What Makes Up True Beauty?

The perception of beauty is subjective; it isn't always what people may think it is because it can be described in different ways. Margaret Wolfe Hungerland said, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Meaning that there is no exact definition of "beauty" it's what others perceive it to be. In today's society attractiveness via physical appearance is the most common attribute when discussing beauty, but there is more to it than that. Aside from that being the main focus intelligence, emotions, spirit and social attraction can also be used to contribute to one's beauty.

Possibly the most bias way to describe it, beauty is often used in reference to someone's physical appearance, focusing mainly on facial features, body type and skin. This plays a big part in today's society causing it to affect both males and females of all ethnicities. In a discussion it is mentioned, "what society considers beautiful has a tendency to change, which means our pursuit of beauty tends to be lifelong and subject to the whims of trendsetters" (Edmonds). Pop culture has manipulated society into thinking that beauty is having a perfect facial structure, a slender body type, and flawless skin. While possessing these particular features is fine, it just isn't realistic. People tend to use cosmetics or cosmetic surgery to enhance the beauty of their facial structure. Females also have a desire to have a beautiful body type which pretty much means to be slim. Lastly in the black community I've noticed that there's an issue with shades of skin. It is said that lighter skin is considered beautiful while darker skin isn't. Although this issue is based on opinions, it doesn't define beauty. Aside form the superficiality of today's society beauty is also defi...

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...igh school students and it seems to be attractive to them. Another aspect is when someone is influential they gain a reputation and become trendsetters. When someone is a visible trendsetter it doesn’t matter if they’re physically or mentally beautiful, all that matters is their social stature. These aren’t all of the attributes of beauty but five that I can somewhat relate to and are understandable to others.

"Beauty consists of an eternal, variable element, whose quantity is excessively difficult to determine" (Baudelaire). Baudelaire is saying that beauty is very difficult to determine because of its many details and multiple meanings. Beauty is like a philosophical phenomenon that isn’t really understood. I would have to say that it's what one sees in another, a descriptive term given to a person by another person to show that they posses an attractive trait.