Numbers can be Beautiful.

Last time I left you with the mentioning of the Golden Ratio. This is also known as Greek proportioning, The Divine Ratio or Phi. I bet you can't wait to see how I relate math to beauty. Even if you hate numbers (like me) don't turn away just yet! Yes, sadly, numbers are everywhere, including in how you are attracted to someone. Even with my hatred for numbers this I found this very interesting.

This is beauty!

 

Can you tell? The curve of the six, the way the one is so straight and.....I'm just kidding, that was going a little too far. Anyway, I am not going to pretend like I know anything about what all this means but I found that by using this number artists found out the ratios and angles that are needed to make a face beautiful. Which turns into the idea of this...

Despite how creepy this picture is this is the mathematical view of beauty. Basically, the equation that has been found since the ancient Greek period explains that there is a number used in the angles of ones face to be classified as beautiful. The more equal you are, the more attractive you are. Symmetry has always been a big factor in who is seen as beautiful for example...

 

 

Of course, even Marilyn Monroe isn't going to fit this mask perfectly.No one is perfect but the numbers do not stop here! This ratio does not only fit with facial construction. This number also works with the human body as well and also some other things but you can look into that yourself. This is where the idea of statues comes in. Statues that have been around for centuries showing perfect bodies that people aspire to be. So in response to finding the idea of these Greek Proportions  I found this calculator that was going to tell me just how attractive or ugly I am simply with the information of my wrist size.

Greek Proportions Calculator

This site gives the proportions that you need for your chest, forearm, waist, thigh,hip,calf, bicep and neck. I debated not actually seeing how far off I was so I didn't go crawl into a corner with a carton of ice cream and watch teen mom because no one would ever see me as beautiful. However! I sucked it up and measured myself and guess what! I'm freaking gorgeous! Of course I have a few inches here and there that I wish I could hand back to my mother and say, "Thanks but no thanks" but Man! I am hot.

Ok, so my enthusiasm is a tad bit ridiculous but numbers have never been my friend until this moment. This idea that there is a different way to show what is stimulating, healthy and attractive can be shown with throwing a couple of numbers out there is completely different take on what is seen as beautiful. However, this technique is only used for men in today's society when it comes to bodies but even then bigger is still better. Facial mathematics is what usually is taken in consideration when looking for beauty with this idea as of lately but when you look back at statues they are the ones that fit into this mathematical theory that seems to be very true, not skinny minis and hunky hotties.

This is beautiful...

                                                                   And so are you.

Imaging of Body

In reaction to a comment that was made on my last post I wanted to address the idea of the body and the image of them through the ages.

It does not matter who you are there is some part of your body that you rather give back to your parents than keep. For me, its my tummy. I know I've heard some weird ones before like eyebrows, finger nails and once I even heard someone complain about the skin on their elbows. This need to criticize who we are is a socially constructed problem that we will forever have to face. However, when it comes to bodies what makes us attractive?

When it comes to women we look towards the skinny, well endowed women of the time that are plastered and plastic all over the place. When did this change and why?  Before a certain point in time women who had more meat were seen as more beautiful due to the fact that they could afford to eat more. We didn't have this instant thought of anyone being obese. That word wasn't even in our vocabulary. Yes, times have changed, fast food has become dominant and there are people who need to put down the fries and pick up the salad but! anyone who doesn't look like a pencil is not instantly fat.
 I came across this book called, Fat History: Bodies and Beauty in the Modern West written by Peter  Stearns. He has decided that the shift in wanting plump women to thin was in the twenty years of 1890 to 1910. In the article that was talking about this book there was a collection of images of exotic dancers that were at the beginning of this time shift. Exotic dancer meaning "

Noun

1.

exotic dancer - a performer who provides erotic entertainment by undressing to music"

According to Dictionary.com. The picture and all...I just thought that was funny.
So these women were found gorgeous, desirable and sexy. Want to know what they looked like?

 

Exotic Dancer Article 

 

They look average! If not even "overweight" by our standards of today. Writing this blog has made me come to the realization that I was simply just born in the wrong era. These women are plump, voluptuous, curvy, and hour glass to the max. This was seen as gorgeous, if not stunning to have this shape that just happened to be associated with being healthy and ready to reproduce.

My mother would say that they have baby-bearing hips.

I remember being told that I had them when I was younger and was completely ashamed at that and honestly, I still am. I take it as an insult but why is that?

So I went searching and came across this article from the Telegraph that found articles that looked into the question of what shape was desired. The thing is, breasts, waist and thighs are the body parts that men look at the most. This is where the beauty aspect comes from.

(I'm about to get descriptive here just to make a point)

The article expresses that breast size was not what was wanted. The round shape was what turned guys on, or made them see them as beautiful. Round=Young, healthy, and ready to have babies. Al Green's 'Let's get it on' played in my head as a read this. Waists were all described over the ages and in different cultures as desired as small. Again, this is because they were healthy. The need for men to want to pass their genes on to healthy bouncing babies is what makes this figure even more desirable.

"An hourglass shape in women is associated with relatively high levels of the hormone oestrogen."

"The author William Shenstone (1714–1763) put it more poetically: "Health is beauty, and the most perfect health is the most perfect beauty.""
-By Roger Highfield Science Editor < Here is the link.


This doesn't answer my question in the least. So healthy women, who look as if they are capable of having healthy babies is what has been seen as beautiful for ages all over the world. HEALTHY! If you take care of yourself you should be seen as beautiful. The idea that we have to starve ourselves, workout every and still wear spanks is not what we should see as gorgeous. You are beautiful because you are taking care of yourself. From skin, to hair, to your body. Who cares if you have a little stomach?

I remember walking through museums and art galleries and seeing Aphrodite for the first time. The goddess of beauty and how she was portrayed.

In every single image she has a little tummy, larger thighs and different sizes of breasts in all different periods and cultures. She was still seen as beautiful because she was healthy. She is the god of freaking beauty. SO! I went on to look at the body ratio that most sculptures have to compare.

The Golden ratio.

Then I decided to keep that for my next post. Numbers usually hate me until now.
You will find out why next time!

However,the next time you look in the mirror just smile and say," Daaaaaaaang! I look healthy today." Then walk out that door and show off what your Momma gave ya because you are beautiful.

 

Barbie on a Rampage

Blue eyes, blonde hair, small waist and large breasts is what the ideal woman is suppose to look like according to Barbie standards. Most little girls grew up with this image as their toy and what a beautiful woman is suppose to look like. Mud pies in the backyard was more my forte but I still wanted to look like this image. As I grew up I realized that physically this was impossible and if someone even tried to emulate such a far fetched idea that they had to have something wrong with them.

Then I found this.

Real Life Human Barbie

I found this girl while searching the Internet and was utterly amazed and creeped out at the same time. She completely changed her entire image to look like a doll. I must admit that she did a really good job at it but this is almost unbelievable to me. It took me at least four other videos in to accept that she is real. Yes, she has undergone plastic surgery to become this symbol of beauty but is that really what she accomplished? Valeria Lukyanova was beautiful before all the work in my opinion but why is what she is now seen as the more beautiful of the two? Some say that she is so perfect that its fake. Well no kidding, she is emulating a piece of plastic!

It is said that Barbie became so popular because she was the perfect "white"dream girl. It almost goes back to the aryan idea of what is a perfect citizen. The original concept of Barbie actually came from Germany so this idea isn't too far fetched. Even in 1959 when the doll was first produced in the United States parents had issues with the doll's chest. This is crazy. The fiasco of Barbie started over fifty years ago and parents still buy the product?

Do you think that if our toys and media surroundings were different that little girls would not grow up to be insecure in their ways?

Being beautiful should not be what happens after a procedure. After seeing this girl who just so happens to be the same age as me I can see how my wide hips and not flat stomach is beautiful. I may be soft but I know I am real. I believe our imperfections make us just as beautiful as our best features. The female body is beautiful in every category but the need to respect yourself physically, mentally and emotionally is what makes someone beautiful. We are special, I don't remember the last time I saw a man give birth. That is just one of many things that makes us beautiful.

Confidence is the best accessory! How cheesy is that statement but sadly so very true?


The scoreboard is even.

The Beast of Beauty

My name is Hope and I am a victim to beauty. I'm a twenty-one year old college student and everyday I wake up  to the idea that I need to change my image in one way or another to be seen as beautiful. This isn't a blog where I am trying to get every woman to accept that they are all beautiful on the inside or some other incredibly sappy statement about accepting yourself. Honestly, I can't believe anyone who says things like that without instantly thinking that they can't say that I am beautiful directly. I think that just turns back to the "well she is a nice girl" statement that is said because the girl who is being described isn't pretty. I just want to look back into the idea of why I'm not seen as beautiful or anyone else who isn't the media's representation of beauty. I've never met you but you are beautiful, I'm sure of it.

I know, by this time you are thinking that this is all just words and some lonely, sad (most likely ugly) girl had a bad day and needed to blog it out. You're wrong. I believe I'm more on the attractive side but based on what? That is the question I ask you. Based on what male attention you receive?  What female attention you receive?  Or what you see on magazines or movies? I believe every woman is raised to become what they see around them, what they are told is beautiful.






This is me.

My hair is dyed and I have make up on my face, is that what makes me beautiful?

I have to get the topic of skin tone out first.  During the summer I have freckles. EVERYWHERE. I remember around fourth grade I came across the information that in history freckles were seen as ugly. The reasoning behind this was due to the fact that freckles meant that a woman was out in the sun. If a woman was out in the sun that meant she worked. Working is not attractive. Ten year old me was completely appalled by this. I couldn't control the pigmentation of my skin and I loved playing outside. My mom use to call them angel kisses, what little girl doesn't want to be so special that she has angel's leaving kisses on her?  Now, I see that this idea of this aspect of beauty has continued on to today but in a different way. Freckles are almost seen as childish. Most baby dolls you pick up have the cute speckles across there cheeks and nose. When you are young you get to play in the sun, as you grow older this doesn't happen as much or you are just tan. What is beautiful is fair or tan, there is no in between. Freckles have no place. Freckles are still seen as an imperfection of the skin or something that kids have and will (hopefully) grow out of.

When I tried to look for this information on the history of freckles I came across at least four pages of searches that were either images of others with freckles or a million and one ways to get rid of your freckles. Why would anyone want to chemical take off a layer of their skin to get rid of freckles? This is insane!There is no reason that in today's society that freckles should be seen in this way. I mean, how strange is it that someone would rather peel off their skin than have freckles? I think that is gross! We either go whiten our skin or go tan it. Either way, we are harming our bodies for the representation of beautiful that we are surrounded by.

Of course, those who are fair wish to be tan because it means that they are "fun," that they go to the beach and do outdoor activities. Anyone who is fair knows that most of these activities lead to a horrible sunburn and the only thing that would be attracted to you would be a boiled lobster. However, those who are born tan usually wish to be lighter because it is almost as if the more fair you are, the more you are seen as untouched, not flawed. When was the last time that someone who is very dark was walking down the red carpet? This idea could take off into a more political realm but lets not go there! No one is happy with what they have unless they never turned on the television to see the perfect skin of the stars we are surrounded by.


Score one for media representation, Score zero for me.

But the war is not over.