“Are there benefits
to constructing beauty?”
Beauty
is defined as “a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form that
pleases the aesthetic senses, especially the sight”. A thing of beauty such as
a landscape, a song, or even another human being has the chance of being a
product of construction. Some see this possibly of constructing beauty as a way
of creating false illusions and making unrealistic expectations for those who
want to feel beautiful. Others suggest that the construction of beauty allows
the potential for everybody and everything to have beauty and that which once
was a selective trait is now open to all. I believe that there are benefits to
constructing beauty and the fact that we are able to construct what people see
as beautiful is something to be very proud of.
Cameron
Russell is a Victoria Secret model who shared her opinion on constructed
beauty. She expresses that “Image is
superficial” and that models who we as a society deem as the most beautiful are
the “most physically insecure women probably on the planet”. Russell claims
that the cause of the insecurity is the fact that we are constructing beauty to
a finite group of people and labeling anything else as inferior. She suggests
that children who want to grow up and become a model to dream instead to
"be my boss" or that they become the next CEO of a fashion outlet.
She equates becoming a model to winning the Powerball saying it is totally out
of their control what would happen. I
disagree with Cameron. Where she puts fault in constructed beauty for the
models insecurity, I would blame it on the models for their lack of
appreciation for what they have. They think that constructed beauty has made
them so beautiful they don’t think they can live up to their own standards. Children
who want to grow up to be models have the more of a chance of becoming models
than being CEOs of the companies she named. The benefits Russell experiences
from constructed beauty are obvious. She has gained world fame, lots of money,
and now people listen to her without really knowing her qualifications.
On
the other hand, Aimee Mullins explained her personal experience on how
constructed beauty has transformed her life into its own thing of beauty.
Mullins has prosthetic legs but made them into works of art and worked her way
into a modeling career. She constructs all aspects of her legs from the height
to the pattern design. She constructed her own beauty and now feels confident. Russell
says that constructed beauty causes insecurity when really it caused the
opposite effect for Mullins. She became a model and now does runway for major
fashion labels. People classify her as disabled when really she doesn’t feel
disabled. This is a great example of how constructed beauty has benefits. It
has given meaning to her life. She shouldn’t need her fake legs to feel
confident, but if she feels better wearing them, then good for her.
Dennis
Dutton has a different opinion on beauty compared to Russell and Mullins. He
takes a more scientific approach to beauty and shows how we adapt to what’s
beautiful in an evolutionary way. The
construction he talks about is the way that we constructed beauty because of
the stuff we needed back then. Just like
the male peacock is attracted to the female peacock by the feathers she grows. He
also shows that we as humans generally share what we think is beautiful. This
sounds a little like Russell when she claims that majority of the fashion
industry looks the same. Our evolutionary construction of beauty benefits all
of us.
In
conclusion, beauty being constructed has improved many lives. It has given the
chance for those who didn’t feel beautiful to become beautiful. It has also
brought many great beauties in to the world. Whether we adopted them from evolution
or constructed out of our observations, they shape our lives. The fact at beauty can be constructed has
given hope to all that think little of themselves. It effects everyone to ever want to be
beautiful.
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