European and American Ideals of Beauty - Essay Example

The paper "European and American Ideals of Beauty" is a good example of an essay on social science. Beauty standards and ideals in the 19th Century were very different from each culture especially African, Asians and European/American. As globalization however continues to be on the increase, westernization has seeped slowly into each of the cultures and changed the ideals of beauty to be aligned with that of the European/ America. 

In Africa since time immemorial, big and curvaceous was the ideal beauty. African women were force-fed such as in Mauritania in order to become large and have body curves. Women that were skinny were regarded as sick individuals and hence not beautiful at all. All this, however, is changing as the ideal beauty merges with that of the western nations and skinny is now regarded as beautiful (LaFraniere, 2007). This is evident in the models in beauty pageants.
In Asia and especially in India, China and Korea, beauty was regarded in terms of body size. Thin women were disregarded as being unhealthy no matter how beautiful their clothes were (Alibhai-Brown, 2010). The trend is on the move as thin is being regarded as the ideal beauty in addition to facial surgery to change their eyes and facial appearances (Lah, 2011). The “fat” people are being regarded as oversize and have pressure to cut down their weight.
Conclusion
The ideals of beauty in the world cultures which were parallel in the 19th and 20th Century have changed and merged to become one. The ideal beauty in the 21st Century for all cultures is being skinny and light-skinned as is evident in the girls competing in the world beauty pageants who appear to be the same body type, shape, and size. Read More