Is beauty culturally defined?

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by aaqucnaona, Jun 28, 2012.

  1. aaqucnaona This sentence is a lie Valued Senior Member

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    Is it defined socially/ culturally what beauty is? We [myself included] still use the greek standards of human physical attractiveness, and without any racist undertones intended, I dont find blacks and asians to be as attractive in general as caucasians. Would the opposite be true if I were black or asian?
     
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  3. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    Very likely, although many people are attracted by what they see as exotic or novel, while others are so accustomed to a cosmopolitan environment that they barely notice racial traits.

    Beauty is culturally defined in some details, and the aesthetic sense is developed in each person according to the norms and social climate of their early childhood.
    Fundamentally, though, the perception of human beauty is based on viability: a specimen that looks healthy, strong, durable, functional and optimistic is potentially attractive to other humans.
    (I've just been looking at photos of the Nuba, a Sudanese tribe. Stunningly beautiful people, though quite different from my own neighbours.)
     
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  5. Epictetus here & now Registered Senior Member

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    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty is where you find it. BTW, I phished a photo of you and did an online survey and Africans and Asians find you overwhelmingly unattractive.

    Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

     
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  7. aaqucnaona This sentence is a lie Valued Senior Member

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    Um, what?
     
  8. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    A hard man is good to find. Fondness makes the absence longer. Love is intellectually challenged. Finders keepers, losers boozers. Your father wears snowmobile boots.
    Is that helpful?

    On the other hand, there is an ephemeral element to the perception of beauty, which is fashion. In the electronic age, we are bombarded with the images that some industry considers appealing to its target audience: smooth, silver-haired, expensively-suited vintage male to speak for luxury cars; underdressed nubile female with far too much dentition to peddle superfluous [fat- and zit-making] food and [teeth-rotting] drink to the youth market; wraith-like levitating drapery to sell anything to middle-aged women, etc. These images set a standard of beauty within a segment of the culture - and therefore will be imitated to whatever degree normal, unbeautiful people are able - for the duration of the fashion or trend. That may be no more than two to five years. For that period, it will have an effect on dating, but rarely on long-term mating.
     
  9. aaqucnaona This sentence is a lie Valued Senior Member

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    I dont get this bit.

    Well stated.
     
  10. Epictetus here & now Registered Senior Member

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    Perhaps this will answer your question.

    And what do you mean when you say still use the Greek standards of human physical attractiveness? Do you like fat women?
     
  11. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    I was just having some fun with clichees, in pursuit of Epictetus.
    I find the "fat women" remark interesting, too. If we compared the current American norm [over 20% obese, up to 10% morbidly obese - and i'm talking soft, bulging, jiggly fat] to the American [2-4" taller than average and 10-20lb underweight] ideal, the solid, muscular ancient Greek women would fall somewhere below the middle in weight, way up at the top in fitness level. It's physical power that exemplifies the classical standard of beauty (and noses bridged so high and straight that they could not possibly support eyeglasses... myopia being unattractive).
     
  12. aaqucnaona This sentence is a lie Valued Senior Member

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    Damn my teenage popular culture conceptions about ancient greek ideals! I was refering to the kind of people in 300.
     
  13. niko Registered Member

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    I think it's a mix of both, yeah there are cultural aspects at play, but such aspects only come about because there is a general agreement on objective beauty. You can see that across different cultures - take women for example - women are generally seen as attractive if they possess feminine qualities. There are cases though, such as Samoa, where I believe it is revered to be big and fat, for men at least - something that is looked down upon everywhere else
     

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