Universal Beauty Standard

There are often times when two people look at a photo of another human being and they may have different thoughts on whether he or she is attractive or not; this scenario may even occur in larger groups. No universal standard for beauty, regarding physical human appearances, exists. The standards for aesthetics vary in many circumstances as perspectives are influenced by several things. There are three factors—individuals, societies, and the past—that causes the variety of views. Each individual has his or her own personal preferences for beauty. This allows people to have different opinions on what they believe are beautiful or not. As people flip through magazines, look through Facebook, or even look at others walking down the street,

Due to the prominence of mass media, one society’s standards, especially those within countries that produce most of the widespread varieties of media, are spreading and being integrated into one general beauty standard that applies to the majority. The Western media plays a huge role in influencing other societies’ standards of beauty. The common features of Westerners are big eyes with double-lids, defined and sharp jaws, fair skin, and sharp noses; these are the things that Asian women desire for themselves as well as most women in Asia has flatter and less defined features. Therefore even young girls in Asian countries, such as Korea, often seek plastic surgery for their eyes, jaws, and noses, or buy many cosmetic products like whitening creams in order to have the features that Western girls possess. (Frazier, n.d.) (Le, 2014) The next argument against can be found in evolutionary

Beauty is not an objective property but rather a subjective one and is determined by how individuals’ brains respond to the traits of an object or being. Based on evolutionary aesthetics, beautiful items are the results of improved ways while ugly items require modification or even elimination. Aesthetic preferences have evolved along with humans in order to enhance survival and reproductive success through the development of decision-making and problem solving skills based on responses derived from human perceptions. (Orians, n.d.) This inherent quality exists in all animals including humans therefore universally we are all creatures that possess natural inclinations towards