First of all, I should mention that myself have experienced some situation when I found someone is very attractive but not anyone else agreed. I am an international student, since the first time I went abroad, my friends and I always find there are many examples showing that people from different cultures, different geographical locations, or different races may have different judgement of what is beautiful to them. Sometimes, some girl not seem to be attractive to me could be very attractive to someone else from other countries. This situation should have been well explained by the texts on textbook about physical attractiveness. As been explained in the textbook, the results are most likely due to the similarity between the person and whom the person find is beautiful.
There are also some other examples and survey results been found on the internet. In one article, the author talked about many different beauty standards around the world. (the link is: http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/3798150-beauty-ideals-around-the-world) Some of them are very or somehow familiar to me, a few seem to be very shocking when the first time I saw them.
The image above showing a kind of make up that was very common the ancient China. People from other countries may find this to be unacceptable or even scary. Myself found the picture with two people with dots on their body is not very easy to accept as beautiful. Based on the cultural influence, I would prefer the human skin to be clean and smooth, even for the males.
Difference in Perception of Beauty
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I think that people's perceptions of attractiveness differ a lot across cultures, especially in body shape and size. Americans place such an emphasis on being skinny, and other cultures and even nationalities have different view points when in comes to body shape. Perceptions of attractiveness have changed over time as well.
I think that the difference in attraction is very interesting across cultures. It can be strange to someone that ideals of someone from another culture. I also have experienced finding someone attractive and having people around me disagree. I also agree with you that human skin looks better unpainted unlike in the picture above where that is clearly the ideal.
I agree that there really is a large difference across cultures in opinions of beauty. I am half American and half Honduran. I don't think I am considered very attractive here in the states, but my family in Honduras think I am beautiful, as does my boyfriend who is latino. Ironically, I think I inherited my opinions of beauty from my American side, because if I was a guy, I probably wouldn't be my type!
I was attracted by this picture. It reminds me of BeiJing opera. I agree with your idea about different culture or indiviual have different perception on beauty. On the book, it says that people who are the most average to be the most attractive. I think we all have our own standards of beauty or handsome.But, I believe that the best choice is what you want to choose in the deep heart.
I agree that attractiveness is different to everyone. I think culture backgrounds play a role in what makes someone attractive to another. In a more extreme way, like the picture you posted, I believe culture backgrounds have some effect but even within the same culture there are still so many differences between who is attractive to someone compared to someone else
I found the point you made in the beginning of your post about talking with friends on the attractiveness of others and disagreeing with them. I wonder if there is any social psychology research in rating of attractiveness with friends or groups compared to ratings when alone. I think that this could be another possibility to explain some differences in attraction as well.
The link you included was very intriguing! I was shocked to see how each culture's definition of beauty is different and often contradicting. Some cultures like clear skin while others may like scars, tattoos, or excessive piercings. I found it particularly fascinating that Mauritanian people like heavier women while Western society promotes a stick-thin body. I would be interested in pursuing further research into this topic!
This is such an interesting topic. We often assume that beauty is objective, but as the old saying says, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." I have often heard people say that they prefer a certain "race" over others, but I think there are good looking people from all over the world. Certainly we all have our own criteria for classifying people as good looking or not. Great post and great insights!
This is a great post. There are so many different ways to interpret beauty and everyone is attracted to different traits that people have whether they are physical or not. As you said different cultures hold different values on what they think is beautiful or not and not one of them is "correct." I wonder if there are any arguments for the nature side of what people think is attractive or if it is all a matter of nurture and the enviornment.
I think it's important for people to understand that there are different types of beauty, both on the inside and outside. Imagine if all cultures had the same standard of beauty! We probably wouldn't see as much diversity and perhaps it would even lead to more self-image issues. I think this topic is very interesting.
There are so many types of beauty these days. So many styles and makeup sometimes might just do the magic for that. I also agree with you on the first couple of things that you mentioned. I have seen a lot of people who look "hot" but aren't to some people and that just has to do with how the person perceives the other. Sometimes when I'm just watching a "k-drama" (movie) I will not like the characters and somehow later on find the person to be quite attractive. It is kind of weird how that happens, but I think it's mostly because of the person's personality in the movie that is why I begin to find them attractive. I guess that's why they say don't judge a book by its cover.
This image caught my attention because it reminded me of the movie Memoirs of a Geisha, and a picture my professor showed the class from the Tale of Genji. I have also had the experience of thinking someone is attractive, but none of my friends agree with me. On the other hand, there have been times where my friends think someone is highly physically attractive, but I am the one who disagrees. It definitely has something to do with personality traits, in my opinion. That goes to show that people who are drop dead gorgeous but have bad personalities are not attractive to me. This was interesting to read, good work.