Women & Beauty

[August1991]

We have discussed this at length here.

[August1991]

Bump.

Check out the videos linked here.

[ScottSA]

Biology. Men look for healthy women who are likely to bear healthy children. I have read that there is a correlation between some aspects of what we call beauty and fertility.

But that should apply equally to men. In many species, it is the male who shows physical attributes to attract females. The genetic code of both the female and male are required and are determinant in teh success of any offspring.

Sorry to be tiresome but your response strikes me as simplistic.

"Should" is the operative here. It "should" apply equally according to the thesis of gender equity we're all so used to, but not, apparently, to biology. Other species are irrelevant...if we were talking about elephants or moles, than elephants and moles would be relevant, but we're not and they're not. It is precisely because of genetics that these value judgements are made...a woman can't investigate a man's genetic code, so the only measure she can use is those she can see. Same with the man. This is only simplistic if one looks at it simplistically.

[August1991]

"Should" is the operative here. It "should" apply equally according to the thesis of gender equity we're all so used to, but not, apparently, to biology. Other species are irrelevant...if we were talking about elephants or moles, than elephants and moles would be relevant, but we're not and they're not. It is precisely because of genetics that these value judgements are made...a woman can't investigate a man's genetic code, so the only measure she can use is those she can see. Same with the man. This is only simplistic if one looks at it simplistically.

Scott, you have just made a good argument supporting the idea that males should want physical beauty too.

The stereotype presented above in this thread was that women want to be beautiful to attract males and males want to be rich to attract females. I was questioning that simplistic stereotype and your post supports my questioning.

As to comparing ourselves to other species, I see nothing wrong in that. In many cases, they too face the same problem of finding a suitable partner for passing on their genes. How they solve this problem provides insights into how we as a species cope.

BTW Scott, I'm not suggesting that women and men are the same. They clearly are not. But the manifestation of their differences is far from simple.

I am also very leery of the simple idea that the media shapes our views or beliefs. The media cannot make us stop driving cars or using microwave ovens, to pick two spurious examples. So I'm leery of the idea that the media decides what constitutes beauty and somehow makes women want it.

[M.Dancer]

We have discussed this at length here.

Really? I don't recall anyone writing about the Toronto office of Olgivy and Mather winning the world's most prestigious award for advertising.....so I guess not.

[marcinmoka]

So I'm leery of the idea that the media decides what constitutes beauty and somehow makes women want it.

Good topic.

I agree. The media does not dictate or constitute what we are attracted to per se, rather it just exploits the underlying natural tendancies in our taste (granted, they can be pushed to the extreme). But to claim that we are being force fed a primordial perception against our own will is ultimately devaluing our being.

In other words, they promote it, but do not invent it.