperialism, a period during which the Whites demonstrated their power and affluence. Consequently, countries such as Vietnam, views light skin as beautiful and desirable. In Vietnam’s history, peasants tanned as they labored beneath the sun whereas the aristocrats lounged indoors and remained fair. Thus, Vietnamese women carry parasols when walking in daylight, some apply sunscreen liberally and others even waste 40 dollars on chemically harsh bleaching creams.

In the quest for beauty, my peers subject themselves to cancerous rays while the women of Indochina subject themselves to harsh chemicals. But is either party attaining more beauty? The answer is no.

With that answer, should I appeal to my grandmother’s ideals by losing weight?

My grandma lived in China during an age when anything but waif suggested lack of self-control or a bad upbringing. It is reasonable for someone of that circumstance to advise me to lose weight. However, my circumstance and my surrounding differ.

Economic, social, and historical factors influence all concepts of attractiveness. Ideals of beauty, such as size or skin color, do not transcend time or culture. Hence, few individuals fail to proclaim timeless ideals while succumbing to the tastes of their time and place. In another culture or perhaps in a previous century, would Britney Spears be the object of sexual desire or the spectacle at a voyeuristic freak show? In the attempt to find universal and eternal ideals of beauty, only this ancient adage stays true – beauty is, unquestionably, in the eyes of the beholder.

So I don’t need to lose weight for we are our own Cinderellas.

« return.



by Huiging Wu
Published on: Jul 11, 2003
Topic:
Type: Opinions
https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=1546


Imagine, if you will, the beautiful Cinderella and her ugly stepsisters - and we become aware of appearance’s implications in society. I, too, am wary of judgments based upon attractiveness, but never did I imagine a family member would engage in the same practice and furthermore, make a seemingly outrageous conclusion. My grandmother thinks I am too fat, she often shakes her head in my direction and laments: “That girl will never be wed.” Society and its people succumb to what the environment has taught them to be attractive, often presuming their ideals of beauty to be universal and eternal. Beauty, however, fails to transcend time or culture. Attempts to enhance may be perceived as deliberate distortion. Cultures judge factors of attraction differently, weight is only one such instance. Jamaicans, for example, appreciate women of girth; they equate obesity with wealth and well-being. In Jamaica, natives refer to thin as mawga - a word synonymous with meager. Likewise, Europeans of the 18th and 19th century considered large females to be ladies of status and wealth. This belief resulted in the proliferation of nude, Rubenesque models in artworks. Thinness or being mawga suggested poverty. The economic and social circumstances of those times had likened obesity to nobility. In contrast, modern media and society infuse our youths with the idea that thin is beautiful. But, if we were to fly down the Gulf or time travel 200 years, dieting would be absurd. Unfortunately, inane quests in the name of beauty extend beyond weight issues; skin color preference is another ideal that is not universal. Many of my peers often frequent tanning salons in search of the perfect tan. Though, in many countries, tan is ugly and pale is beautiful. For instance, Europeans occupied Indochina during the Age of Imperialism, a period during which the Whites demonstrated their power and affluence. Consequently, countries such as Vietnam, views light skin as beautiful and desirable. In Vietnam’s history, peasants tanned as they labored beneath the sun whereas the aristocrats lounged indoors and remained fair. Thus, Vietnamese women carry parasols when walking in daylight, some apply sunscreen liberally and others even waste 40 dollars on chemically harsh bleaching creams. In the quest for beauty, my peers subject themselves to cancerous rays while the women of Indochina subject themselves to harsh chemicals. But is either party attaining more beauty? The answer is no. With that answer, should I appeal to my grandmother’s ideals by losing weight? My grandma lived in China during an age when anything but waif suggested lack of self-control or a bad upbringing. It is reasonable for someone of that circumstance to advise me to lose weight. However, my circumstance and my surrounding differ. Economic, social, and historical factors influence all concepts of attractiveness. Ideals of beauty, such as size or skin color, do not transcend time or culture. Hence, few individuals fail to proclaim timeless ideals while succumbing to the tastes of their time and place. In another culture or perhaps in a previous century, would Britney Spears be the object of sexual desire or the spectacle at a voyeuristic freak show? In the attempt to find universal and eternal ideals of beauty, only this ancient adage stays true – beauty is, unquestionably, in the eyes of the beholder. So I don’t need to lose weight for we are our own Cinderellas. « return.