That is the definition of beauty from www.dictionary.com what do you think causes us to find beauty in a person, place or thing? Is it an instinctual impulse, or is it societal?
Let's say you have just gotten home from school/work. You are tired and lazy, and all you want to do is sit down and watch TV. When you turn on the TV, you see a commercial for CoverGirl. "Oooh, Damn! She looks hot!" Now, why do you think she looks hot? What you might say would be that she has a clear face, big breasts, nice butt, those might be the finer points that you are thinking of. What I'm asking is, why did you come to the assumption that she was beautiful? Was it because you had this feeling, deep inside you that said, "Wow, she is something!" Or was it that you assessed the situation. Ok, she's on a CoverGirl Commercial, she's acting very self-confident, what more do you need to think about? She's hot! Now that's the response I would expect.
Do we as a society think that men and women are beautiful because it is entrenched in our instincts. We are driven to be attracted to women like them, or is it that we've watched so many commercials, seen so many movies, having countless people tell us that she or he is beautiful, to the point where we believe them? Are we being tricked that easily? I would hope not. For example: I have been told countless times that makeup on girls makes them look better, I've seen the commercials saying the same thing, I have my friends always saying that the most beautiful girls that we know are the ones that put colored gob on their faces to make them more "attractive." I honestly, do not think girls are more beautiful with makeup, but Society tells us that girls with the right makeup on are the most attractive. Go to this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NMQntHGwHI you will see a CoverGirl commercial featuring Rihanna. A lot of people consider Rihanna a very beautiful women. But are we saying that because of what others have told us before-hand?
Now, my guess is as a human race, we are GULLIBLE. We will believe anything, and eat it up like it's fat-free Bacon. I do believe that we still do have our ancient roots, dating back to when we were living in caves, but our conception of beauty have been altered to the point of disbelief. I would almost guarantee you, that if we were to bring a person from let's say, Southern China from the 12th century, to today, in 2009. After the initial shock wears off, we would most likely take this person, (let's just say it's a man,) to a runway model. She is so thin, you can almost see her bones, and if you were to take a picture of her with her makeup on, and then one with her makeup off, you wouldn't be able to tell if she was the same person from each photo. I'm sure this man would take one look at her, and then ask us, "has she eaten in the past few weeks, and what is that garbage on her face! She should have that removed at once!" I think even if we were to take someone from 1925, and be guaranteed nearly the same answer.
As a human race, we really need to think about how we define people as "Beautiful, Desirable, Attractive, Hot." Who knows what we will think in 200 years? I hope we can revert back to what our instincts think is attractive, before we start thinking dogs are attractive.
