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Ugly people vs. good-looking people
By Clint Jhonson
Essentially, people have changed very little in the past 2000 years. Even if we go further back in history, when discussing human nature, the idea stays generally the same. However, human appearance is a completely different story. If the desire to immortalize or create beauty has remained constant, the one thing that has changed is the actual perception of what beauty really means.
Ugly people, beautiful people, the war has been on for centuries. By definition, ugliness is related to people or things that appear as unattractive to senses, mainly visually speaking, of course. Opposing beauty, this concept determines human appearance. There is the general belief that due to differences of perspectives, some may perceive a certain thing to be beautiful, while others may perceive the exact same thing as being ugly. However, at the end of the day and when relating the issue to human physical appearance, it all comes down to sexual selection.
In literature and visual arts, people of a certain rank were represented as beautiful, regardless of their real appearance. Beautiful for those times, that is. If today the absence of a concrete link between physical and inner beauty is generally accepted, it has been statistically proven that unlike ugly people (and especially ugly women), beautiful people get better jobs, better deals and general better treatment. Regardless of the modern struggle against discrimination, sexual selection continues to take its toll.
Recently, it's been proven that men tend to see as ugly women those who have asymmetrical facial traits. Aishwarya Rai, a woman from India, has been referred to as the world's most beautiful woman. And indeed, experts prove it by specialized computer programs – she has extremely symmetrical traits (which is also available for Catherine Zeta-Jones).
Most women that have been dubbed symbols of beauty in the past century were white. Of course, this is easily mistaken for a form of racism. However, all-time classical lines apply here as well. 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder', somebody said, and it's true. Even though people like Grace Kelly, Rita Hayworth or Aishwarya Rai may have been widely accepted as beautiful, there are surely numberless people in the world who regard them as ugly women.
Perception upon ugly people has been proven to be linked to one's cultural background. Beautiful women from the Masai tribe in Africa will surely be ugly women for Eskimos. And the examples could go on for ever. Needless to say that in certain conservative communities, persons may be considered ugly people if exhibiting a demeanor that does not coincide with the local customs and values.
However, the idea of shifting beauty standards has grown more and more popular. Just as popular between those that are considered ugly women, as it is among others, there is a recent idea that the road to ultimate beauty consists of plastic surgery and a great variety of pills, rather than simple power of will.
No matter the approach, everyone's trying to look beautiful, in their own way. Where and when it's time to draw the line between self-improvement and abuse, it seems to be more and more difficult to figure out.
About the Author
Ugly people may be so for a certain category of people, while at the same time perfect for another category. Perfect females from ancient Egypt may simply be ugly women to us now. It is all a matter of perception.
Article Source: http://www.simplysearch4it.com/article/51997.html
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