thumb rose window in Notre-Dame de Paris. Light was considered as the most beautiful revelation of God, as was manifested in Gothic architecture. Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics, sociology, social psychology, and culture. As a cultural creation, beauty has been extremely commercialized. An "ideal beauty" is an entity which is admired, or possesses features widely attributed to beauty in a particular culture, for perfection. The experience of "beauty" often involves the interpretation of some entity as being in balance and harmony with nature, which may lead to feelings of attraction and emotional well-being. Because this is a subjective experience, it is often said that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." [1] In its most profound sense, beauty may engender a salient experience of positive reflection about the meaning of one's own existence. A subject of beauty is anything that resonates with personal meaning. The classical Greek adjective for "beautiful" was ?a????, kallos . The Koine Greek word for beautiful was ??a???, horaios , [2] an adjective etymologically coming from the word ??a, hora , meaning "hour." In Koine Greek, beauty was thus associated with "being of one's hour." A ripe fruit (of its time) was considered beautiful, whereas a young woman trying to appear older or an older woman trying to appear younger would not be considered beautiful. In Attic Greek, horaios had many meanings, including "youthful" and "ripe old age." [3]

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History of beauty

There is evidence that a preference for beautiful faces emerges early in child development, and that the standards of attractiveness are similar across different genders and cultures. ^[4] Symmetry is also important because it suggests the absence of genetic or acquired defects. Although style and fashion vary widely, cross-cultural research has found a variety of commonalities in people's perception of beauty. The earliest Western theory of beauty can be found in the works of early Greek philosophers from the pre-Socratic period, such as Pythagoras. The Pythagorean school saw a strong connection between mathematics and beauty. In particular, they noted that objects proportioned according to the golden ratio seemed more attractive. Ancient Greek architecture is based on this view of symmetry and proportion.

Classical philosophy and sculptures of men and women produced according to these philosophers' tenets of ideal human beauty were rediscovered in Renaissance Europe, leading to a re-adoption of what became known as a "classical ideal". In terms of female human beauty, a woman whose appearance conforms to these tenets is still called a "classical beauty" or said to possess a "classical beauty", whilst the foundations laid by Greek and Roman artists have also supplied the standard for male beauty in western civilization.

Beauty ideals may contribute to racial oppression. For example, a prevailing idea in American culture has been that black features are less attractive or desirable than white features. The idea that blackness was ugly was highly damaging to the psyche of African Americans, manifesting itself as internalized racism. ^[5] The black is beautiful cultural movement sought to dispel this notion. ^[6] Conversely, beauty ideals may also promote racial unity. Mixed race children are often perceived to be more attractive than their parents because their genetic diversity protects them from the inherited errors of their individual parents. ^[7]

Human beauty

The characterization of a person as “beautiful”, whether on an individual basis or by community consensus, is often based on some combination of Inner Beauty , which includes psychological factors such as personality, intelligence, grace, congeniality, charm, integrity, congruity and elegance, and Outer Beauty , (i.e. physical attractiveness) which includes physical factors, such as health, youthfulness, sexiness, symmetry, averageness, and complexion.

A common way to measure outer beauty, as based on community consensus, or general opinion, is to stage a beauty pageant, such as Miss Universe. Inner beauty, however, is more difficult to quantify, though beauty pageants often claim to take this into consideration as well.

A strong indicator of physical beauty is "averageness," or "koinophilia." When images of human faces are averaged together to form a composite image, they become progressively closer to the "ideal" image and are perceived as more attractive. This was first noticed in 1883, when Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, overlaid photographic composite images of the faces of vegetarians and criminals to see if there was a typical facial appearance for each. When doing this, he noticed that the composite images were more attractive compared to any of the individual images. Researchers have replicated the result under more controlled conditions and found that the computer generated, mathematical average of a series of faces is rated more favorably than individual faces. ^[8] Evolutionarily it makes logical sense that sexual creatures should be attracted to mates who possess predominantly common or average features. ^[9]

Another feature of beautiful women that has been explored by researchers is a waist-to-hip ratio of approximately 0.70. Physiologists have shown that this ratio accurately indicates most women's fertility. Weight and skin color often govern attractiveness in a way dependent on one's culture ^[10] Beauty is not solely limited to the female gender. More often defined as 'bishonen,' the concept of beauty in men has been particularly established throughout history in East Asia, and most notably, in Japan. This is distinct from the idea of being metrosexual, which focuses mainly on the behavior of men in traditionally feminine ways. Bishonen refers to males with distinctly feminine features, physical characteristics establishing the standard of beauty in Japan and typically exhibited in their pop culture idols. The origin of such a preference is uncertain but it clearly exists even today.

Inner beauty

Inner beauty is a concept used to describe the positive aspects of something that is not physically observable.

While most species use physical traits and pheromones to attract mates, some humans claim to rely on the inner beauty of their choices. Qualities including kindness, sensitivity, tenderness or compassion, creativity and intelligence have been said to be desirable since antiquity.

Effects on society

Beauty presents a standard of comparison, and it can cause resentment and dissatisfaction when not achieved. People who do not fit the "beauty ideal" may be ostracized within their communities. The television sitcom Ugly Betty portrays the life of a girl faced with hardships due to society's unwelcoming attitudes toward those they deem unattractive. However, a person may also be targeted for harassment because of their beauty. In Malèna, a strikingly beautiful Italian woman is forced into poverty by the women of the community who refuse to give her work for fear that she may "woo" their husbands.

Researchers have found that good looking students get higher grades from their teachers than students with an ordinary appearance. Furthermore, attractive patients receive more personalized care from their doctors. Studies have even shown that handsome criminals receive lighter sentences than less attractive convicts. How much money a person earns may also be influenced by physical beauty. One study found that people low in physical attractiveness earn 5 to 10 percent less than ordinary looking people, who in turn earn 3 to 8 percent less than those who are considered good looking. ^[11] Discrimination against others based on their appearance is known as lookism.

St. Augustine said of beauty "Beauty is indeed a good gift of God; but that the good may not think it a great good, God dispenses it even to the wicked." ^[12]

Ugliness

Ugliness is a property of a person or thing that is unpleasant to look upon and results in a highly unfavorable evaluation. To be ugly is to be aesthetically unattractive, repulsive, or offensive. ^[13] Like its opposite, beauty, ugliness involves a subjective judgment and is at least partly in the "eye of the beholder." Thus, the perception of ugliness can be mistaken or short-sighted, as in the story of The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen.

Although ugliness is normally viewed as a visible characteristic, it can also be an internal attribute. For example, an individual could be outwardly attractive but inwardly thoughtless and cruel. It is also possible to be in an "ugly mood," which is a temporary, internal state of unpleasantness.

See also

• Aesthetics
• Glamour
• Style
• Human physical appearance
• Beauty in Nature
• Mathematical beauty
• Sexual attraction
• Erotic capital

References

1. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
2. Matthew 23:27, Acts 3:10, Flavius Josephus, 12.65
3. Euripides, ''Alcestis'' 515.
4. Rhodes, G. (2006). The evolutionary psychology of facial beauty. ''Annual Review of Psychology'', ''57'', 199-226.
5. Key Issues in Postcolonial Feminism: A Western Perspective
6. Dr. DoCarmo's Notes on the Black Cultural Movement
7. Leroi, A. (2003). Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body. Viking books
8. Langlois, J. H., Roggman, L. A., & Musselman, L. (1994). What is average and what is not average about attractive faces? ''Psychological Science'', ''5'', 214-220.
9. KOESLAG, J.H. (1990). Koinophilia groups sexual creatures into species, promotes stasis, and stabilizes social behaviour. ''J. theor. Biol.'' '''144''', 15-35
10. Banerjee, S., Campo, S., & Greene, K. (2008, May). Fact or Wishful Thinking? Biased Expectations in I Think I Look Better When I'm Tanned. American Journal of Health Behavior, 32(3), 243-252. , additional text.
11. Lorenz, K. (2005). "Do pretty people earn more?" ''CNN News'', Time Warner.
12. City of God Book 15 Chapter 22
13. ''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 3rd edition, 1995.