Every society cares about beauty. Every society. Each society has different things they find beautiful. In parts of Thailand, elongated necks are to die for. For centuries in China, little feet were where it was at. In Uganda, they have huts specially designed for a bride-to-be to gain as much weight as possibly in 3 months by gorging herself on milk and remaining completely sedentary. In our country, we have people who starve themselves 3 months before their wedding to be as slim as possible.
I recently watched a documentary called the Science of Sex Appeal. It was fascinating. Look it up. When I can use my brain rationally, I completely acknowledge beauty as two things.
A. Evolutionary favorable genetic makeup
B. Society Influenced
These two often contrast one another however. Genetically speaking, the 400 pound Ugandan woman and the 94 pound American girl are not your best bet for producing offspring. Little feet and elongated necks also have little to contribute to the survival of the fittest (at least not that I know of...) However, somehow these societies are favoring these traits.
In my rational mind, I acknowledge I should care little about beauty at all. If I was a 10 on the beauty scale, it wouldn't by any means indicate I was intelligent, gifted, kind, or any other positive attribute I could imagine. As it has been pointed out in plenty of studies, however, we subconciously do attribute beauty with a plethora of positive characterisitics. Teachers are kinder to more beautiful students. Employers are more willing to hire the beautiful. Those who are considered beautiful will often earn more money in their lifetime, be presented with more opportunities of all sorts, and be treated more kindly by those they know and complete strangers. Knowing these things, I usually try my hardest to NOT care about beauty. Being a product (as everyone in the world is) of my society, the care seeps annoyingly into my thoughts day to day. I find myself far too often commeting that someone is beautiful as if it that statement somehow attributes them more worth than would they would have if they were not beautiful.Today was not a rational day. Not a day where I was able to look in the mirror and could decide to not analyze each and every one of my physical traits through the lens of society. Today I saw someone completely homely. Even if I am not homely, I surely don't want to care about it or judge my worth on it. It gives me a headache when I try and sort out what I actually really like about myself instead of what I think I should like or not like. I have mentioned this before on my blog, but there is this irritating conundrum in our society where we are expected to be confident in ourselves, but also kind of hate ourselves. America is defined for it's desire for perfection. To be the best. If you have reached the lofty goal of being your physical best, you are discouraged from proudly proclaiming such. I have noticed too often when someone is confident in their own skin, those around them are far too eager to point out a miniscule flaw that somehow lessens the other's beauty.
This post really isn't going anywhere and I am okay with that. As mentioned, today is not really a rational day for me and apparently not a logical one either. On this last note, here is something awesome. If you really think about pug dogs, they should NOT be considered cute. Phantom of the Opera is NOT supposed to be a babe (yet, Gerard Butler really tried to change our minds on that/succeded...) Einstein was no Brad Pitt. So, if pug dogs are cute, the Phantom is a babe, and Einstein is still one of the most admired humans in history then I should buy a pug (wait, two pugs), watch Phantomand the epic rap battle between Einstein and Hawking for the rest of today.
** If you read this and were confused, you're welcome. At least you weren't confused about your homework or work or your life for a full five minutes
I recently watched a documentary called the Science of Sex Appeal. It was fascinating. Look it up. When I can use my brain rationally, I completely acknowledge beauty as two things.
A. Evolutionary favorable genetic makeup
B. Society Influenced
These two often contrast one another however. Genetically speaking, the 400 pound Ugandan woman and the 94 pound American girl are not your best bet for producing offspring. Little feet and elongated necks also have little to contribute to the survival of the fittest (at least not that I know of...) However, somehow these societies are favoring these traits.
In my rational mind, I acknowledge I should care little about beauty at all. If I was a 10 on the beauty scale, it wouldn't by any means indicate I was intelligent, gifted, kind, or any other positive attribute I could imagine. As it has been pointed out in plenty of studies, however, we subconciously do attribute beauty with a plethora of positive characterisitics. Teachers are kinder to more beautiful students. Employers are more willing to hire the beautiful. Those who are considered beautiful will often earn more money in their lifetime, be presented with more opportunities of all sorts, and be treated more kindly by those they know and complete strangers. Knowing these things, I usually try my hardest to NOT care about beauty. Being a product (as everyone in the world is) of my society, the care seeps annoyingly into my thoughts day to day. I find myself far too often commeting that someone is beautiful as if it that statement somehow attributes them more worth than would they would have if they were not beautiful.Today was not a rational day. Not a day where I was able to look in the mirror and could decide to not analyze each and every one of my physical traits through the lens of society. Today I saw someone completely homely. Even if I am not homely, I surely don't want to care about it or judge my worth on it. It gives me a headache when I try and sort out what I actually really like about myself instead of what I think I should like or not like. I have mentioned this before on my blog, but there is this irritating conundrum in our society where we are expected to be confident in ourselves, but also kind of hate ourselves. America is defined for it's desire for perfection. To be the best. If you have reached the lofty goal of being your physical best, you are discouraged from proudly proclaiming such. I have noticed too often when someone is confident in their own skin, those around them are far too eager to point out a miniscule flaw that somehow lessens the other's beauty.
This post really isn't going anywhere and I am okay with that. As mentioned, today is not really a rational day for me and apparently not a logical one either. On this last note, here is something awesome. If you really think about pug dogs, they should NOT be considered cute. Phantom of the Opera is NOT supposed to be a babe (yet, Gerard Butler really tried to change our minds on that/succeded...) Einstein was no Brad Pitt. So, if pug dogs are cute, the Phantom is a babe, and Einstein is still one of the most admired humans in history then I should buy a pug (wait, two pugs), watch Phantomand the epic rap battle between Einstein and Hawking for the rest of today.
I used to have a pug and she was the best EVER. You SHOULD buy 2 pugs. Someday I want to be a crazy old pug lady instead of a crazy old cat lady.
ReplyDeleteAnd whether or not you care about being beautiful, you seriously ARE. Nothing you can do to change that.
You are awesome Kendra! We can both be crazy pug ladies together!! So jealous you already had one :)
ReplyDeleteDon't make me choose between pugs and Gerard. Now this night will be spent begging the hubs for a puppy.
ReplyDelete