Editing Beauty (section)

==Human attributes==
{{Main|Physical attractiveness| Feminine beauty ideal}}
[[File:Nofretete Neues Museum.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The [[bust of Nefertiti]], 14th century BC]]

The word "beauty" is often{{how often|date=November 2022}} used as a countable noun to describe a beautiful woman.<ref name=":32">{{Cite web|title=Beauty {{!}} Definition of Beauty by Oxford Dictionary on Lexico.com|url=https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/beauty|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809175019/https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/beauty|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 9, 2020|access-date=2020-08-01|website=Lexico Dictionaries {{!}} English|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":42">{{Cite web|title=BEAUTY (noun) American English definition and synonyms {{!}} Macmillan Dictionary|url=https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/beauty_1|access-date=2020-08-01|website=Macmillan Dictionary|language=en|archive-date=July 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709064049/http://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/beauty_1|url-status=live}}</ref>

The characterization of a person as "beautiful", whether on an individual basis or by community consensus, is often{{how often|date=November 2022}}  based on some combination of ''inner beauty'', which includes psychological factors such as [[Personality type|personality]], [[intelligence]], [[wiktionary:grace|grace]], [[politeness]], [[charisma]], [[integrity]], [[wikt:congruence|congruence]] and [[elegance]], and ''outer beauty'' (i.e. [[physical attractiveness]]) which includes physical attributes which are valued on an aesthetic basis.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

Standards of beauty have changed over time, based on changing cultural values. Historically, paintings show a wide range of different standards for beauty.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=J68vAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA291 Artists' Types of Beauty] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203045633/https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Strand_Magazine/J68vAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=&pg=PA291&printsec=frontcover |date=February 3, 2023 }}", ''The Strand Magazine''. United Kingdom, G. Newnes, 1904. pp. 291–298.</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Chō | first=Kyō | translator-first=Kyoko Iriye | translator-last=Selden | translator-link=Kyoko Iriye Selden | year=2012 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BQcl4aCkY5MC&q=painting | title=The Search for the Beautiful Woman: A Cultural History of Japanese and Chinese Beauty | location=Lanham | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield | pages=100–102 | isbn=978-1442218956}}.</ref>

A strong indicator of physical beauty is "[[averageness]]".<ref name="Langlois & Roggman, 1990">{{Cite journal |doi = 10.1111/j.1467-9280.1990.tb00079.x|title = Attractive Faces Are Only Average|journal = Psychological Science|volume = 1|issue = 2|pages = 115–121|year = 1990|last1 = Langlois|first1 = Judith H.|last2 = Roggman|first2 = Lori A.|s2cid = 18557871}}</ref><ref name="Straus, 1979">{{cite journal |last1=Strauss |first1=Mark S. |title=Abstraction of prototypical information by adults and 10-month-old infants |journal=Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory |date=1979 |volume=5 |issue=6 |pages=618–632 |doi=10.1037/0278-7393.5.6.618 |pmid=528918 }}</ref> 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]] 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 as compared to any of the individual images.<ref name="Galton, 1878">{{cite journal | last=Galton | first=Francis | title=Composite Portraits, Made by Combining Those of Many Different Persons Into a Single Resultant Figure. | journal=The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland | publisher=JSTOR | volume=8 | year=1879 | pages=132–144 | issn=0959-5295 | doi=10.2307/2841021 | jstor=2841021 | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1449534 | access-date=June 14, 2020 | archive-date=July 26, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726162242/https://zenodo.org/record/1449534 | url-status=live }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Langlois | first1=Judith H. | last2=Roggman | first2=Lori A. | last3=Musselman | first3=Lisa | s2cid=145147905 | title=What Is Average and What Is Not Average About Attractive Faces? | journal=Psychological Science | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=5 | issue=4 | year=1994 | issn=0956-7976 | doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.1994.tb00503.x | pages=214–220}}</ref> It is argued that it is evolutionarily advantageous that sexual creatures are attracted to mates who possess predominantly common or average features, because it suggests the [[Koinophilia|absence of genetic or acquired defects]].<ref name="Koeslag, 1990">{{cite journal | last=Koeslag | first=Johan H. | title=Koinophilia groups sexual creatures into species, promotes stasis, and stabilizes social behaviour | journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=144 | issue=1 | year=1990 | issn=0022-5193 | doi=10.1016/s0022-5193(05)80297-8 | pages=15–35| pmid=2200930 | bibcode=1990JThBi.144...15K }}</ref><ref name=symons>Symons, D. (1979) ''The Evolution of Human Sexuality''. Oxford: Oxford University Press.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/3341719/Why-beauty-is-an-advert-for-good-genes.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/3341719/Why-beauty-is-an-advert-for-good-genes.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |last=Highfield |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Highfield |title=Why beauty is an advert for good genes |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=13 February 2012 |date=7 May 2008 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Since the 1970s there has been increasing evidence that a preference for beautiful faces emerges early in infancy, and is probably innate,<ref name="Slater, 1998">{{cite journal | last1=Slater | first1=Alan | last2=Von der Schulenburg | first2=Charlotte | last3=Brown | first3=Elizabeth | last4=Badenoch | first4=Marion | last5=Butterworth | first5=George | last6=Parsons | first6=Sonia | last7=Samuels | first7=Curtis | title=Newborn infants prefer attractive faces | journal=Infant Behavior and Development | publisher=Elsevier BV | volume=21 | issue=2 | year=1998 | issn=0163-6383 | doi=10.1016/s0163-6383(98)90011-x | pages=345–354}}</ref><ref name="Kramer, 1995">{{cite book | last1=Kramer | first1=Steve | last2=Zebrowitz | first2=Leslie | author2-link=Leslie Zebrowitz | last3=Giovanni | first3=Jean Paul San | last4=Sherak | first4=Barbara | title=Studies in Perception and Action III | chapter=Infants’ Preferences for Attractiveness and Babyfaceness | publisher=Routledge | date=2019-02-21 | isbn=978-1-315-78936-1 | doi=10.4324/9781315789361-103 | pages=389–392| s2cid=197734413 }}</ref><ref name="Langlois, 1991">{{cite journal | last1=Langlois | first1=Judith H. | last2=Ritter | first2=Jean M. | last3=Roggman | first3=Lori A. | last4=Vaughn | first4=Lesley S. | title=Facial diversity and infant preferences for attractive faces. | journal=Developmental Psychology | publisher=American Psychological Association (APA) | volume=27 | issue=1 | year=1991 | issn=1939-0599 | doi=10.1037/0012-1649.27.1.79 | pages=79–84}}</ref>
and that the rules by which attractiveness is established are similar across different genders and cultures.<ref name="Apicella, 2007">{{cite journal | last1=Apicella | first1=Coren L | last2=Little | first2=Anthony C | last3=Marlowe | first3=Frank W | s2cid=37353815 | title=Facial Averageness and Attractiveness in an Isolated Population of Hunter-Gatherers | journal=Perception | publisher=SAGE Publications | volume=36 | issue=12 | year=2007 | issn=0301-0066 | doi=10.1068/p5601 | pages=1813–1820| pmid=18283931 }}</ref><ref name="Rhodes, G. 2006 199–226">{{cite journal | last=Rhodes | first=Gillian | title=The Evolutionary Psychology of Facial Beauty | journal=Annual Review of Psychology | publisher=Annual Reviews | volume=57 | issue=1 | year=2006 | issn=0066-4308 | doi=10.1146/annurev.psych.57.102904.190208 | pages=199–226| pmid=16318594 }}</ref>

A feature of beautiful women which has been explored by researchers is a [[waist–hip ratio]] of approximately 0.70. As of 2004, physiologists had shown that women with [[Female body shape|hourglass figures]] were more fertile than other women because of higher levels of certain female hormones, a fact that may subconsciously condition males choosing mates.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3682657.stm|title=Hourglass figure fertility link|date=4 May 2004|work=BBC News|access-date=1 July 2018|archive-date=October 11, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011122830/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3682657.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4953-barbie-shaped-women-more-fertile/|title=Barbie-shaped women more fertile|last=Bhattacharya|first=Shaoni|date=5 May 2004|website=New Scientist|access-date=1 July 2018|archive-date=July 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710102117/https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn4953-barbie-shaped-women-more-fertile/|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2008, other commentators have suggested that this preference may not be universal. For instance, in some non-Western cultures in which women have to do work such as finding food, men tend to have preferences for higher waist-hip ratios.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.livescience.com/3098-female-figure-hourglass.html|title=Best Female Figure Not an Hourglass|date=December 3, 2008|website=Live Science|access-date=1 July 2018|archive-date=July 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710102010/https://www.livescience.com/3098-female-figure-hourglass.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.vox.com/2014/6/22/5832826/did-evolution-really-make-men-prefer-women-with-hourglass-figures|title=Did evolution really make men prefer women with hourglass figures?|last=Locke|first=Susannah|date=June 22, 2014|work=Vox|access-date=1 July 2018|archive-date=July 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710102501/https://www.vox.com/2014/6/22/5832826/did-evolution-really-make-men-prefer-women-with-hourglass-figures|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sharonlbegley.com/hourglass-figures-we-take-it-all-back|title=Hourglass Figures: We Take It All Back|last=Begley|first=Sharon|website=Sharon Begley|access-date=1 July 2018|archive-date=July 10, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180710102426/http://www.sharonlbegley.com/hourglass-figures-we-take-it-all-back|url-status=live}}</ref>

Exposure to the thin ideal in mass media, such as fashion magazines, directly correlates with body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem, and the development of eating disorders among female viewers.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-eating-disorders|title=Media & Eating Disorders|date=2017-10-05|work=National Eating Disorders Association|access-date=2018-11-27|language=en|archive-date=December 2, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181202024747/https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/media-eating-disorders|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/769290.stm|title=Model's link to teenage anorexia|date=May 30, 2000|website=BBC News|access-date=October 25, 2009|archive-date=April 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413234506/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/769290.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> Further, the widening gap between individual body sizes and societal ideals continues to breed anxiety among young girls as they grow, highlighting the dangerous nature of beauty standards in society.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://eating-disorders.org.uk/information/the-media-eating-disorders/|title=National Centre for Eating Disorders - The Media & Eating Disorders|last=Jade|first=Deanne|work=National Centre for Eating Disorders|access-date=2018-11-27|language=en-US|archive-date=December 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224041630/https://eating-disorders.org.uk/information/the-media-eating-disorders/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Western concept===
[[File:18891109 Arsenic complexion wafers - Helena Independent.png |thumb|An 1889 U.S. newspaper ad for "[[arsenic]] complexion wafers" decried blotches, moles, pimples, freckles, and "all female irregularities".<ref name=HelenaIndependent_18891109>{{cite news |title=A Woman's Face is Her Fortune (advertisement) |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/helena-independent-nov-09-1889-p-9/ |newspaper=The Helena Independent |date=November 9, 2000 |page=7 |archive-date=August 27, 2021 |access-date=October 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210827224324/https://newspaperarchive.com/browse/us/mt/helena/helena-independent/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Arsenic was known to be poisonous during the [[Victorian era]].<ref name=NatGeo_20160922>{{cite magazine |last1=Little |first1=Becky |title=Arsenic Pills and Lead Foundation: The History of Toxic Makeup |url=https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/ingredients-lipstick-makeup-cosmetics-science-history/ |magazine=National Geographic |date=2016-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181105180856/https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/ingredients-lipstick-makeup-cosmetics-science-history/ |archive-date=November 5, 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>]]
A study using [[Chinese people|Chinese]] immigrants and [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic]], [[African American|Black]] and [[White American|White]] [[Americans|American citizens]] found that their ideals of female beauty were not significantly different.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Cunningham | first=Michael  | first4=Perri B. | last5=Wu | first5=Cheng-Huan | title="Their ideas of beauty are, on the whole, the same as ours": Consistency and variability in the cross-cultural perception of female physical attractiveness. | journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | volume=68 | issue=2 | date=1995 | issn=1939-1315 | doi=10.1037/0022-3514.68.2.261 | pages=261–279}}</ref> Participants in the study rated [[Asian people|Asian]] and [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Latina]] women as more attractive than [[White American|White]] and [[Black women]], and it was found that Asian and Latina women had more of the attributes that were considered attractive for women.<ref>{{harvnb|Cunningham|1995|p=1995|ps=: "All groups of judges made more positive ratings of the Asian and Hispanic targets compared with the Black and White targets. Further analyses indicated that the Asian and Hispanic targets happened to possess significantly larger eye height, eye width, nose width, eyebrow height, smile width, and upper lip width than the White and Black women".}}</ref> Exposure to [[Western media]] did not influence or improve the Asian men's ratings of White women.<ref>{{harvnb|Cunningham|1995|p=271|ps=: "The four-item measure of exposure to Western culture was not reliably associated with giving higher ratings to Whites (r = . 19, n s). The relation of rating Whites to frequency of viewing Western television, for example, was quite low (r=.01)."}}</ref>

One study found that [[East Asian people|East Asian women]] in the United States are closer to the ideal figure promoted in Western media, and that East Asian women conform to both Western and Eastern influences in the United States.<ref name="Barnett Keel Conoscenti 2001">{{cite journal | last1=Barnett | first1=Heather L. | last2=Keel | first2=P. | last3=Conoscenti | first3=Lauren M. | title=Body Type Preferences in Asian and Caucasian College Students | journal=Sex Roles | date=2001 | volume=45 | issue=11/12 | page=875-875| doi=10.1023/A:1015600705749 | s2cid=141429057 }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Barnett|Keel|Conoscenti|2001|p=875|ps=: "Rieger et al. (2001) argue that traditional values and practices in Asian cultures also idealize thinness. Virtues of fasting that results in emaciation are quoted from the Daoist text Sandong zhunang (Rieger et al., 2001). Thus, while Caucasian and Asian women may be exposed to similar ideals of attractiveness, and Asian women are nearer to weight ideals portrayed by the media, both traditional and western values may contribute to the internalization of extremely thin ideals by Asian females."}}</ref> East Asian men were found to be more impacted by Western beauty ideals then East Asian women, in the United States. East Asian men felt as though their bodies were not large enough and therefore deviated from the Western norm.<ref>{{harvnb|Barnett|Keel|Conoscenti|2001|p=875|ps=: "Additionally, ethnic facial features may contribute to a general feeling of deviating from the norm, leading Asian or Asian American men to focus on a seemingly mutable quality, body weight. Further, Asian men were more likely than Caucasian men to select an ideal body figure that was similar to the figure they thought most attractive to the opposite sex. This suggests that Asian males may be more invested in achieving a larger body in order to attract a romantic partner. Finally, Asian males may be negatively affected by efforts to acculturate to Western society. A recent study revealed that acculturation is positively related to perfectionism in Asian males but not Asian females (Davis & Katzman, 1999)."}}</ref> East Asian men and white Western women were found to have the highest levels of body dissatisfaction in the United States.<ref>{{harvnb|Barnett|Keel|Conoscenti|2001|p=875|ps=: " "Specifically, Asian males reported an ideal figure that was larger than their current figure. An interaction between gender and ethnicity revealed that Caucasian females and Asian males reported the largest degree of body dissatisfaction."}}</ref> A study of [[African American]] and [[South Asian]] women found that some had internalized a white beauty ideal that placed light skin and straight hair at the top.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Harper|first1=Kathryn|last2=Choma|first2=Becky L.|s2cid=150156045|date=2018-10-05|title=Internalised White Ideal, Skin Tone Surveillance, and Hair Surveillance Predict Skin and Hair Dissatisfaction and Skin Bleaching among African American and Indian Women|journal=Sex Roles| volume=80| issue=11–12| pages=735–744| doi=10.1007/s11199-018-0966-9|issn=0360-0025}}</ref>

Eurocentric standards for men include tallness, leanness, and muscularity, which have been idolized through American media, such as in [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] films and magazine covers.<ref name="Pompper Allison 2022">{{cite book | last1=Pompper | first1=D. | last2=Allison | first2=M.C. | title=Rhetoric of Masculinity: Male Body Image, Media, and Gender Role Stress/Conflict | publisher=Lexington Books | year=2022 | isbn=978-1-7936-2689-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zt1WEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA82 | access-date=2023-06-03 | pages=82–83}}</ref>

In of the United States, [[African Americans]] have historically been subjected to beauty ideals that often do not reflect their own appearance, which can lead to issues of low self-esteem. African-American philosopher [[Cornel West]] elaborates that, "much of black self-hatred and self-contempt has to do with the refusal of many black Americans to love their own black bodies-especially their black noses, hips, lips, and hair."<ref name="West 2017 p. 85">{{cite book | last=West | first=C. | title=Race Matters, 25th Anniversary: With a New Introduction | publisher=Beacon Press | year=2017 | isbn=978-0-8070-0883-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mRVHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA85 | access-date=1 June 2023 | page=85}}</ref> According to Patton (2006), the stereotype of African-American women's inferiority (relative to other races of women) maintains a system of oppression based on race and gender that operates to the detriment of women of all races, and also black men.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Patton |first1=Tracey Owens |title=Hey Girl, Am I More than My Hair?: African American Women and Their Struggles with Beauty, Body Image, and Hair |journal=NWSA Journal |date=July 2006 |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=45–46 |doi=10.2979/NWS.2006.18.2.24 |doi-broken-date=November 1, 2024 |id={{Project MUSE|199496}} {{ProQuest|233235409}} |jstor=4317206 |quote= "These stereotypes and the culture that sustains them exist to define the social position of black women as subordinate on the basis of gender to all men, regardless of color, and on the basis of race to all other women. These negative images also are indispensable to the maintenance of an interlocking system of oppression based on race and gender that operates to the detriment of all women and all blacks" (Caldwell 2000, 280)."}}</ref> In the 1960s, the [[black is beautiful]] cultural movement sought to dispel the notion of a [[Eurocentrism|Eurocentric]] concept of beauty.<ref>{{Cite web |last=DoCarmo |first=Stephen |title=Notes on the Black Cultural Movement |publisher=Bucks County Community College |url=http://www.bucks.edu/~docarmos/BCMnotes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050408205800/http://www.bucks.edu/~docarmos/BCMnotes.html |archive-date=April 8, 2005 |access-date=November 27, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Much criticism has been directed at models of beauty which depend solely upon Western ideals of beauty, as seen, for example, in the [[Barbie]] franchise. Criticisms of Barbie are often centered around concerns that children consider Barbie a role model of beauty and will attempt to emulate her. One of the most common criticisms of Barbie is that she promotes an unrealistic idea of body image for a young woman, leading to a risk that girls who attempt to emulate her will become [[anorexia nervosa|anorexic]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dittmar |first1=Helga |last2=Halliwell |first2=Emma |last3=Ive |first3=Suzanne |title=Does Barbie make girls want to be thin? The effect of experimental exposure to images of dolls on the body image of 5- to 8-year-old girls |journal=Developmental Psychology |date=March 2006 |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=283–292 |doi=10.1037/0012-1649.42.2.283 |pmid=16569167 }}</ref>

As of 1998, these criticisms of the lack of diversity in such franchises as the [[Barbie]] model of beauty in Western culture, had led to a dialogue to create non-exclusive models of Western ideals in body type for young girls who do not match the thinness ideal that Barbie represents.<ref name="Flett Kocovski Davison Neale 2017 p. 292">{{cite book | last1=Flett | first1=G.L. | last2=Kocovski | first2=N. | last3=Davison | first3=G.C. | last4=Neale | first4=J.M. | last5=Blankstein | first5=K.R. | title=Abnormal Psychology, Sixth Canadian Edition Loose-Leaf Print Companion | publisher=John Wiley & Sons Canada, Limited | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-119-44409-1 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e_6lEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA292 | language=cy | access-date=2024-01-11 | page=292}}</ref> Mattel responded to these criticisms.
[[File:Caucasian-woman-001.jpg|thumb|A woman with long blond hair wearing a dress]]
In East Asian cultures, familial pressures and cultural norms shape beauty ideals. A 2017 experimental study concluded that Asian cultural idealization of "fragile" girls was impacting Asian American women's lifestyle, eating, and appearance choices.<ref name="Wong Keum Caffarel et al 2017">{{cite journal |last1=Wong |first1=Stephanie N. |last2=Keum |first2=Brian TaeHyuk |last3=Caffarel |first3=Daniel |last4=Srinivasan |first4=Ranjana |last5=Morshedian |first5=Negar |last6=Capodilupo |first6=Christina M. |last7=Brewster |first7=Melanie E. |title=Exploring the conceptualization of body image for Asian American women. |journal=Asian American Journal of Psychology |date=December 2017 |volume=8 |issue=4 |pages=296–307 |doi=10.1037/aap0000077 |s2cid=151560804 }}</ref>