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Recommended: Importance of physical appearance
To define a word means to tell of its precise meaning. Often times certain words can mean multiple things to different people, such as beauty. So many times beauty is overlooked as what we see when we look in the mirror. People strive to be an unrealistic form of perfection to find favor in others. Today it seems beauty is determined by what others can see on the surface, but beauty is more than that. Beauty is far beyond skin deep. There is a beauty that cannot be seen or touched but it can be felt. Beauty is defined by one’s character, happiness and confidence. Beauty is often perceived as how one presents themselves. Society tends to focus more on how one wears their makeup, how they may dress, or how they style themselves and classify this as beauty. People seem to lack the emphasis on how inner beauty plays a bigger role on someone’s attraction for another. One of the best compliments one can receive is not by how they might look, but by the kind of person they portray themselves to be. If one presents themselves in a nice, …show more content…
Having a high self-esteem is something that is not very common within people, and those who do have high self-esteem come across as arrogant. When a person is confident in themselves and demonstrates it well, it will show and draw other’s attention. Those seeking beauty should not desire to be an image of perfection that is unattainable, but desire to be confident enough in themselves that their flaws do not matter. Like Barbara Hecht vividly said in her article, “It seems that confident people are noticeable. They stand out. They have a certain air about them that makes you want to get to know them. You want to know what makes them so self-assured. They're intriguing and we're beguiled.” (Hecht 5). Confidence can define inner beauty because it allows people to be themselves. It shows everyone around them that they are comfortable in their own skin and that is
see as beautiful, that we don’t even know what it means to us. If we can get to the point
“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart” (Kahlil). People focus more on the outward appearance instead of the inward appearance. One’s inward appearance is comprised of their character, values, morals, and the true nature of their heart. On the other hand, the outward appearance is composed of one’s dress and grooming. The inward and outward appearance determines whether or not a person is ugly or beautiful. The choices that we make also define whether or not one is ugly or beautiful; choices made in the past can sometimes be repeated in the future.
Moreover, there is a danger when a person has to deal with certain people, with whom it is necessary to be rude, harsh, and altogether not so nice as one can draw in the imagined portrait of their own personality. I know it from my life experience and can assert that such situations happen in real life. The only way out to deal with such disruptive people and their adverse influence on the self-esteem and self-evaluation is the development of a coherent sense of identity, which will be resistant to negative impact. These were two examples where both ideas can be helpful, namely those of being able to wear positive social masks and possess a consistent sense of self. In The Truth about Beauty, Amy Alkon presents convincing arguments for the necessity to pay attention to the fact that others perceive one’s personality.
The concept of beauty is a subject society speaks on through many channels. Social media plays a tremendous role in how society measures beauty and how to achieve these impossible standards. People from all walks of life have become obsessed with the idea of beauty and achieving the highest level it. In many cases, those who do not meet societal views of what is “beautiful” can become very resentful to these predisposed notions of beauty. David Akst in his writing “What Meets the Eye”, is bitter toward women and their ongoing obsession with beauty.
Self-esteem involves evaluations of self-worth. People with high self-esteem tend to think well of others and expect to be accepted them.
In the essay “What Meets the Eye”, Daniel Akst explains scientific facts about the beauty of men and women matters to people. He argues that attractive individuals receive attention, great social status, marries, and gets paid more on a job. One can disagree with Akst’s argument because anyone with the skills and knowledge, despite the appearance, can gain a decent relationship and can get paid well. Akst looks at beauty as if it can lead individuals to an amazing and successful life, but he is wrong. Nancy Mairs’ and Alice Walker’s views on beauty are explained internally and through self-confidence. Both women’s and Akst’s arguments on beauty share some similarities and differences in many ways, and an
For centuries mankind has unsuccessfully attempted to define beauty. Greek philosophers, including Plato, tried to define beauty as if it were as simple as any other law in nature. However this cannot be so because the idea of what is beautiful has varied throughout cultures and the ages. In the 1800s women who were pale and rather plump were considered objects of desire; but in today’s society, desirable women are slender and tan, among other things. The fact is that today, beauty is as unobtainable as it is indefinable. All of today’s supermodels, as seen in millions of advertisements, have been modified, airbrushed, and photoshopped. Women desiring this beauty have turned to various sources of false remedies, spending thousands of dollars, in hope that they too can be beautiful. The media has twisted and warped our ideal definition of beauty into something that does not exist naturally and is simply inaccessible.
What is beauty? I have heard this question many times. I have heard the judge ask the contestant at a beauty pageant on television. I have heard professors ask us students in thought-invoking classes. I have heard it inside my head, my own inner voice, asking myself at night when I am left alone and the deep questions start coming in. What is beauty? And how are we to criticize or judge if one possess beauty or not?
The concept of beauty can be hard to define, as it is an ever-evolving notion. What people perceive as beauty has varied through time, across cultures (Fallon 1990) and can also vary based on individuals. To a culture, beauty can be its customs and traditions, and to an individual it can include physical appearance (outer beauty) or personality (inner beauty). However the word beauty can also defer according to gender, Ambrose Bierce (1958) once wrote, “To men, a man is but a mind. Who cares what face he carries or what he wears? But a woman’s body is the woman.” Despite the societal changes achieved since Bierce’s time, this statement still holds true. Attractiveness is a prerequisite for femininity but not for masculinity (Freedman, 1986).
The concept of “beauty” is something that everyone feels, thinks, or wants, in order to fit society’s standards. In today’s society, we are often faced with the unrealistic ideals of what beauty is. Due to society’s constant portraying of unrealistic beauty ideals, this reinforces a negative influence upon women’s idea of beauty, resulting in a negative impact in their confidence, and self-esteem, which leads to others, specifically women to be manipulated by society’s corrupted outlook of what beauty is. To add onto this issue, we are constantly surrounded by sources of this negative influence in our everyday lives, including magazines, television, advertisements, and so on. However, women specifically, are more prone to be victims of this negative effect, thus will have more pressure upon themselves to match society’s idea of “beauty,” which includes unrealistic and sometimes unattainable beauty standards. Women especially, can sometimes be so deeply manipulated by society’s unrealistic ideals of what is beautiful, such that it’s possible that they don’t even realize it Furthermore, in order to do so, women often will receive negative impacts rather than positive impacts, such as in their confidence and self-esteem. The negative effects of society’s beauty ideals also lead women to have an overall corrupted idea of what is “beautiful.” Society creates unrealistic ideals of beauty towards women through the media by creating an unrealistic image of what women should look like to be considered beautiful. Men negatively affect women’s idea of beauty by using the unrealistic beauty standards exposed by society which further pressures women to try to fit society’s idea of what is beautiful. Beauty pageants negatively affect women’s ov...
IS BEAUTIFUL ALWAYS GOOD? IMPLICIT BENEFITS OF FACIAL ATTRACTIVENESS by Van Leeuwen and Macrae have conducted a study that discusses the implications of attractiveness and whether we associate that with positive or negative words. 20 women and 16 men from Dartmouth College were presented with a number of words and a picture of an attractive or unattractive person in the background. Researchers found out that attractive faces triggered a positive reaction which proved to them the stereotypic social perception that “beautiful is good”. This latter possibility is theoretically important because, if true, it suggests that the “beautiful is good” stereotype may shape people’s evaluations of others in a covert manner”. (Beautiful is always good) The participants associated more positive words with more attractive people which depicts the socialization we have in America that being beautiful is more acceptable and positive. Many social aspects come into play when talking about beauty and why we think that “being beautiful is good”.
Across the globe, few people have difficulty recognizing someone who is considered beautiful. Beauty is often sought after, revered, and sometimes interpreted as a personal virtue. Standards of beauty are usually social marker determining cultural status, social acceptance and suitability as a mate.
Beauty is a concept. An idea that changes from person to person. We put on makeup, do our hair, paint our nails, and buy the latest clothing in an effort to satisfy those around us and conform to their idea of physical beauty. By doing this, we often forget who we are and lose our inner beauty. Although many people focus on physical beauty, inner beauty is more important because it is permanent and a representation of a person’s true self.
The first and most popular interpretation of the word “beauty” is seen as outer appearance. On that perception, “beauty” and “attractiveness” have a significant difference even though they are word cousins. A beautiful looking person may be attractive, but an attractive person does not need to be beautiful. One person may look at someone beautiful with “deep satisfaction in the mind” because that person admire how beautiful the other is. Someone, who is not striking beautiful looking, may attract other people just by how they express their personalities. The others who are attracted to that particular individual because they feel connected, happy, and comfortable around that person. While attractiveness may result in long lasting relationships, physical beauty only brings short term pleasant feeling in the mind. Yet, beauty as outer look conquers many societies around the world. For instance, American culture tends to value the way a person look. That value is transmitted from one generation to the next by families, peers, and media in the process of enculturation. Young children come to adapt ways of thinking and feeling about physical beauty from their families first. The show
There is a saying “Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.” What one individual considers beautiful may not be beautiful to another. Many people in this world have their own definition of what beauty is. Beauty can come from inside or the outside. To me, beauty is not only something that pleases the eyes. Beauty is a quality that pleases or delights the senses or mind. Unfortunately, society makes it nearly impossible to see our own beauty. Most girls are inclined to take a quick look into a compact mirror or run a few fingers through their hair, sizing themselves up with the nearest advertisement featuring a flawless bottle blonde. Some may go a bit further, running an endless list of insecurities