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What is Beautiful?
A Brief Look Through History
WebMD Feature
In
ancient China, the 4-inch "lotus foot" was
considered a sign of perfect beauty. The practice of
foot-binding, uncommonly seen today, involved
breaking the bones of the forefoot and folding them
forward, then tying the misshapen appendage to
prohibit growth.[5] Foot-binding caused severe pain,
imbalance, and falls, and eventually osteoporosis,
because afflicted women were unable to bear weight
and ambulate correctly.
Other consequences included hip and knee
osteoarthritis, chronic pain, and even joint
replacement surgery.[6] Chinese foot binding was
also a form of subjugation; as a class, women were
even less able to take advantage of already limited
educational and economic opportunities.
For
ancient Egyptians, Romans, and Persians, sparkling
eyes were considered beautiful and they applied the
heavy metal antimony to make their conjunctiva
sparkle.[5]
A
woman with a high forehead was considered beautiful
during the Elizabethan era, and upper-class
Elizabethan women plucked or shaved their frontal
hairs to achieve this look.
These women also covered their skin with ceruse
(lead-based) makeup, which caused peripheral
neuropathy, gout, anemia, chronic renal failure, and
disfiguring scarring, requiring the application of
more ceruse makeup.[5] Chronic users, such as Queen
Elizabeth I, acquired a misshapen appearance. Upset
over her grisly visage, the Queen banished all
mirrors from her castle. Her servants sometimes
painted a red dot on her nose, an inside joke
mocking her clown-like appearance.
In
the court of Louis XVI, noblewomen drew blue veins
onto their necks and shoulders to emphasize their
exalted status ("bluebloods").[7] In the 16th and
17th centuries, the wealthy used belladonna eyedrops
to dilate their pupils.
Users acquired an "attractive" doe-like appearance,
but they also risked retinal damage, glaucoma, and
blindness. During the 18th century, vermilion rouge,
concocted of sulphur and mercury, achieved
popularity. Users lost teeth, suffered gingivitis,
and (unknowingly) risked kidney and nervous system
damage from mercury -- not to mention their having
to deal with the unpleasant smell of sulphur.
Corseting, popular from the 14th to 19th centuries,
originally involved compressing the bosom and
constricting the waist with tightly wound whalebone
on a steel frame. Shallow breathing, combined with
inadequate venous return, produced fainting and
swooning. Hiatal hernias caused by overly tight
corsets are termed "Sommerring's syndrome" -- after
the 18th century physician who first warned of the
dangers of tight lacing. Christina Larson points
out, "the corset facilitated a pernicious
association between physical beauty and virtue, as
upright posture and a slender waist came to be
regarded as evidence of discipline, modesty, rigor,
and refinement. Ladies who abandoned their stays
were scorned as both lazy and immoral."
Ideal body weight and shape have fluctuated
throughout history, from the rotund Venus of
Willendorf of antiquity, to the statuesque, leggy
flappers of the 1920s, to the ultra-thin
"Twiggy"-inspired look of the 1960s and the "heroin
chic" cachexia of the 1990s. In some cultures (eg,
Hawaiian royalty), women voluntarily consumed or
were force-fed excessive quantities of food to
maintain their corpulence, a sign of fertility and
power.
At
other times, women, including those with and without
anorexia and bulimia, have dieted, induced vomiting,
abused laxatives, and exercised excessively to lose
weight. Famed opera singer Maria Callas deliberately
infected herself with tapeworms to produce a
malabsorption syndrome to maintain her lithe figure.
Today, popular icons of beauty are found in music
videos and on commercial television. Large bust size
and round, but not excessively large, posteriors are
emphasized, for example.
To
help the average woman achieve this look, a variety
of products have become available, such as Wonderbra,
which elevates and compresses the breasts, and the
Brava bra, a $2500 suction device designed to be
worn overnight for 10 weeks. Brava bra makers
promise a 1-cup size increase; side effects include
skin rash and discomfort.
In
the United Kingdom, women can buy "Wonderbum" panty
hose, made of DuPont lycra to mimic a "perfectly
peachy, pert bottom.
Thoroughly routing the idea of a woman-only "beauty
myth" is the very real fact that men are a rapidly
growing consumer niche in cosmetic surgery. They are
getting procedures such as botulinum toxin
injections and chemical peels, although they are not
yet as willing to admit to their cosmetic habits as
women are.
One
New York plastic surgeon told the Wall Street
Journal that "17 percent of his patients undergoing
eyelid surgery and about 11 percent choosing
facelifts are male, double the percentage of ten
years ago."
According to the American Academy of Cosmetic
Surgery, the most popular procedures for men are
botulinum toxin injections, hair transplantation,
chemical peels, microdermabrasion, and liposuction.
But more than 10,000 men have also had cosmetic
surgery to lengthen or widen their penises, as well
as calf and pectoral implants to upsize their
musculature.
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