This past summer, I traveled to Cambodia with my family. Within our first hour there, my mother turned to me, marveling over the pure beauty of every single Cambodian. Their sharp bone structures, defined cheekbones, tanned skin, and full lips were noticeable and immediately impressive.
The next day, we visited Angkor Wat with our tour guide, a Cambodian man named Wy. I will never forget when Wy turned to my father and casually mentioned how he thought his “strong cheeks” (referring to his high cheekbones) were undesirable. This comment was odd to me; my mom and I agreed that this was an appealing feature.
Later that day, as I lathered myself in sunscreen to block the radiant sun, Wy turned to me and said, “How lucky you are to have such pale, porcelain skin! You have the skin of a model. I have always dreamed of having such light skin.”
While the ‘model’ comment flattered me, I was taken aback by his repeated mentions of my ‘pale, porcelain’ skin. He stated this as a compliment, yet I found myself offended. In my mind, I’d always hoped to have tanned skin.
I later decided that my pale skin is unique in Cambodia and, therefore, viewed as an attractive trait. Understanding this caused me to discover that the perception of beauty is developed within cultures. After realizing this, I felt empowered to research beauty further.
I found that some of the earliest known representations of the female body are found in the Venus Figurines, statues that can be traced back to 35,000 years ago in Paleolithic Europe. These statues portrayed the ‘ideal’ female body-type at the time, and are assumed to have symbolized fertility and attractiveness. Despite this, a Wiley study asked participants to rate the attractiveness of the statues, and most received low attractiveness scores.
These statues of women are round and pear-shaped with large thighs, breasts, and stomachs. These features were admired due to the success in fertility and health that they demonstrated. The Venus Figurines were created during an ice age in Europe, when food was scarce and pregnancy was infrequent. The larger statues displayed well-fed, childbearing bodies, and were rare and often unattainable.
Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty and love, is depicted as having stomach rolls, small breasts, and a plump figure. Traits such as a fuller stomach were associated with fertility, motherhood, and wealth, similar to the Venus Figurines.
In Ancient China, young girls were forced to tightly bind their feet to keep them small, preferably 3 inches long, to create what they called the ‘lotus foot.’ The tradition was seen as extremely beautiful, proving the girls’ ability to obey and making them appear elegant and delicate.
During the 15th century in Renaissance Europe, women with rounded, softer bodies and pale skin were considered attractive. Pale skin exhibited wealth, as they didn’t spend time working in the sun and becoming tanned. Chubby bodies meant they were well-fed, which exemplified high status.
Even today, beauty standards vary between cultures. The Suri women in Ethiopia, for example, pierce and stretch their bottom lips until a clay plate can fit inside the piercing. Some believe that this custom began to discourage slavers from kidnapping Suri women. The stretched lip is a sign of beauty and is necessary if a woman hopes to marry.
In Northern Thailand, a tribe called Kayan Lahwi is notorious for their women’s elongated necks, which are made by wearing thick coils around their necks. This causes their heads to appear to be floating on a golden pedestal. Such an ancient tradition, there is no direct answer as to why the Kayan women do this, but it is often claimed that the rings protected them from tiger attacks.
In the western areas of the world, many women pluck and wax their eyebrows, hoping for two clean and defined brows. In Tajikistan, however, women dream of having a thick, dark unibrow. Although many native Tajikistanis got lucky with the unibrow gene, those who lack it use herbal remedies such as usma to promote eyebrow growth.
These timely and worldly examples each vary from the modern-day Western beauty standards. Beauty and attraction are entirely perspective-based. Some of today’s most celebrated models may have been deemed unattractive in past times or other cultures; beauty to one may be ugly to another.
A society’s values can significantly influence its perception of beauty. Understanding that beauty is ever-changing can remind you that the standards you know today are merely the expectations tied to where you are, and when you’re there. These criteria may be completely different in a century or by simply traveling to other parts of the world.
Criticizing yourself for not fitting perfectly into society’s standards is not worth it. Everybody is beautiful in one culture or another, at one time or another. If you feel beautiful, you are beautiful, and don’t let society tell you otherwise.
