Is beauty subjective?

SmurfESmurferson · 2023-06-10T02:03:37+00:00

It’s like anything else:

Speaking of big groups of people, yes, there are unmistakeable shared preferences. This can be as general as “there is an ideal WHR that men find attractive.” Or slightly more specific, like “certain ethnicities tend to prefer curvaceous asses and/or boobs, while others prefer a lithe, less curvy silhouette”

But statistics are meaningless to the individual. There are groups of men who prefer features that run counter to the overarching trend

My favorite is when groups change preferences. Just look at how white dudes went from disdaining big asses in the 80s and 90s, to finding them unbelievably hot now

A recent anecdote that I can’t stop thinking about: I mentioned something about Margot Robbie being unbelievably beautiful not too long ago. Some guy on here (or PPD?) chimes in that she was too masculine looking. I can’t figure it out, I just don’t see it

fatsackguy47 · 2023-06-10T06:56:01+00:00

I like to say it’s mostly objective (for men anyway), which might be a contradiction but I also don’t care. you can call it whatever you want.

in essence, many traits are pretty much universally attractive with the lack of them being unattractive. for example for men these include: tall height, prominent chin, strong and defined jaw, fit/muscular physique, good prominent ideally high cheekbones, dense eyebrows with a (ideally slight) downward tilt, ~0.46 ES ratio, proportional lips (to the face and relative to each lip), good hair with a not too large forehead (3-4fingers), ~3:1 PFL:PFH ratio, good chin:philtrum ratio, straight not too prominent nose, good looking teeth (white and straight), good skin.

however, some things are a bit more subjective. using men again as an example: hair color, hair styling, facial hair (sort of).

so you can call my description whatever you want, but I like it to say attractiveness is mostly objective at least in men. there are many things that are essentially set in stone with little to no wiggle room, and a few things with a bit more wiggle room.

Chemical-Night-3433 · 2023-06-10T02:39:58+00:00

I think it is. Things that are objective are absolute facts like mathematics, laws of physics,history etc. although we as humans can agree about looks to an extent I highly doubt you’ll ever get people to objectively agree on looks. For example, I find acne on women kinda cute sometimes,

BeetleTross · 2023-06-11T18:36:09+00:00

Almost everything in psychology seems to come down to a 50/50 nature/nurture split, so I'm going to go with that. I don't think anyone has made a realistic attempt to explain boobs outside of Fisherian Runaway, our collective obsession with them is probably entirely genetic. Examining beauty standards from past cultures, hell, even current ones suggests that significant portions of our beauty standards are socially constructed.

I think it's also worth considering multiple types of attraction. I can see a celebrity and think "yeah they're hot" but not be truly, sincerely attracted to them. I can see a significantly older or younger woman and recognize her beauty without being sincerely attracted to them, but then I can also look at a rather plain woman and be very attracted for some reason. There seems to be a reptilian sense of perception operating alongside a human sense, and that's a nuance that I think is criminally under-discussed regarding this subject.

Funny_Perception_524 · 2023-06-10T03:58:48+00:00

Yes it is subjective. As long as there's even one outlier, one person that goes against convention, it's proof enough that anyone can find any trait or quality attractive and that there is no "universal standard".

Israelite2023 · 2023-06-10T02:24:44+00:00

I didn’t know a crayon color (“white”) could have human features lol.

Title	Is beauty subjective?
Author	Professional_Goat333
Upvotes	2
Comments	10
Date	June 10, 2023 1:24 AM UTC (3 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/AllPillDebate
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/AllPillDebate/comments/145mtgw/is_beauty_subjective/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/AllPillDebate/is-beauty-subjective.1221747 https://theredarchive.com/post/1221747

Comments