Physical beauty- Objective or subjective? Cultural or universal?

Only 15 year olds.

From a biological standpoint, the most beautiful female body parts are a curvy body, small shoulders, wider hips and a pedomorphic face.

Personally, I like big eyes and short faces (which just happens to be signs of youth and high estrogen).

 

It brings up an interesting question as related to racism, specifically racism by whites.

While the white racists hates blacks, the MALE white racist would choose a physically attractive black woman....over a generally-considered less attractive white woman.

It was best argued in an old joke by Lenny Bruce, that I'll update.

Take your average Klansman and tell him, he has to spend the next 20 years on a deserted island ...alone...except for a white-white woman....or a black-black woman....and which one would he choose? The women are roughly the same age, so that doesn't figure into it much.

Wait......now answer the question if the black woman was Halle Berry?




and the white woman was Mama June Shannon* of "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo"?




*(Actually June Shannon is 13 years younger than Halle Berry even)

 

Read back issues of National Geographic and you will know beyond any doubt that the standards of beauty are cultural.

 

No, not if they posess the one thing that potential partners find even more attractive than looks for the purposes of choosing a mate and procreation. Take a look at Trump and you can probably figure it out. Hint- it is not good hair.

 

Superficial things like braided or straight hair, nose rings and clothing are indeed culturual. But, biological and evolutiohary factors cannot be overemphasized. Yes, in some Sub-Saharan communities a big nose ring is considered beautiful, in "West" it is not, for example. What we all have in common, however, is attraction to signs of health, youth, fertility, masculinity/femininity and proportions.

 

Believe it or not there are actually men who pick woman on the basis of personality and intelligence. Probably the more intelligent members of the gender.

 

Physical- and romantic attraction are not necessarily connected. Here we cover the previous.

 

Depends on the culture. Fat has usually been a sign of prosperity and strength. "Ugly" is back to being subjective again.

 

I say beauty is subjective.
What looks good to me might not to the next person.
I can explain all the fatnessre-packaged foods and soda and smartphones.
When I was a kid, you rode around on your bike trying to round up enough friends for a ballgame;Not chasing Pokemons.

 

Wrong. Look up cultures that consider fat beautiful and then get back to us. Or consider female genital mutilation or foot binding etc, etc. or closer to home consider that some now consider piercings attractive which would never have been the case forty years ago. Or the current popularity of large tattoos. Or even men with long hair who would have been considered feminine fifty years ago. And, i can go on and on and on.

 

We are sure you think you think you know what everyone considers physically attractive. For many of us physical and romantic are inseparable.

 

symmetry. that's what it's all about. the healthy body thing is secondary (though still important) but will be sacrificed for a perfect face.

I think skin is also a misunderstood feature. Good skin is almost as appealing as a perfect face. And by good skin I mean not damaged. Yes, it's a 'youth' thing to have undamaged skin, but so is much of the mating game. A perfect face is utterly ruined by sun-damaged skin, and a less than perfect face is made beautiful by baby smooth skin.

 

She doesn't need to be 'sexually attractive' at 47, she's past breeding age.

 

what differs is the definitions of masculinity and femininity. eg, Japanese and Korean girls regard masculinity as something altogether different to the masculinity understood by white western women. and younger men have quite a different understanding of femininity to that of older men.

 

Symmetry above and below which horizontal plane? Maybe that is why some cultures consider fat people beautiful. They are closer to symmetrical both in the horizontal and vertical dimensions.

 

Interesting. Most men I know loathe big boobs. They say it makes women 'dumb and trashy looking' (which is a bit mean, since they can't help it), and some even say it makes a woman look unfit. I guess that's because fit and athletic women usually have small boobs.

- - - Updated - - -

Both?

Seriously, it is about facial symmetry mostly. Skin and body second.

 

Well I've been madly in love with nurse Christine Chappell of Star Trek for years, but Spock doesn't seem to fancy her. Huh, there's Vulcans for you..

 

Beauty to me has many facets, I see beauty in many people not necessarily considered beautiful.

A beautiful woman's beauty also deteriorates when she is shallow and full of herself, and enhanced when she has depth of character and thinks of others, not just herself.

A great example is Amal Clooney, very beautiful and a true humanitarian it puts her in a class all of her own.

As far as beauty in men goes....for me... I don't like pretty men, it's being male that attracts me and so my measure of beauty in men would be... more in the body than the face, strength of character etc also play a major role for me

 

Cutting your boy's and girl's genitalia has absolutely zero to do with beauty and foot binding is just some random cultural idea about beauty; like I said there will always be random ideas about beauty that will vary from place to place and time to time such as hair style and clothing. But, generally speaking there is an objective beauty and these are things that are hardwired into our brains. Evolution, you know.

Fashion trends have very little to do with physical beauty.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...e-attracted-to-women-with-feminine-faces.html

 

Someone can have a beautiful personality, beautiful hair or just beautiful eyes etc. Here we only talk about physical beauty and whether it can be said to be universal or not, where I argue there are certain traits that are indeed, universally, considered to be beautiful.

Strong and tall body used to mean you were healthy. The females wanted healthy genes to reproduce with to have healthy kids. Strong and tall also signifies high levels of T (masculinity) which is also attractive to women.


It is hardwired into our brains. We cannot do f- all about it. We are apes and nothing but apes.

 

Culture has a big influence on what a society considers to be beautiful. Like how Greeks used to like fat chicks. You could claim that they didnt really and they just claimed that they did because they didnt want to upset their wives and they had plenty of options to satisfy their sexual needs with poor chicks that would not have been so fat - but it does seem that they were into fat chicks for a while there. I think that maybe it was some kind of fetish. There is something obscene about a chick eating so much that she gets big and fat and then for her to walk around like she doesnt care that her big fat body is a personification of her gluttony. There could have been something really hot about that for elite Greeks dude I guess.

Even in my lifetime tastes have changed. The Pamela Anderson type with clown tits and chunky body was attractive in the 90s but at this point it the en vogue beauty type is closer to a runway model. The internet females claiming that real women can carry a pencil under their boob have body types that were considered to be more attractive in the 90s than they are now. ( I dont mind if a female can carry a pencil with her breast. A pencil case might turn me off, but a pencil is ok. )

And I think that beauty is in the eye of the beholder to a point, and after that point there is some kind of fetish or deviation.

And I think that there is certain beauty that is timeless and transcendent.

 

Hmm. I think I'm going to have to disagree with you about breast size. Many men seem to be absolutely obsessed with large breasts. Lol.

If you want to find what most men find "beautiful" then you look at the trends.

- - - Updated - - -

Loathe them?? I'm skeptical to say the least. I don't know what country you are from, but here in America, the men like big breasts.

Don't think I agree about "symmetry" either. Most people have facial symmetry, but that doesn't make a person attractive.

 

I prefer "Normal" breast size.

 

I used to believe that at one time too. I've come to realize that looks are indeed VERY important to a lot of men though.

- - - Updated - - -

Okay, but there is a reason why breast implants are so popular.

- - - Updated - - -

I should have probably said "many" men prefer large breasts. Hey, I'm just repeating what I've heard men say and pictures they post, etc. If a woman has big breasts, you are going to see men staring at them.