The Beautiful People

April 18, 2007

There are many different types of human beauty, not all - or any, really - of which are clearly defined. There is purely visual beauty, beauty of character, natural or genetic beauty, cosmetically-enhanced beauty, beautiful personalities, and poetic beauty (as defined by composer Robert Schumann as man’s conscious participation into altering natural beauty to create further beautiful things). But what most people agree upon is that “beautiful” on the surface - the outer beauty of a human being - is the preferred state of being if one had a choice.  The question is why.
It’s simple to think that people, on the most base level, merely prefer to view things that are pleasant to the eye. But what makes them so? Much of beauty seems to be in the perception;  inasmuch as a dentist may see perfectly white, veneered teeth as beautiful, or an architect be dazzled by a meticulously-executed house design, so may individuals focus on something close to them as their beauty ideal.
A man who grew up in a very rural area, say a traditional farm, may find most beautiful a fresh-scrubbed, clear-eyed country girl, who visually exemplifies the simple things he grew up surrounded with, while a woman who spent her childhood in a big city may be most attracted to a man who is the human visual equivalent of sleek streets, crisp outer layers, and a cosmopolitan feel. It’s difficult to say what makes a person more attractive to one person than to another;  and as impossible as the causes of romance are to define, it’s probably more impossible to figure just what makes beautiful... well, beautiful, whether it is that of a fashion model, an actor, or the subject of a work of art.

SYMMETRY
“Official” studies bring it down to something that ends up being both a lot more scientifically sanitized and a lot more instinctive. One recent study made two composite faces, one each for a man and a woman, using the most common features out of a group of photos, resulting in a face that had zero irregularities and extremely symmetrical features.  Apparently, bilateral symmetry is one of the keys to beauty - that facial balance and “commonness” is subliminally preferable to us because it indicates stability, health, and freedom from disease - all important characteristics in - yep, you guessed it - finding someone to mate with.  But although it probably does come down in large part to that neanderthal-formed instinct, we’ve evolved as intelligent beings since then, so things are more complex than even studies like this can reveal. Is it the visual left-right balance that humans - with our dual-eye system - find attractive? Or is it more likely something closer to what British portrait painter Suzi Malin has pointed out - that humans find other humans attractive who “echo” their own facial features, particularly the eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth?
Try this with your friends - look at couples you know and see how similar they really do look when you look closely;  or ask your friends what celebrities they find attractive, and see how well these celebrities, at those most basic facial feature levels, resemble your friends.  You’ll likely be surprised.

MALE STANDARDS
From a less scientific and more artistic view, men are generally bound to the standards set long ago by Roman and Greek artists, who created some of the most definitive sculptures and artworks of what the masculine beauty ideal was supposed to be. Tall, muscular, with a high forehead to denote intelligence, a strong facial structure and jawline; think Michelangelo’s David.   This look has translated over onto the physical “wish list” for our popular icons, namely movie stars and other celebrities, who are held to this narrow look for the most part and revered for same, although a few actors manage to break out of this mold.
Women are held to a similar standard, all the way back to Helen of Troy and all the way up to the low-weight, even-skinned, and small-framed standards put on actresses and models today.  Men, however, can transcend the ranks of traditional beauty by falling back on such public perceptions as ruggedness or rakishness, while women, as pointed out by author Naomi Wolf in The Beauty Myth, are held to beautiful perfection as an even stronger ideal, especially by the fashion industry, which is known for being ruthless about who’s pretty and who isn’t.

MORE BREAKS
But do these limitations really affect the everyday person?
Unfortunately, yes. A recent London study that included over 10,000 people in its findings showed that beautiful or attractive people earn more and achieve more opportunities than what’s perceived as “less attractive” people - frighteningly, 10 to 15% less than the “beautiful ones.”
A study by a Harvard psychologist showed that beauty preference begins all the way from birth - mothers are more likely to fuss over pretty babies, teachers assume that good-looking pupils are smarter, police officers and judges are more lenient towards those who lucked out with above-average looks, and if your car breaks down, the better-looking you are, the more likely it is that someone is going to stop and help you. 
However, upon further reflection, it’s likely that it’s not the physical appearance alone that pushes these people ahead - but the confidence that comes from that beauty.  Either way, further studies show that we’re “hard-wired,” so to speak, to react more positively to people who look good - it’s in our genes.  So, again, it comes back to breeding.  The initial attraction is almost always visual; the discoveries of inner strength, smarts, a good temperament, a great sense of humor, all happen later.  That’s just the way it is.
The good news - if you want to call it that - is that while beautiful people may get more breaks and more initial attention than more average-looking people, they still may not necessarily be the happiest.  Some people who are already quite attractive by “normal” standards still long for beautiful perfection, and so turn to plastic surgery to try and keep up with the proverbial (beautiful) Joneses - but although it may temporarily boost confidence in the short-term, long-term it’s just another thing to obsess about and spend large amounts of money on, not a proven way to improve your life.
Just as money can’t buy happiness, beauty can’t guarantee it, nor does beauty guarantee that once the beautiful person gets past the job interview, they’ll actually be able to excel at the job.  Although outer appearance does admittedly give an unfair advantage, in the end it really does - at least we hope it does - still come down to the beauty inside.