'beauty And The Beast'.

[sevenOP]

As we are all individuals, why is there such a unified consensus on what constitutes female ( and male) beauty ?

[aelmpvw]

i wasn't aware that there was one

[Old_Geezer]

Different races find different things beautiful.
Some things, usually denoting good health, are universal.

[andy-hughes]

Some people are blessed with a collection of features that are 'pleasing' to the majority of strangers looking at them.

With the increase in visual media, this means that those individuals with those particular arrangements of features who become famous for whatever reason can be classified as 'beautiful'.

Of course, there are plenty of complete anonymous people walking around with an equally pleasing set of features, but it is the well-known images that gradually accepted as being 'beautiful' - hence a broadly standard acceptance of what physical 'beauty' is for the society as a whole.

Happily, in the real world, such superficial analysis does not form the basis for any meaningful relationships, otherwise the 99.9% who are not sprayed with evolution's aftershave, would struggle to find a partner.

[Sipowicz]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

[sevenOP]

aelmpvw, it is all around you from filmstars, news presenters, art galleries, to this very page with 'beautiful wedding dresses' and Pure luxury silk' ads.

andy-hughes>"Some people are blessed with a collection of features that are 'pleasing' to the majority of strangers looking at them."

So what makes these 'features' pleasing ?

Sipowicz>"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!"

would that be before or after the beholder's mind has been told the definition/image/what to interpret as Beauty ?

[ummmm]

I don't find anyone attractive, or ugly, until I know them.

Some people are more pleasant to look at, that doesn't mean they are attractive.

Beautiful personalities are attractive....and my kids :-)

[Sipowicz]

I know what I like, I don't have to be told!

[Elina]

I don't think there's a type. What's attractive/ beautiful to one, isn't to someone else. How many times do you hear people say ... really, you think they're attractive???

[aelmpvw]

///aelmpvw, it is all around you from filmstars, news presenters, art galleries, ///
that may be so but it's still not a unified concensus on what consitutes beauty

[Retrochic]

sevenOp what constitutes female and male beauty changes over generations. Many women now think the ultimate in beauty is to have lips that look as if they've been stung by wasps and boobs that have been inflated by bicycle pump. There have been many psychological studies on what physical attributes are found to be aesthetically attractive but many variables including Ethnic origins .

[andy-hughes]

Retrochic - "There have been many psychological studies on what physical attributes are found to be aesthetically attractive but many variables including Ethnic origins ."

Indeed - pygmy tribesman in Africa would only admire a woman with a sufficiently small waist and a well-spiked nose.

Ethnic differences in what passes for beauty are there for all to see.

[naomi24]

//So what makes these 'features' pleasing ?//

As I understand it, symmetry.

[Tilly2]

symmetry and having all the right bits in the right proportion.

[Deskdiary]

I believe everybody has a 'type'.

My type has been exactly the same ever since I first started to notice the opposite sex - I suspect I'm far from alone in this and therefore I would suggest what we find attractive is hard-wired.

Attraction, first and foremost, is always physical - some people always say that its the personality that counts, which is true, but more often than not the attraction to a personality follows a physical attraction (if you meet somebody in a bar you find physically attractive, at that stage you do not know their personaility).

I have been accused in the past of being 'shallow' because I don't find fat women attractive. A fat woman may have the greatest personality in the world, but as fat women are not my 'type', then the liklihood of finding out what their personality is like is (forgive the pun) slim...........and even if I did like a fat person's personality, the physical attraction wouldn't be there because she would not be my type.

This is not shallow. It is something I have no choice over.

[ummmm]

Deskdiary. I almost agree with you but not everyone falls in love with people they meet in bars. I've never been out with a man I didn't already know.

[Deskdiary]

Agreed ummmm, people meet people in a variety of ways.

I can only speak for myself, but there has to be a physical attraction as well as a personality attraction. In my dating days I could've met somebody who had the greatest personality in the world, but if there was not a physical attraction, the best we could ever have been would be friends.

[andy-hughes]

It's interesting that Deskdiary confirms a 'type'.

I used to have a real crush on Wendy Padbury when she played Doctor Who's assistant, and her image defined my 'type' for years - small women with dark hair, big eyes and turned up noses - I still fancy Lilly Allen for that reason.

Of course, my attractions widened as I grew older, but I have never forgotten my first crush and 'type'.

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQCpEmk2P94EsXVQ4Tlmr3NcZRb8K9ee09AOdrctX-PUk01wPeU7Q

[ummmm]

It's weird isn't it. I fell in love with someone I never found attractive. The attraction came after the feelings. We were friends and one day I was upset about something and he stood up and cuddled me....and I got butterflies and realised it was becoming something more.

Now I know him more intimately, I think he's gorgeous :-)

[ummmm]

Andy...I think I have a thing for gingers :-)

[Old_Geezer]

Just to add that in addition to health indication (such as clear skin for example) symmetry tends to be attractive, my understanding is that it might be to do with indicating good genetic stock. But there again I think symmetry is something folk find appealing anyway.