Beautiful People

What does it mean to be beautiful? Every culture has their own opinion about what it means to be beautiful. What one culture thinks is beautiful, another may feel is ugly. “Body image involves our perception, imagination, emotions, and physical sensations of and about our bodies” in relation to values that are not necessarily innate but “learned or expected culturally”. For example, the Geisha Girls of Japan have white painted faces with elegant hairdos and colorful kimonos that cover their entire bodies. This is a classic look for a beautiful woman in Japan.

On the other side of the world, you will find a totally different concept of beauty—The California Girl or Guy. She or he is a bleached blonde beauty with a golden tan and a skimpy bikini. To many in the United States, the classic meaning of beautiful is a young woman or man with a fit body who isn’t afraid of showing it off.

Each culture looks on beauty differently; Japan may think painting their faces white is a lot prettier than having a golden tan. “Standards of beauty vary so greatly from one culture to another that what one group finds attractive, another may not”.  We strive to be the beautiful people of our culture, to be what is accepted by others as beautiful in our society.