By Janna Seo It is a typical Sunday evening and you decide to go shopping before meeting some friends for dinner. Surrounded by the bright and glossy pictures of beautiful Asian women, you gaze at their round double eyelids, porcelain skin, and long eyelashes, and you can’t help thinking that each face is starting to look oddly identical. And if you decide to talk about it with your multicultural friends you soon realise that you have begun an intense discussion that raises many issues about beauty as it valued by different cultures.
‘Ideal beauty’ can be defined as an entity which is admired and which possesses features of 'perfection’ in a particular culture. I believe that in understanding cultural differences, one must value and respect the importance of these differences. Each culture has its own distinctive traditions and customs that delineate the development of society’s ideals and perceptions. Ideals such as beauty are social constructs prevalent and unique in each culture. This article d oes not seek to criticise, offend, or mock any cultures; rather, it is merely an observation highlighting the issue of a culture’s standard of beauty and exploring how this ideal has evolved over time. Tinting, perming, extensions, conditioning, and even transplanting. You might think I’m referring to hair, but no, I’m talking about eyelashes. Long full eyelashes are traditionally considered a sign of femininity in many cultures. Some believe this is because of their ability to ‘bring out’ the eyes, while others consider them a sign of good health and nutrition. Perhaps this ideal stems from the classic image of a woman fluttering her eyelashes flirtatiously, captivating movie audiences and melting men’s hearts. On the contrary, the Hadza Tribe in North-central Tanzania has challenged this traditional Western view. The women from this tribe trim their eyelashes with the intention of enhancing their femininity. There is no doubt that obsession with skin colour in many cultures has been given its fair (excuse the pun) share of public attention. It is estimated that more than 60 companies globally compete for Asia’s estimated $18 billion skin-whitening market. This has me wondering how a phenotypic characteristic could create such a craze among people. I believe the answer lies in the different connotations associated with dark and light tones. In many South and East Asian countries (such as Taiwan) lighter skin has traditionally been preferred and deemed more attractive. However, this obsession has evolved, shifting from beauty to a symbol of social class. In ancient China, Japan, and Southeast Asia fair skin was a symbol of wealth evidenced in the ancient drawings of women and goddesses with fair skin tones. This phenomenon is also quite prevalent in India, which can be attributed to the positive correlation between skin colour and India’s caste system. That is, darker skin tones are stereotyped as belonging to poor people that have to work in the sun all day, while fair-skinned people are wealthy and do not do their own work. The Indian actors and actresses that receive the most attention and enjoy the highest status seem to be those who can look the 'whitest’. While this belief is common in Asia, many western countries like Australia and the United States view tanned skin as being more attractive and healthier than pale skin. In many countries the tanning industry thrives and still continues to grow. It is believed that this idea became popular in the mid-20th century when trendsetter Coco Chanel made tanning seem fashionable, healthy, and luxurious. Many Hollywood celebrities are called 'tanorexics’ by the media, which describes their addiction to tanning beds. Despite its links to skin cancer, the tanning trend has spread to many other parts of the world. Are bigger eyes a sign of universal beauty? Apparently so, a recent survey found blepharoplasty or epicanthoplasty (more commonly known as double eyelid operations) to be the No. 1 cosmetic surgery procedure in Asia. In fact, at least 74% of Korean women in their 20s and 30s undergo the surgery. This notion is believed to have stemmed from the Western standard of beauty, and it is highly sought after due to the eyelids’ larger and more defined appearance. There is no doubt that the media plays a significant role in creating these stereotypes, defining what it means to look ‘perfect’ and ‘beautiful’. It seems that almost everywhere you go there are images encouraging people to look like something they’re not. Have we as a race lost the meaning of individual beauty and uniqueness? Or do we prefer the importance of outer beauty as opposed to true inner beauty? At the end of the day the relative nature of beauty should be maintained, and the true worth of beauty being in the eye of the beholder should not be forgotten. a
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The Taida Student Journal has been active since 1995 with an ever-changing roster of student journalists at NTU. Click the above link to read about the authors Archives
May 2024
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