While I am a huge fan of science and appreciate the benefits of scientific research and discovery, I find the line of research regarding what makes a person physically attractive to be unnecessary at best and seriously damaging at worst. What set me to write this little rant are stories that, ironically, both came from HuffingtonPost.
The first article and others like it on the "science of beauty" are exactly the things that lead to people ending up feeling they are not pretty enough (touched on in the second link), a much more serious and destructive issue than, I think, some people realize.
Short video on the science of beauty (just one of far too many available on the subject)
Other HuffingtonPost 'article', this one on how "outrageous" it is that someone would tell another person they are not pretty enough
So how about this, big "thinkers" and researchers, instead of trying to track down and limit by strict definition how we process and define beauty, why don't you work on how to expand the horizons of people's definitions of beauty. I'm really tired of reading about how this feature or measurement is ideal and this is not. It's not a healthy barometer. Let's do more research on what makes some people have a much broader spectrum of perceived beauty and how to help others expand theirs. If you start now, by the time my daughters are old enough to read/listen to this type of research there will be things on the topic of beauty worth reading and hearing.
And in the meantime, I will work on teaching my daughters that human value and real beauty cannot actually be measured by a ruler or color chart.
Jen Tress's website. Read the shared stories and see how damaging these superficial measurements can be. And how strong people can be.
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