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Shakespeare was certainly a fan of this ancient adage, which in fact pre-dates his writings to as far back as 3rd Century Greece. Saying that our perception of beauty is an individual position, rather than a collective norm is a romanticized view, but does that make it any less valid? Since the Greeks mused the great questions of the ages, the beauty ideal has been shaped, homogenized and marketed by different countries around the world, but has it reached a general consensus?
The answer is no. There is, to this date, no standard sense of what constitutes beauty, but there are distinct trends, depending on where in the world, or in history, you happen to be.
Western and Eastern standards differ considerably. In Asia and Africa, skin whitening serum, and specifically face-whitening products are the market leaders of the cosmetic industry. Pale skin is so much in demand, that 80% of all Asian consumers consider skin whitening to be the most important property of skincare products.
On the other hand, four in ten women in the UK claim to use artificial tanning products, and the fake tanning industry is worth £100 million. Interestingly, however, there has been a shift in the West in recent years towards a more subtle look, with mainstream actresses like Karen Gillan, Jessica Chastain and Emma Stone becoming the pale and beautiful fashion plates of the 21st century.
And consider the curvy centrefolds of the 50’s compared to the more slender actresses and models featuring in today’s Glamour and Vogue. From an evolutionary standpoint, it has been identified that the new beauty ‘norms’ (as far as BMI are concerned) would lead men to pursue women who are, in fact, too thin for optimal fertility. Are we so obsessed as a culture with beauty ideals that we would, in fact, sacrifice our future?
If there is some reassurance to be taken from these studies, it is that they are general in nature. Break these figures down to an individual level, and there are some interesting revelations. Those in a relationship, for example, rate their significant other as more attractive than a group of objective bystanders, suggesting that meaningful attraction has something more to it than the superficial, and that beauty really can be subjective.
