Lauren Rule- Male v. Female Beauty (Outside Reading #2)

"Beauty is evolutionary. It is an adaptive effect that we extend and intensify in works of art and entertainment. Pleasure is evolutionary - it gets us doing things which are good for survival.
Beauty is nature's way of acting at a distance. It is first about the pleasure of looking, which then leads to evolutionary advantage."
In this very interesting article I found, the physical attributes of men and women are examined to define beauty (article can be found at the end with link labeled "article"). The article isn't too long and too detailed oriented, but it is fascinating. I think generally what today's society find attractive in a woman is obvious. The article lists a number of things: young (for fertility), large breasts, thin body (health), wide hips (easy birthing **which let's be serious, even with wide hips NOT EASY), clear skin and straight teeth (no diseases), etc. I'm fairly certain a student in our class is writing a paper on today's beauty standards. Even though our society has influenced beauty, there are some evolutionary features of the female body that won't change. Youth, large breasts, wide hips, and clear skin has been and will always be attractive features in a female. The thinner more fit and healthy body type is influenced by today's society; back when Twiggy was THE model, thin beyond thin was the attractive shape for women. In other societies a larger body set is considered attractive because it represents nutrition in a society with low food supplies. The article goes on to measure the distance between features and such. Women have a lot of 'helpers' when it comes to beauty. Victoria Secret is infamous for their bombshell bras which add two cup sizes to your breasts. Makeup is also used by women to make themselves more beautiful; color to lips and cheeks, cover up to smooth out lines and blemishes, and eye liner and mascara to make the eyes look bigger. Clothes can also enhance beauty; tight pants, low cut tops, short skirts, midriff/back exposing tops, etc. A lot of men would see some of these enhancements as cheating. Male beauty is different from female beauty in some ways. According to the article, there is less need for male physical attractiveness because the ability to support the family is more important. Clear skin, tall, and masculine facial features are important for males. There are of course other features for beauty; the article notes cultural variations and personality. The attractiveness of a female can also depend on her hormones. During ovulation, a female is more attractive to a man; females have increased sexual desire, smell, temperature, body language, etc. The quote from above is from the section of 'natural beauty'. Our basic idea of beauty remains the same with some variations through the years. Every person has a beautiful quality or aspect about him or her; it's like survival of the fittest, attractive features are continued in breeding while unattractive features are bred out.
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