The Present Concept of Beauty - Case Study Example

Teacher Definition of beauty Beauty is a desirable attribute and people spend a great amount of time and energy to become beautiful. Beauty is often associated with being attractive and desirable with the perception that beautiful people are more valued and therefore happier. What makes one beautiful however is debatable because the standards varies and are distorted to serve a certain purpose. At present beauty, is presented not just for aesthetic purpose that would be pleasing to the senses but rather to stir discontent on the general public about how they should look, sound and move so that they would be considered beautiful. Often these standards of being beautiful are far from something that is feasible and healthy. This exerts pressure on people and often has lethal consequences. Take for example the case of Laura Willmott, 18 years old who is not only beautiful but is also bright and talented but still did not feel “thin enough”. So she starved herself to “barely five stones in weight” until she “collapsed and died from cardiac arrest” (Harding). Another straight A student Anna Wood who was only 16 years old died from anorexia. Anna was never fat as her mother would describe her but she was already watching her weight and dieting herself to death at age 15 (Hull) when she should just have fun just like any normal girl her age should. The concept of beauty is now becoming unhealthy because it is being exploited to peddle some products and services that would make business profit. In this essay, I would argue that the present concept of beauty is problematic because it is driven by commerce that is already becoming unhealthy and is something that is far from feasible. An examination of the definition of beauty reveals that it has nothing to do with weight, skin color and other standards of beauty imposed by commerce. From John Maynard Keats definition of beauty as “A THING of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never/Pass into nothingness; but still will keep /A bower quiet for us, and a sleep/Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing” to Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty” who spoke of her “eyes” likened to “starry skies”. Even the eastern concept of beauty has nothing to do with physical aspect but rather on one’s ability to appreciate as Confucius would put it “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." Indeed being thin is not a universal standard of beauty but rather an invented concept of business and the West. It is because in societies where commerce has not yet penetrated, the standard of beauty differs from those in the West. That is instead of being thin, their concept of beautiful and sexy is being fat. Yes, enormously fat. In non-westernized society such those in Mauritania, people their do not equate being thin with being beautiful attesting that being thin is really just a product of conditioning and perception. In societies like Mauritania, being fat is the standard of beauty. So in the same vein as in the West, those who are thin do extreme measure to gain weight as the standard of being beautiful which in this case is to be fat. So they go to fattening farm to become voluptuous and develop layers and layers of fat (Harter). This may be ridiculous in the West but in this part of the world, being obese is beautiful. This ambivalence in the standard of beauty only shows that beauty has nothing to do with weight. Perhaps health issues but not beauty. Beauty today is grounded on stirring discontent on its audience to aspire an idealized beauty that cannot be achieved unless they buy certain products or avail some services. Thus, beauty in modern society is not really grounded on being aesthetically pleasant in artistic way that characterizes true beauty but rather, beauty became an invented concept and a standard used to sell for profit. For example, companies peddle to us that we have to buy these products or wear this kind of dress to become beautiful. Then they show us images that are far from feasible that would putatively make if we use such products and service. But those images were manipulated and even the people who were used to represent those products do not really use them but are rather endorsers - people who make a living of endorsing products for a fee. They do not necessarily use the product but they became the standard of beauty that if we cannot look like that, then we are deemed to be ugly and undesirable. This is being reinforced by mass media that includes magazines, TV shows, advertisements and Hollywood that it became ingrained in our society that it now became a standard of beauty killing many young gullible girls in the process as they starved themselves to become thin and beautiful. Another standard of beauty that is problematic as it is imposed and conditioned by big business is society is having an ideal skin color (which is what anyway). This is also problematic because it is racist and again blatantly unfeasible and downright exploitation. Just like in the case of Laura Wilmott and Anna Wood where they strove to achieve the idealized figure of being thin to the point of death, big businesses are floating the idea of beauty of having the skin color that you do not have so that you will buy products or do activities to change one’s skin color such as going to tanning salon, applying tanning lotion or sun bathing. For the Caucasians, the idealized skin color is tan where being white, which is their natural skin color is loathed as pale and looking sick. So they are being asked to do sun bathing or get ultraviolet treatment from tanning salon. In the process, they run the danger of acquiring melanoma and other forms of skin cancer due to excessive exposure to ultraviolet light (Rees et al 1). Inversely, those who are already tanned naturally due to genetics and environment such as the Malayan race and those who are in Southeast Asia, no longer see the color of their skin as beautiful. Instead, they now aspire to be fair and white just like the Caucasians who wanted to be tanned. So they have to buy glutathione products, sunblock lotions and even bleached themselves to become white and fair. These new concepts about beauty is already is troublesome. Not only that these standards are exploitative, they are also unhealthy as well. Some young girls have developed disorders such as Bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa where they starve themselves sometimes to the point of death just to lose weight and look beautiful (www.medlineplus.com, nd). Girls as young as 15 years old are already dieting and watching their weight when they are supposed to enjoy their adolescent period and have fun. In the same vein, some parts of Africa such as Mauritiana, women are striving to become obese just to look beautiful. Either way, both standards are erroneous and danger to health. In the same manner that white people are persuaded to bathe under the sun just to get tanned under the danger of getting skin cancer while their already tanned counterpart in Southeast Asia are on a diet of glutathione just to become white and fair. People really need to reevaluate the concept and definition of beauty and think beyond the persuasion of media and society. They should not be gullible with what they see on billboards and advertisements because those are idealized beauty which intends to stir insecurity just to sell something. The people depicted in those images do not necessarily use the products but are mere endorsers and their images were just enhanced by technology. But just to make a point clear, there is nothing wrong with getting thin. But we have to get our motivations straight. We wanted to be thin not because it is beautiful but because it is healthy and the desired health condition to avoid contracting cardiovascular disease and diabetes. With regard to the ideal skin color to look beautiful, companies clearly are just playing on our minds to sell us something. There is no such thing as the ideal skin color to be beautiful. It would probably help us to realize beauty in our skins that “Everything has beauty” we just have to see it. Works Cited Harding, Eleanor. "Bright and beautiful teenager died from anorexia after harrowing five-year battle." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 22 Feb. 2013. Web. 8 July 2014. . Harter, P. (2004, January 26). Mauritanias wife-fattening farm. BBC News. Retrieved July 5, 2014, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3429903.stm Hull, Liz. "Girl, 15, who went on a post-Christmas diet dies from anorexia in a year." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, n.d. Web. 8 July 2014. . Keats, J. M. (n.d.). 32. Endymion. Keats, John. 1884. The Poetical Works of John Keats. 32. Endymion. Keats, John. 1884. The Poetical Works of John Keats. Retrieved July 5, 2014, from http://www.bartleby.com/126/32.html Lu, M. (2014, January 11). Enlighten Glutathione for flawless and dark spot free skin, now on sale! | Lifestyle.Lifestyle. Retrieved July 5, 2014, from http://asianjournal.com/lifestyle/enlighten-glutathione-for-flawless-and-dark-spot-free-skin-now-on-sale/ Rees, Judy R., et al. "Non Melanoma Skin Cancer And Subsequent Cancer Risk." Plos ONE 9.6 (2014): 1-8. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8 July 2014. Read More