Beauty myths i just don't get.

[ConfusedParticle]

Like someone having 'cheekbones', that this is somehow important as a woman ages (not my opinion!).

That being tall is superior to being short: this persistent idea that taller people look better in clothes. In my own opinion it is posture, not height that makes a difference.

I know there's history regarding height, especially with males, the pecking order and all that, but i am amazed that these ideas still circulate.

But who decided fashion/clothing was best carried off by taller women? It never made sense to me.
It makes some, kinda vague sense for a catwalk, but not in the real world.
If clothes are in proportion, then it's as broad as long to me.

I have also never noticed cheekbones necessarily make someone 'age' better either - whether that's Peter Cushing or Debbie Harry. People tend to look good if they look good (to my mind) regardless their age.

@SarahJessicaPorker

Omfg *@Cheekypeach*, you are WELL up yourself 🤣

Joking, obviously 😂😂

Don't delete my post HQ! I swear I'm not the dimple woman back to wreak her revenge!!

Haha @SarahJessicaPorker you’re so the angry dimple woman 😉

In my experience it’s usually when the man you fancy, fancies another woman with X distinctive attribute - you get torn between being jealous and then being all ‘it’s not that attractive anyway’

Oh no, they're on to me! Dimple free faces rule, dimples drool! No dimples forever!

Ps: yes, maybe it was something like that @Cheekypeach. Or maybe a guy she'd dated had dimples and the thought of them made her . My little nephew has dimples, so I remember reading the thread and being very WTAF?

Awww bless him
I had the same with red hair - my ex fancied a redhead so I was all torn between wanting red hair and being all ‘oh it looks like shit anyway’ when clearly it’s gorgeous

I am not sure about the aging thing but remember when French & Saunders used to impersonate various people in their show? The make up artist was obviously fantastic but every week Jennifer Saunders used to look SO like whoever it was they were pretending to be, and I always thought it must have been because of her cheekbones.

it's easier to buy clothes if you are tall now than in the 90/00s! OMG EVERYTHING was too short for me.

go higher end and you'll find more cut for tall women. Anine Bing, IRO, current elliott, ganni all good. ASOS do really long legs on some of their own brands jeans / cords - I'm a 25 waist 34 leg and can get these relatively easily and they are good value too.

anyone can improve posture, start pilates / alexander technique / yoga / tai chi... any movement based system as early as you can. you can tell at 70 who has decades of this behind them and who doesn't.

Whatever the darker motivations of the OP might be for posting 😂 it’s an important point that beauty is often mythical, or a matter of culture and fashion. Full lips might be deemed attractive now (FWIW they only look right if they go with the rest of your face) but in Victorian times mouths were meant to look more ‘rosebud’ than ‘bee-stung’. Height and slimness is a product of the camera and the front row of the catwalk, both of which distort the look of a figure so it appears shorter and squashed outwards. And fashion designers, who have traditionally been gay men, have long preferred to design for those few women whose frames resemble those of adolescent boys - gangly, long-limbed and with no inconvenient curves.

Not at all @ThomasinaGallico

You’re talking more about fashion than beauty

Beauty has always been pretty consistent because it’s science based, it plays to our basic instincts and is centred around fertility - which also means youth and health.

A slim hourglass figure is generally the most appealing to men as it indicates health (low fat around the tummy), but boobs & hips to produce and feed babies

Big eyes and full lips are deemed attractive because they are reminiscent of a baby’s face, they’re considered youthful as when people age their lips thin and their eyes appear smaller

Long hair is considered beautiful as it indicates health and nourishment.

And so on. That doesn’t mean men don’t have individual preferences, but broadly speaking women with those attributes will attract the most men.

I'm 5ft and can't do glam or sophisticated at all. I look like a child in her mummy's clothes. What I can do well is cute and quirky, which is my general look. But occasionally I need to be a grown up and I simply can't pull it off.

I don't have cheekbones either 😂

@fluffythedragonslayer nooooo fluffy you’re not short, you’re elfin. I’m not lanky, I’m a great giantess. It’s all about how you frame it

The research on beauty standards is social science research, which by its very nature is rather less objective than most laypeople like to think. Much of it is white- and Western-centric, geared towards a Western view of history and culture, and even those efforts to incorporate other cultures (African, indigenous, immigrant, First Nation) have in practice found it difficult to look at them independently.

For this reason I’ve always been healthily sceptical of claims around the ‘scientific basis’ of beauty, seeing them more as post-hoc justifications than causes. It is more illuminating to look at how these claims/conclusions are arrived at and used, rather than taking them superficially as a demonstration of objective truth.

[quote Cheekypeach]@fluffythedragonslayer nooooo fluffy you’re not short, you’re elfin. I’m not lanky, I’m a great giantess. It’s all about how you frame it [/quote]
I'm so elfin I regularly need help from a great giantess to reach stuff in the supermarket 😂

Beauty is in a whole person, male or female - the way they speak, carry themselves, their posture, voice, the way they present themselves, take care of themselves, behave to others, the light in their eyes, the way they listen - calmness, politeness, generosity, good manners, regardless of their age - all the rest is superficial, temporary and unearned, and should not have the value it does - we may be lucky enough to have inherited good looks when young, but that is beyond fleeting, we should stop worshipping that

I also disagree with the 'scientific proof' of what is beautiful. It is very skewed towards the western, hetro, beauty ideals. That isn't beauty to me. People love to state it as fact; but big strong man want put baby in your belly if you have long hair and small waist 🤢. And that is beauty? Well, no thanks, big strong man. I'll pass.

I'm 5'8 and a size 8 and I have blonde (dyed) hair and relatively even features. In the eyes of most men these facts mean that I am automatically attractive on a sort of 'conventional attractiveness' scale, despite the fact that I am actually very plain looking facially and would never be considered a beauty by anyone's standards. I think the myth of 'tall, thin, blonde' is a thing the way 'tall, dark and handsome' is a thing for men.

I think women much more see past these conventional things and appreciate the nuances of people's faces and what shines out of them, personality wise. Look at this thread, we all seem to find different things attractive (fucking cheekbones aside OP!).

In terms of clothing, in my experience slim-ness matters more than height. My height (and I'm not especially tall) can be a disadvantage when shopping for trousers etc, but slimness means there are more options. I don't necessarily think a slim body is more attractive, in fact curvy boobs and a bum look way better in my opinion, but I wasn't built like that unfortunately.

@Bertiebiscuit

Beauty is in a whole person, male or female - the way they speak, carry themselves, their posture, voice, the way they present themselves, take care of themselves, behave to others, the light in their eyes, the way they listen - calmness, politeness, generosity, good manners, regardless of their age - all the rest is superficial, temporary and unearned, and should not have the value it does - we may be lucky enough to have inherited good looks when young, but that is beyond fleeting, we should stop worshipping that

Great post

Beauty is often subjective, look at the MNs threads about what men they like. Often I'm like wtf!

@ThomasinaGallico

The research on beauty standards is social science research, which by its very nature is rather less objective than most laypeople like to think. Much of it is white- and Western-centric, geared towards a Western view of history and culture, and even those efforts to incorporate other cultures (African, indigenous, immigrant, First Nation) have in practice found it difficult to look at them independently.

For this reason I’ve always been healthily sceptical of claims around the ‘scientific basis’ of beauty, seeing them more as post-hoc justifications than causes. It is more illuminating to look at how these claims/conclusions are arrived at and used, rather than taking them superficially as a demonstration of objective truth.

I don't see why Western-centric would be a problem for Western people. It at least tells us something about Western beliefs about beauty.

"Big eyes and full lips are deemed attractive"

Yes, but Thomasina just gave you an example of Victorians NOT deeming them attractive.

I do think decent bone structure helps you age better - means you have still have structure to your face after your skin looses collagen. (Obviously only if you aren't too thin - gothic hollows aren't great.)

I'd agree clothes looking good is about proportion and posture - but being tall gives you presence, which is an added bonus. It's also more forgiving if you don't have a brilliant figure (your waist disappears quicker if you are short.)

‘Rose bud’ lips are still full lips. Current trends may have give too far but at no pint in history have thin lips and small eyes been seen as traditionally beautiful.

Point

I don't see why people think thin lips are bad. People think Kate Middleton is gorgeous, her lips are thin. I think Kate Hudson is gorgeous and she had thin lips.

Primers.
They don't work for me.

@tygga

I don't see why people think thin lips are bad. People think Kate Middleton is gorgeous, her lips are thin. I think Kate Hudson is gorgeous and she had thin lips.

That doesn’t mean everyone with thin lips doesn’t look good. It just means in isolation fuller lips are generally more desirable.