Don’t let Playboy define our idea of beauty
Don’t let Playboy define our idea of beauty
By: Brad Hurvitz
Posted: 4/28/10
As recent hubbub has gone around campus about Playboy defining what beauty is, I thought it would be a good idea to explain a couple elements about beauty from around the world.
In our species, I think it is quite obvious to us all that females are the more elegant and beautiful gender. In many species, the male has a mating dance where he shows off his colorful feathers and convinces the female to mate with him instead of his less attractive competitor.
Guys trying to show off their large muscles or attempting to become the alpha male among his friends may seem familiar to most of us, but it is not always the final indicator in mating decisions.
Regardless of the woman’s perception of the man’s game or mating dance, physical beauty is known to be more radiantly present upon the woman’s face and body as opposed to the man’s, and dancing to “Soulja Boy” doesn’t help improve one’s image.
I find that you can learn a significant amount about a country from your first observations. You can learn a lot, from the clothing people wear to the way they interact with each other.
As a business student, I learn a significant amount about a culture’s modesty and priorities from the marketing presented in public places.
In many Asian countries, a very popular beauty product is skin whitening cream. They believe the lighter the skin, the more appealing the woman is. Is that the same philosophy of beauty that we hold in America?
Nope, we go to a tanning bed to darken our skin, as that is what we consider beautiful to be. Also, in the States, when a woman dresses to be informally beautiful or to attract her mate of choice, she will often show more skin than usual, perhaps allowing her top to rest a little lower than normal or giving her legs more sunlight than they normally see.
We here in the States and in much of Western Europe find that revealing what is hidden is attractive.
I understand that many people may disagree with this opinion, and you are absolutely right to do so, but the celebrity who wears significantly more clothing than her colleagues does not get the same amount of attention.
Let’s go to the more modestly dressed country of India for a moment and talk about what beauty means to the men and women of this culture.
A woman’s saree – the traditional attire of India – is composed of a tight-fitting top that goes from the shoulders to the bottom of the ribs, covered with a thin and soft scarf, often with very bright and strong colors.
This scarf wraps around one’s shoulder and around the waist and legs, leaving almost no view of the woman’s shoes. This level of modesty is apparent in their culture and published advertising.
Kissing is extremely uncommon in any Bollywood film, and exposed nudity is taboo. In fact, in some villages it is not uncommon for the husband to never see his wife’s naked body.
At first glance, the saree covers up the woman’s body, especially the areas an American woman may accentuate. At second glance, and at some angles, the woman’s entire stomach is exposed the majority of the time. (In part because of the high carbohydrate and delicious food they eat, and also because exercise is less important in India, the woman’s stomach may be round or have rolls.)
This modest form of dress hides everything but her stomach, and it is beautiful, regardless of how her stomach compares to her magazine counterparts.
Think about what beauty means to some countries in the Middle East. Most of us may think about a woman in a burqa and consider her as being restrained by her culture and husband.
Perhaps you are right, but this is not my argument. A burqa only allows a woman’s eyes to be visible, and her hands are covered with silk gloves up to the elbow – the same type we may have seen in the black and white movies of our past.
While hitchhiking in Jordan, I sat next to a woman who even covered her eyes with a see-through (for her) mesh fabric.
You may be wondering why I discuss the most shielding form of clothing a person can wear in my discussion of beauty. It is because of what is under the burqa that I discuss it.
Often times, these women who are hiding their faces and obscuring the form of their bodies from society are wearing expensive and sexy clothes (sometimes even lingerie) under their concealing outerwear.
They make a point of feeling beautiful inside, as opposed to outwardly showing their apparent beauty off. In fact, in some of these countries, our skin-friendly culture is looked down upon so intensely that our (in)famous short-skirted Barbie doll was considered a tramp and did not succeed in the market.
Needless to say, the disapproving country’s version of homeland security shipped her back home.
I have learned a woman is beautiful if she feels beautiful. Some women, whom may be insecure with their physical appearance, must be told that they are attractive to have confidence.
For most women however, they must feel beautiful and believe that they are beautiful for their faces to glow with an effervescent allure that guys will see from a distance.
Over the years, Playboy has had an impact on our culture by defining what is sexy and who has the most beautiful body. A woman’s face and body is a work of art, and just because it was portrayed in a certain way by an American publication does not mean it is the most desirable piece of art.
Men: Expand your definition of beauty, and you will not be as limited. Women: Feel beautiful, and you are beautiful.
