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Does the Idea of Beauty Carry With it Feminine Overtones

What is beauty? In the Western world, we have come to associate beauty with more or less symmetrical features, a certain weight class depending on the height of a person, and a particular hairstyle or style of dressing. But other cultures do not necessarily agree with our definition of beauty; in Cambodia, for instance, heavyset women are considered by many to be more attractive than skinny ones, perhaps because of the relative scarcity of food in that country.

But what is beauty, anyway? Is it only a quality to be found in young women? Very few people in America would describe an attractive young man as "beautiful". But other things can be beautiful as well: a building perhaps, a sunset, a peacock's feathers. Anyone who has ever seen a peacock in full splendor would most likely agree that it is, indeed, beautiful. But the peacock with all the beautiful feathers is the male. Does the idea of beauty carry with it feminine overtones? Many people would say the Taj Mahal in India is beautiful, for example. As an example of architectural symmetry, it certainly is a beauty; but if symmetry is all that makes the building beautiful, where would the Tower of Pisa be? Certainly without nearly as many visitors per year as it currently receives. Besides, there can't possibly be anything masculine or feminine about a building, can there?

Some would rail against the standards of beauty imposed on them by society and the culture around them. "It shouldn't be that way!" they say. "What's inside should matter more!" Maybe what's inside usually comes out to show itself on the outside sooner or later anyway. How we feel about ourselves can generally be seen by how we choose others to see our physical body. Beauty then becomes whatever we decide it to be and, as they say, exists in the eye of the beholder.

Is there such a thing as "universal" beauty? Something that is attractive and desirable no matter what culture or time the thing in question is from? Take Michelangelo's David, for example. Enough people have considered his ideal of the masculine body as "beautiful," that his statue has been famous for more than 500 years. Perhaps beauty as a characteristic is made up both of things that can change from culture to culture and things that are common to all human experience, regardless of the place and time from which they are from. After all, there are things we share with other people, no matter when or where they are from. We all must eat. Everyone sleeps (if at different times). It's safe to say just about everyone communicates. What aspects of beauty then might be the same from culture to culture and time to time? Is it only symmetry, the sameness of something from right to left or top to bottom?

In any case, people will continue to disagree about what makes beauty and what doesn't for as long as they live together on this earth. Perhaps the key is in simply recognizing that others may not agree with my concept of beauty, and that's ok. Not everyone has to agree about what is beauty.

About the Author
Caleb Anderson invites you to visit Find This Online an online resource guide that offers a variety of articles written on different subjects. Browse through plenty of useful articles, information, content and resources on the subject. Visit us Here for more articles on beauty.