What Is Beautiful? Unpacking Beauty Standards and Stereotypes.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Or is it?

Society and popular media seem pretty convinced there's a strict definition of beauty - and we're bombarded by it constantly. We've all seen the formula: flawless skin, perfect hair, skinny yet curvy figures. But how accurate or healthy are these homogenous beauty standards? As an empowered, free-thinking readership, it's worth digging deeper.

Let's get philosophical for a moment. What exactly makes someone or something beautiful? Is it symmetry? Cultural ideas? Math equations? Mom's love? Maybe it's all just subjective. Or, possibly, true beauty lies within, not without. Wiser minds than mine have pondered such questions for centuries. But in our image-obsessed world, we've narrowed beauty down to a few boring boxes.

Supermodel Ima Gorgeous fits neatly in one box. With flowing locks, luscious lips, and legs for days, she's beautiful by society's terms. Mean girl Brittany Bad vibes, with her judgmental glare, also squeezes into a standard beauty box despite her ugly personality. Meanwhile, awesome, intelligent Melissa Mundane doesn't get a second look because she's average-looking.

But aren't Melissa's kindness and Ima's inner emptiness more important? Shouldn't we value intelligence, humor, resilience, and compassion over bust-waist-hip ratios? Do we all need to dye, cut, pad, pinch, or inject ourselves to measure up to one ideal? There's more to beauty than pricey products and painful procedures.

Beauty has varied throughout history and across cultures. Ancient Egyptians were all about the cat eye. Baroque visions oozed extravagance. Minimalists keep it simple. Beauty is a moving target.

And get this – researchers have found symmetrical faces are attractive across cultures. But too much symmetry seems eerie. We naturally prefer slight asymmetry and "flaws" that make faces unique!

Beauty is health, displaying vitality. Fuller figures once signaled prosperity. Pale skin meant leisure without hard labor. Definitions morph.

Beauty captures attention with a twist of novelty. But also balance. Order from chaos—harmony in contrast. Ugliness jolts and provokes. Kitschy can be charming. Dissonant can be bold. Edgy challenges tradition. The surprises.

Beauty comforts. It inspires. Beyond surfaces, it is grace, intelligence, creativity, and intention. Not perfection. Strength of spirit matters. As Emerson said, "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."

Beauty radiates inside and out when we embrace our one-of-a-kind humanity. Quirks tell our distinct stories—every line, scar, and wrinkle formed on our journeys.

Flaws? No such thing. Our so-called imperfections make us perfectly who we are. We can stop chasing an illusion of physical perfection. Beauty is kaleidoscopic – ever-changing perspectives through a crystal of humanity.

Yes, beauty has science behind it. Golden ratio proportions and Fibonacci sequences mathematically please the eye. Faces abiding by average ratios seem attractive. Symmetry and averageness indicate health. Clear skin and lush hair show fertility. Indicators of vigor and reproduction persisted as beauty ideals over generations.

Yet, if physical beauty boiled down to science alone, beauty pageants could be settled with calculators. We'd simply plug factors into an equation, and voilà – the most beautiful person crowned, no talent required.

But eerily perfect proportions feel sterile. Beauty, not absolutes, lies in each unique face. Natural beauty moves us and surprises us. It's Anne Hathaway's crooked tooth smile. Cindy Crawford's mole. Frida Kahlo's unibrow. Imperfections that catch our eye, make us weak, win our hearts.

Beauty is culture and memories. A smell that conjures your childhood. The mascara technique was passed down for generations. Styles reviving nostalgia. Holiday dishes are made with your great grandma's recipe because they are comfortable. Traditions connecting generations. Bittersweet relics of ages past. Beauty intertwines with culture.

Subcultures proudly resist the status quo. Hip-hop overturns old auditory beauty standards—gothic subverts mundane prettiness. Punks spit on tired ideals. They reshape and reclaim beauty on their terms.

Countless bizarre beauty practices shock outside our own culture. Neck stretching in Thailand. Scarification in Papua New Guinea. Hair is shaped like horns in India—and lip plates in Ethiopia. But to insiders, they represent their ideals. Who decides which standards are strange? Beauty bursts through barriers when we open our minds.

Sadly, instead of celebrating diversity, we isolate "ugly." The fashion industry pretended to have one token black model, making them inclusive for years. Homely characters in movies exist for comic relief. People mercilessly insult "butterfaces" behind screens. But turn those insults around. Tell Melissa Mundane she's beautiful just as she is. Beauty grows exponentially when we stop tearing others down to build ourselves up. There's no true beauty in meanness.

Beauty isn't static. Milestones weather and mature our appearance. Surgeries and accidents alter us instantly. Hair turns gray, waists thicken, and skin sags and spots. Our physicality changes, but the essence persists. Wise eyes hold histories. Characters etched in laugh lines tell stories. We don't disappear when youth fades. Our beauty evolves.

During COVID's social distancing, cut off from salons and aesthetics, many found liberation. Finally able to abandon exhausting beauty rituals, people realized how trivial constant grooming was. Masks hid faces, but our spirits persisted. Quarantine sweatpants were a revelation after years of being bound in waist trainers. Many found natural beauty again once superficial pressures lifted.

Beauty can't be bought. It isn't exclusive, either. Not everyone looks like Ima Gorgeous. But everyone has beauty within worth sharing. Beauty is humanity in all its colorful, weird, flawed variations. We each view it through our lens.

For you, beauty might be family resemblances, instilled values, and traditions connecting you to ancestors. Generations apart yet bonded by memories. Or perhaps it's reinventing yourself, revelation through reinvention and shedding one version to blossom into another.

Beauty is fighting oppression, boldly asserting individuality, and advocating for change. Beauty is service and sacrifice to make the world kinder. It's a tenacious spirit persevering. Radiant kindness, wisdom, wit.

Beauty is you just as you are. It can't be ranked with scales and charts. There is no need to pinpoint mathematical beauty – we feel beauty's resonance intuitively when we see it. No calculations are required.

So be bold, be yourself, and embrace your beauty. Don't let opportunities pass unfulfilled. Inspire others to open their eyes and let beauty in. There's enough beauty for all when we widen our perspective.

How about you – where do you see beauty? What does it mean to you? I'd love to hear your thoughts. For now, though, unleash your inner beauty on the world. Be fully, unapologetically you. It looks gorgeous.

By Sypharany.