Understanding Beauty - Everything from fashion and beauty to faith7109651

Beauty is a phenomenal concept which is as old as mankind. Yet, it is a concept which is very misunderstood. Different individuals listen to such diverse views of what beauty entails that quite a number end up confused, frustrated and frankly give up. If someone were to walk right up to you and asked you to define beauty; what would you say? Would you start describing a cover model you saw in one of the popular magazines, or colors of the rainbow? Or would you consider a soft melodious piece of music or even a romantic verse from a lover? All these can be defined within the concept of beauty but one thing that is clear, there is no definite definition of beauty. Beauty is something abstract and intangible. It is something about something. This something about something will vary from individual to individual. A popular definition of beauty is that it is a characteristic about something that gives a feeling of pleasure and satisfaction. Therefore for beauty to be perceived, it must stimulate the senses to evoke a feeling of joy, pleasure and satisfaction. From this definition, the judge of what's beautiful is the person who receives or fails to receive the pleasure.

How is this sensuous beauty applicable among human beings? What makes one be considered beautiful and attractive? Is a person considered beautiful necessarily attractive? These are complex questions which do not have a direct answer. The way the societies we live in view beauty is influenced by many factors. First of all there are cultural factors. In the past, each culture had distinct criteria upon which they based beauty. There are those cultures that considered plump women to be beautiful. Therefore fattening of maidens before marriage was a common practice. Others considered small feet to be beautiful. These have however changed a lot in modern times. With the advancement of technology and human interaction, the differences in cultural preferences have been minimized and we now almost have a standard way of viewing beauty. This is greatly influenced by the parameters set by top fashion houses. The images they project to the public, form the dress, walking style and physique have increasingly become the trend that the reminder of the World is expected to follow. But is what we see on the Catwalk the true representation of beauty? Thankfully, no. Human beauty is so rich in variety that we can have no set parameters within which to define it. One cannot authoritatively say small is beautiful, blonde is beautiful, slim is beautiful, green eyes are beautiful etc. and condemn other characteristics. There is no standard of beauty and each individual is beautiful in her own way. There may only be prejudices as a result of the society around the individual. It for this reason you would find a man married to a blonde having an affair with a brunette, or a lady of oriental or African descent. They are simply beautiful and the man cannot resist!

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