Universal Beauty

        After reading one of the articles assigned last class, I realized that in some sense, there was a certain hegemonic idea of the ideal beauty.  This was white beauty, fair skin and certain features, that if researched can be dated back to Darwin’s time in which the categorization of people led to a hierarchy. Social Darwinism, as it is referred to, was a theory made to set white Europeans above the rest. This construction of beauty led to the one we hold today. I must question, however if indeed this notion is universal or just pertaining to the United States. Many cultures are identified by different features that make them beautiful in their own countries. African American women, for example, are known to have wider hips, whereas, Asians are thought to age slower. Due to these differences in cultural beauty, we should think that the hegemonic ideal of beauty has not affected them. 

         This can be argued to be false, however. There have been many celebrities that come from minority groups that decide to change their physical appearance. Coincidentally this change is never from a Caucasian one to a Hispanic, African American or Asian one. People are often stunned to realize that Shakira’s golden hair is not natural but rather dyed. Likewise, many artists decide to change their appearances through plastic surgery to obtain a narrower nose, or skinny body. At the same time, those stars who are often mixed are classified in their respective race dependent on the beauty they portray at the time. Christina Aguilera, for example, is actually partially Hispanic but it was never fully acknowledged by the media when describing her thinness and beauty in the past. After gaining a few pounds, the media portrays artists, as Christina as “embracing their Latina features” as if it is suppose to be a shame. From then on, Christina has become more Hispanic than white, simply through the acquisition of a few pounds that question her beauty. It is this that makes me question how one physical trait, that used to be beautiful to a culture, changes because of the media. According to my mother, a beautiful Mexican woman was not skinny. Girls would often feel ashamed of their thin legs and would often wear leggings under their pants. Now hover, after visiting, I realized how much the United States influenced outer countries to adopt a different perception of beauty. One so influential that it obscures the image of beauty they once had.