What exactly does being beautiful mean? Sure, "the eye is in the beholder" but the media has certainly guided many ppl's idea of it. Who are the beautiful people in any unAmericanized cultures? How important is beauty? (women are expected to hide it in Afghanistan and it sure brings in the $$$ here) On the superficial level, it seems like very slim, curvy, long (blonde) hair, long eyelashes etc. (c'mon, most of us have seen a Cosmo mag) are the constant features of women presented as beautiful. And it's a bit scary that I have trouble bringing another image to mind that is perceived as beautiful.

I tell you what is beautiful in my eyes. A woman who has some meat on her bones greating me at the door as I get home from a hard days work wearing nothing but a smile with a six pack in her hand and the game on tv. Thats real beauty baby.

there are three different kinds of beauty to me..."beauty in the eye of the beholder", "it's what's on the inside that counts", and "perfect beautiful". beauty in the eye of the beholder is fine with me because of course everyone has different tastes in what attracts them to a person. beauty on the inside is my favorite because if you don't think that anyone has been "beholding" you to be beautiful, you can look inside yourself and find true beauty. but perfect beauty, well, that's the stuff that the media is trying to get you to buy into and doesn't really exist...anyways, i "behold" beauty in imperfections .
kisses and blesses,
e.k.

yes it might seem that the media might be trying 2 guide as to tell us what is beauty and what isnt, but beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. though those women in the media that you might find beautifull, might actually seem ugly to others. all people have different tastes in things, and beauty is one thing that all people also have different tastes in.

Beauty is whatever you want to make of it. Personally, i think beauty comes from within. But others beg to differ. I feel that if you feel beautiful, you are beautiful.

Beauty?I dunno...It's what other people classify as being "attractive",ect.Beauty does extend a bit toward your culture,I guess,but it leans more toward the media.

I really don't know......

Well,when you think beautiful,you think=models,movie stars.

so it's all media stuff.

Freaky...I dunno,and my mother used to be a runway model.Strange.

In Jamaica fat is beautiful because being thin implies poverty. There are cases of a kind of reverse-anorexia - women eat (I think this is right, I read an article on it but it was a while ago) chicken feed to make themselves fatter but it's bad for their health.

So yes, beauty, or what is classed as beautiful, depends to an extent on your culture. I guess a certain regularity and symmetry in your facial features is what classes someone, in the media's eyes at least, as beautiful in western culture.

As someone who likes to watch people (no, I'm not a stalker, I just like observing) I think that nearly everyone can look beautiful. People only look truly ugly when their personality is ugly. Looks are a bonus to your confidence if you've got them, but they're not of any great importance and they're not an overriding obstacle to being beautiful. In fact, the constant bombardment of 'beautiful' faces in adverts gets bland… variety is a good thing, and if your face isn't exactly an example of conventional beauty see it this way - at least it's interesting to look at!

Bex

Is our (American?universal?) idea of the feminine ideal a innate pyschological preference or a creation of advertisers in an effort to bottle and sell beauty?