I'm pretty.. "chilled out" when it comes to my appearance.
I don't mean that I don't care about how I look but I want to be comfortable at the same
time.
That's why it kind of perplexes me to think about the lengths that some people go to for
beauty.
You got people waxing their legs...spending 2 hours a day putting on makeup.. wearing
high heels and other uncomfortable clothing…
But to most people who do these things they aren't that bad - it's worth a little bit
of pain and discomfort to look the way they want to and feel good about themselves.
And while that's kind of interesting to think about on its own what really caught
my interest was looking into examples of how "suffering for the sake of beauty" is
taken to the extreme.
Up until the 20th century in China, women with small feet were considered beautiful
and desirable so many girls usually around the age of 5 had their feet broken and bound
to ensure they would marry into a rich family.
In some indigenous African tribes, lip plates are considered for women to be a symbol of
beauty, and for men a symbol of power and status.
And in the victorian era in the UK, women would wear extremely tight corsets to appear
thinner, and used dangerous ingredients like tar and lead as makeup.
There are so many examples across history of how humans have purposefully injured and
even disabled themselves to achieve beauty or status.
Suffering as a representation of power is fairly easy to understand.
You have suffered through pain and survived it - so you are a strong person.
But why would we want to physically harm or handicap ourselves for "beauty" ? shouldn't
it make it more difficult to find a "mate" if you look unhealthy or can't move properly?
Well unlike most animals, humans are not fighting for survival - we don't need to look for
a partner who can run away quickly or camouflage themselves into the environment or fight off
predators.
So it's not as much of a handicap for a human to lose the ability to walk as it would
be for a tiger living in the wild, for example.
Since we don't need to look for survival capabilities we can look for other, more useful
traits in a partner such as wealth.
Foot binding for example was originally practiced among upper class women and so it was possibly
an indicator that a woman was rich, for example.
But why such a painful and harmful procedure?
Why not just assume their wealth based on how expensive the clothing they wear is, for
example?
The most common story for its origin goes like this:
The emperor Li Yu sees a dancer who's bound her feet into the shape of a crescent moon
and he's like
"wow, that's pretty hot.
Don't you think so guys?"
"yeah dude, i want a wife with feet like that"
It's thought that the practice began in the 10th century so it's exact origin is
not 100% clear, but it's speculated that it was initially enforced by men to keep women
dependent on them - as they couldn't travel far or move easily in some cases.
But as it was passed around that rich men like the emperor prefered women with bound
feet, even lower class women began binding as they felt that they had to in order to
marry into wealth.
Mothers would do it to their daughters because they thought that it would be the best for
them, and it eventually became a tradition.
Eventually everyone was doing it because it was the standard of beauty, women with unbound,
natural feet were considered "ugly".
Whether or not the procedure was enforced by men, it was done as a way to appeal to
them and ensure a woman would marry.
Which is a common theme throughout the majority of examples of suffering for beauty.
However as a society we have evolved out of these painful beauty traditions.
It's no longer so important to attract a partner because men and women can now both
live comfortably without one.
Now that it's not a requirement to have a partner we can take our time with it and
be more selective based on our personal preferences.
So why do some people still go through pain and discomfort to achieve beauty standards
if they are no longer a requirement?
And why do we still have beauty standards at all if other qualities are more useful
for progressing as a society?
Lets answer the second question first since it's a little bit less complicated.
Beauty is subjective - different people find different things beautiful or attractive depending
on their personal preferences.
Studies suggest that these personal preferences are most likely influenced by your surroundings
and personal experiences as you grow up so theoretically being surrounded by media portraying
a certain "look" as beautiful is maybe why a lot of people are attracted to this
image - but not everyone.
But why are these specific looks pushed as being the ideal?
If you look at the people around you finding people who actually look like the "ideal"
is pretty difficult - particularly when you consider qualities that people can't change
about themselves - why do we promote an image that is unobtainable for a lot of people?
Well the answer is...probably because of money.
I mean...it kinda makes sense?
By promoting an ideal image that is ultimately unattainable for most people, companies can
sell their products with the idea that if you keep buying from them you can look like
that.
Except you can't.
But again if attracting a husband or wife is not a requirement anymore then why do people
care so much about what they look like?
Well romantic relationships are still considered extremely important to a lot of people.
Not having a partner or never having one is typically looked down upon by society, likely
because of the importance of relationships in our society and not being interested
or particularly active in seeking romantic relationships is seen as unusual.
Some even go as far as to judge it as a failure, as if if you don't have a partner you are
an unsuccessful person.
As a result people, particularly teenagers, feel pressured to find a partner and therefore
strive to look like the "ideal" man or woman in order to get one.
If you're someone who feels like they have to look a certain way to find a relationship
- remember that beauty is subjective.
This is not the "standard" - nobody expects you to look this way and you can achieve a
perfectly happy and successful life without it.
Heck you are probably actually more happy if you don't look like this, it's crazy
how much time and money some people spend on their image - it must be super stressful.
..when did this turn into a video about promoting a positive self image?
Anyway - all I want to say is you don't have to suffer to achieve beauty, unless you
actually enjoy it.
That's a thing too.
I'm not condemning the use of cosmetics, or getting fit or anything like that if it
makes you happy.
I'm just saying that you don't need to go out of your way to please people you don't
even know.
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