The Media's Allegedly Impossible Standard Of Beauty: Las Vegas Observation
The theory goes like this: advertisers present female consumers with an ideal, impossible standard beauty. They do this so women feel perpetually inadequate and insecure, which keeps them buying and buying in the hopes of achieving the unachievable, of becoming one of the magazine women. The magazine women, though, have no real world counterpart. They’re not only the product of plastic surgery, personal trainers, makeup artists and hair stylists, but of Photoshop artists. They’re a myth.
There’s a hole in that argument, but you won’t spot it by reading the above paragraph alone. If you spend some time in the Bellagio, though, you’ll spot the hole for sure. You’ll spot it walking by you every few seconds. I did last night, at least. The supposedly impossible standard of female beauty is not only possible, not only achievable, but has been achieved, by every other woman in the place.
Did you take that picture
Did you take that picture yourself?
the pic is from the Bank,
the pic is from the Bank, the nightclub at bellagio. it was taken by somebody who wasn't me.
Having you, a mid-20s male,
Having you, a mid-20s male, judge the female perspective of beauty is like having a boar judge a prix fixe meal at Charlie Trotters. Pardon my analogy, but my point is that those women use tons of beauty products to look as they do, and even so, still find plenty to fret over.
Faulty logic, counselor.
INteresting analogy,
INteresting analogy, Counselor Susie. Begs the question, who WOULD be in the right position to judge female beauty? You said judge the "female perspective of beauty," and I guess I'm having trouble understanding exactly what you mean by that. But you're right about me not being a woman, and I'm sure if I were, I'd have a different perspective. Now, do you believe that beauty (sexual attractiveness, in this case) is an objective or subjective matter?
Beauty is definitely an
Beauty is definitely an objective matter. It is measurable (bra size, weight, etc.).
For example, everyone would rate the girls I have dated a 10 out of 10 (10 being at least 91% beautiful).
Counselor Ryan, stop
Counselor Ryan, stop acting like you're being facetious when you're only being half-facetious.
How old are you people?
How old are you people?
My physical body is 25, but
My physical body is 25, but people tell me I have an old soul...which means my soul has to get up 6 times a night to go pee but my body just stays asleep and lets my soul wet itself.
How old are you, son? You're old enough to use your parents' internets but not old enough to stop being a whiny man-baby, so I'm guessing somewhere between 13 and 40. Am I right??
Simply comes down to the old
Simply comes down to the old saying as far as i am concerned: "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". As cliche as it may be, it is true...i have always felt insecure about women with piled on make up and gorgeously toned; most of which is an illusion, which i ignored acknowledgment of. I have met so many men in my time who find a 'beauty' in all types of women. I believe if you are yourself, dress and keep yourself looking as you like, then you are bound to attract the people and maybe men you'd like. NEVER become the sheep as these girls in Bellagio...they will soon learn.
Its all an endless pit of debate either way, we could never fight it.
The hole in your argument,
The hole in your argument, LawyerBoy, is that you've failed to identify that the word "impossible," when women talk about standards of beauty, is hyperbole. As you've identified, it's not actually impossible. But it takes a lot of time and a lot of money. How many women that you went to law school with also worked while in law school full time? How much time per day do you think they had to work out? An hour? How much time do you think they spent applying makeup, putting product in their hair, blow drying? How many of them had the money to spend a lot on really great clothes and expensive moisturizer? Not that many. Now think about all the women that are single moms, or who make low wages. Then think about the type of women you're seeing walk past you at the Bellagio. I imagine that they're wealthy. I imagine that they have fairly leisurely lives that allow them to work out a lot. I imagine that they (or their husbands or parents) make enough money to allow them to get gorgeous clothes and eye cream, or hell - fake tits. So yeah. It's not impossible to be totally, completely hot. But the time and money that it takes to do that is something that a lot of women don't have access to. Your observations at the Bellagio are based entirely upon a class of women with the type of wealth that the majority of women in America don't have.
Hi Lady London, Yes, I
Hi Lady London,
Yes, I sometimes get insecure around pretty people too. And yes, a lot of beauty is illusion. We're on the same page there too. But I don't agree that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and science is on my side (in terms of beauty's objectivity). Also, I wouldn't call the girls in the Bellagio "sheep." Some of them might be, but obviously not all of them. It's a bad plan to judge people based on their appearance, even if they're really hot.
-Ricky
Anonymous, you're right
Anonymous, you're right that it's hyperbole. Fair point. And you're right that the bar is set very high and that not everybody has the time and disposable income to achieve a certain standard of beauty. Agree with all that....okay, I just read your whole comment, and I think I agree with all of it. I don't think you've contradicted anything I've said though, so I don't know if you've found a "hole" in my argument; you've just added to it.
inane
Beauty, an infallable remedy
Beauty is only skin deep, ugly goes to the bone... And yet beauty is still in the eye of the beholder.