Women, femininity and cultural beauty

What is beauty? Do we really feel emotions when we enjoy beauty or is it only a myth? Beauty is an abstract and complex concept, a way to understand and to live life. Beauty has always been related to aesthetic standards, depending on periods and cultures, but generally people have associated canons of beauty with characteristics like attractiveness, desire, even harmony. It is difficult to reach an agreement about the meaning of beauty and there have usually been two philosophical tendencies: the first affirms that beauty is a subjective concept and depends on individual experiences and ideas; the second tendency argues that the concept is standardized and stable and responds to established principles related to culture, society and religion.

The concept of beauty has changed throughout history and has been mainly determined by the interest in femininity. In Prehistory, women’s beauty was related to fertility; the most important human action was to achieve the growth of nomadic settlements and the survival of the groups. Men chose women with accentuated reproductive organs as they would be better for childbearing, so they chose those with bulky breasts and bottoms and prominent bellies.

Beauty standards in Ancient Egypt, on the other hand, were similar to ours, as women were idealized and represented with big black eyes, slender figures, tanned bodies and brilliant, dyed and perfect hair. They sometimes shaved it off because it was easier to use and change their wigs; they frequently used milk baths, ivory combs and cosmetics. 

In Ancient Greece, women had to have a healthy athletic body, big hips and thighs, small firm breasts and smooth pallid skin, as it was an unequivocal reflection of their passion; they usually used perfumed oils and cosmetics as well. 

In Ancient Rome, women dyed their hair and used make-up to turn their skin pale; however, the canons of beauty changed throughout the Roman Empire, depending on the nations that were conquered. 

In the Middle Ages, beauty was subject to God’s will as a consequence of the importance of Christian morals and beliefs; women ceased to use cosmetics and clothes became maidenly as society was only permitted to represent schematic bodies with every sexual aspect removed. Women’s standards were long blonde hair, a small sharp nose, narrow hips, a shy facial expression, a faintly smile, plumpness as a sign of wealth and health, and pale skin as a symbol of beauty because it indicated women’s purity and their Northern European origin (these were the same characteristics of medieval virgins). 

In the Renaissance, the canons were extremely refined and very similar to the classic aesthetic as they were based on harmony and symmetrical proportions. The best known feminine characteristics in this period were plump bodies, pallid skin, rosy cheeks, long blonde hair, big blue eyes, delicate hands and feet, round hips and small firm breasts; in contrast to the Middle Ages, women wore ornate and sumptuous clothes. 

The Baroque era was characterized by being the period of appearance, pomposity and feminine coquettishness, when women were fatter than in the Renaissance and wore a lot of perfumes, make-up, opulent luxurious hairstyles, wigs, tight-fitting sumptuous clothes, high-heeled shoes and jewels. 

In the 18th Century, Paris was the European capital of fashion and aesthetic, where women wore an abundance of cosmetics, extravagant wigs and red lipsticks. After the French Revolution, importance of simplicity grew among aristocracy and in the 19th Century, as the working class increased, women began to wear their hair in buns as this was more useful than wigs and the ideal of beauty turned to pale skin women with languid bodies. 

In the 20th Century, there were many changes in aesthetic canons, especially influenced by cinema and the pursuit of female freedom. In the 20s, a huge transformation occurred as it was the first time that women cut their hair and showed their ankles; the model of beauty became stylized, more athletic and androgynous, but with dark eyes and an intense look. 

The fashion in the 50s was a very feminine woman with a slim waist, prominent hips and thighs, tanned skin and voluptuous breasts. In the 60s, women’s beauty was represented by slender tanned bodies and mini-skirts; those years were the beginning of the feminist movement and the sexual revolution. 

The 80s was a period of huge aesthetic, social and cultural changes: there was an increasing interest in body worship and, as society began to understand the importance of environmental protection, people became more health-conscious and this was materialized in an opposition to tobacco, alcohol and drugs. 

During the 90s, beauty was excessively distorted and fashion icons were too tall, disproportionate and unnaturally slim, due to an extreme obsession with the body, which led to an increase of anorexia and bulimia in general society. These beauty stereotypes turned into prejudices, fanaticisms and health problems as people tried to attain model sizes by desperate and uncertain slimming methods. Currently, there is a tendency to relax the importance of feminine standards as famous models, singers and actresses show off their natural (even artificial) curves as a token of femininity. 

Beauty has evolved not only by historic periods but in relation to culture and religion. Although beauty criteria have changed throughout centuries, there have always been two common characteristics: the female body has been understood as an object and women have made continuous efforts and sacrifices to fulfill beauty stereotypes of beauty, depending on each period. Differences in the concept of beauty haven’t been based only on historic periods but many currently depend on the preferences of specific nationalities around the world. Some of these differences are: 


ASIA: Usually feminine beauty is represented by small, pale-skinned women as a projection of innocence and delicacy. In Japan, China and India the use of tattoos has always been a symbol of beauty. For ten centuries in China, a sign of aesthetic and erotic beauty were women with body modifications that impeded their normal growth (like bandaged feet) but these inhuman actions were totally forbidden in 1911 as they were cruel, painful and sexist practices that caused serious health problems; however, in that country a woman’s beauty is not based only on Asian physical characteristics, but also on very important virtues like honesty, integrity, kindness and personal charming.  

AFRICA: There are many canons of beauty in Africa. In most African nations, especially in the Masai nation, women are prettier the more close-cropped is they hair; this is actually a sexist belief, that if a man cuts a lock of a woman’s hair, he will be her owner for the rest of her life. In Nigeria, women increase their weight considerably before their marriage because if they are overweight they can move to a higher social class. In some African tribes, saggy breasts, hoop earrings inserted in earlobes and little animal bones sunk in several parts of the body are symbols of beauty.

SOUTH AMERICA: The aesthetic model of these countries is of a long-haired brown-skinned woman, very feminine, robust and with big bottom. 

NORTH AMERICA: The aesthetic patterns of the USA and Canada are those that represent the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon concept of beauty, as these are the origins of most of the emigrants from whom contemporary Americans descend. However, despite their severe aesthetic canons, the USA is one of the countries with the highest obesity index in the world.
 

EUROPE: On this continent, the model of Western and Anglo-Saxon beauty also prevails, although it is more relaxed as society doesn’t demand that women would either as young or as slim as American people. 

Thus, it’s important to understand and accept that there is not only one definition to explain the concept of beauty but it depends on culture and personal preference. All women have their own beauty because all of them are unique and irreplaceable. 

Uinen