ubertuber

A) Standards of beauty are such a chicken and egg thing. Of course the media influences standards of beauty, but then, the media is controlled by consumer response. So, I guess you could say that the media amplifies cultural trends - or it consistently normalizes extremes, painting our society into a corner of valuing unattainable standards.

B) As a man, I think that women judge themselves and each other FAR more harshly than men do. Yeah, I know that men supposedly have such unrealistic ideals and we objectify and so on... But somehow that lame dismissiveness that men learn seems to cut less deeply than the comments I hear women say about themselves and each other. They really mean that stuff, whereas men are mostly declaring themselves unwilling to think about it deeply.

C) I question the thing about evolutionary wiring. The Rubenesque beauty valued by the Polynesian cultures is cited too often, but I think it demolishes the idea that our current standards of beauty and health are really biologically informed. If anything, I guess you could say that scientific knowledge has helped to mold our ideals towards fit people - which are not the "Twiggy" type.

EDIT: Lurkette, thanks for putting this where the boys can comment too!

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Cogito ergo spud -- I think, therefore I yam