Beauty (Revised 1)

Jessica Alba, the woman with a "golden ratio" face :D

    When the word “beauty” pops into our mind, what impression does it give us at the very first moment or perhaps we should ask, “What does beauty stand for?” Every person has a different perspective upon beautiful things; however, there is always a general value, that is, a common idea of beauty that dominates the society and this trend has a great impact on people, either in a good or bad way. It infuses us with the preconceptions about beauty. In fact, the evaluation standard of beauty has aroused numerous controversies since a long time ago and people in different eras have different evaluation criteria. Aesthetic Conceptions vary as the time and generation vary and that is why there are always gaps between different generations. Sometimes, the evaluation standard in the past would be thought of as an awkward or even pathetic trend when we look back nowadays. Take Chinese culture for example, Chinese women in the past used to bind their feet in order to be “pretty” and hence appealed to men. Although binding feet was to cater to the standard of beauty at that time, it not only went against the body structure but also led to serious problems due to the long-term bacteria contract.

    In modern times, we could even figure out the over-emphasized effects and that has brought about distorted phenomenon. As a slender figure equals to a beautiful woman, people try as best as they can to be thin in order to meet the expectation of being pretty. Some people go to the gym and exercise regularly; while others try many different ways, sometimes even harmful to the health, merely to reach the goal of moulding and maintaining a slender figure. Especially in the fashion industry, in order to fit in the clothing perfectly, models are forced to go on a morbid diet. There are even cases about models eating tissues to quest the desire of eating. Many models died young just because if they want to survive in the field, they have to do what they are asked to. Those models are thus given a specific name--- size zero models.

Another example is the prevalent trend of having a plastic surgery in Korea. It is said that we could barely find a person in Korea who never undergoes a surgery--- from getting a liposuction, a Botox injection, a face lifting, to an implant or a nose job. People go mad about keeping the so-called “perfect image” but they downplay the cost those surgeries might bring to them simultaneously. Those jobs will not only pose a great potential threat to their bodies but accelerate the skin’s aging process once the effect fades. In my viewpoint, having a plastic surgery is like doing drugs. They both bring about the effects of obsession, only in a different way.

    To sum up, those cases have brought about reflections to us: How do we define the real beauty? Are the above examples the real beauty we are eager to achieve for? If so, is it worth to die for other people’s opinion? Why can’t we be ourselves and have faith in our own beauty? Why should we need other people’s approval to assure that we are pretty enough to meet the standard? To me, beauty means nature. To be what we are like naturally is the essence of beauty. We need not change ourselves to be like those we see on as idols. On the contrary, each one of us should keep our own style and be ourselves because we are unique. In fact, it is the diversity and difference that comprises beauty itself. Just imagine people around us all look alike to one another, how do we know what is beautiful and what is not? As a consequence, we could say that beauty is the product of comparisons. Without contrasts, we do not know the differences yet the most important thing we have to bear in mind is that everyone is beautiful in a certain way when we look at a person at a different angle!