Society’s obsession with beauty

Society’s obsession with beauty...

You only need to flick through a magazine or watch 15 minutes of TV to discover our obsession with beauty.

Face creams, anti ageing remedies, cosmetic surgery, make up, hair products... the list is almost endless. All designed to feed the greedy monster that is vanity!

When does it become too much? How do we decide the difference between simply trying to make oneself more attractive to a potential partner (or current partner) and pure self obsession? How do we decide what’s healthy and unhealthy??

This for me is unhealthy...

news.bbc.co.uk...

Dating and social network site BeautifulPeople.com has axed some 5,000 members following complaints that they had gained weight.

Personally i feel that this is disgusting!!

The shallow people of "BeautifulPeople.Com" have decided that people are no longer attractive once they have put on some weight.

I personally feel that this very act make these self appointed Beautiful People very ugly indeed.

I would never want to date someone who would sneer at others because of appearance.

Now this may not seem like conspiracy of the century but think about it!! How Brainwashed have we (society) become!!!

Billions of pounds/dollars are thrown away each year on products that have been proven to NOT work.

I have seen countless articles and documentaries where scientists have proven that anti ageing creams do not work. I have seen evidence which shows that many of the moisturising creams actually prevent the body from generating its own natural oils thus leaving the users body dependant on the creams.

Yet whenever I have explained this to the people who use these products they often just shrug it off and carry on using them?!?!?

I am honestly starting to believe that western society is actually beyond the point of return... most people seem to have been completely brainwashed into self obsessed, Parris Hilton wannabe, palettes pampered, airhead corporate drones whose only goal is to purchase and consume!

These people need to be shaking out of their bubble!!

Or am i just being an old fart??

I do realise the beauty has been an issue throughout history, and it will never go away, so maybe I should just chill out...

But it has never been on such a scale before... never have we seen beauty so industrialised!

It seems to me that what used to be the domain of a few arrogant rich pampered idiots (Think 1600’s European aristocracy) is now everywhere!

I dunno... i just get really frustrated by this sort of thing!

THe worst culprit is Hollywood -- they glamorize these anorexic total nobocy chicks who weigh less than 100 pounds, and call them stars!! When I recall the golden girls of Hollywood like Lana Turner, Ava Gardner, Marilyn Monroe and think of the stick people who are getting top billing now it makes me want to puke. I personally have no problem whatsoever with aging, I am glad I grew up in an era where real women were appreciated.

It's this sad, mixed up generation. And it's getting worse. I say sterilize the whole planet.

I couldn't agree with you more.
While its good to look clean and groomed I often wonder how much of our lives we spend thinking about our vanity.
Imagine how much time some people spend throughout their lifetimes thinking about the outside of themselves and not the inside of themselves.
I personally NEVER date women who want to emulate Hollywood or girls who keep up with the latest fashions.
I love a girl in jeans,running shoes and a t-shirt.


[edit on 4-1-2010 by DrumsRfun]

reply to post by Muckster


The thing about being beautiful is that only one person in the world is actually beautiful...everybody else is trying to look beautiful and failing.

What I go for is looking repulsive...It has almost the same effect as being beautiful (it makes you look more powerful, they can't take their eyes off of you) and you avoid that whole not-good-enough, trying-and-failing scenario...

Repulsiveness is beauty for everybody, we can all attain negative fascination...It's like that Tolstoy quote about how all happy families are the same, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way...I am number-one in the world in the way I look, yup-yup...and sadly, I am not being ironic at all...

During my years in highschool, I kind of did dress/do whatever to impress, and only really liked the other people that did the same. But as I got older, my views started changing and I felt more "myself" after dropping the stuff I dont need. It was a damn good decision to. I still see people my age doing the whole "glamor star" kind of thing.

I think the mentality starts in middle/highschool because people want to be one up on everyone else. Look at all the new fads that have been in and out over the past decade. Some people stay stuck in the whole idea even after highschool but some actually get a grip on reality and relaize that its just a waste of time and move on with their life.

Agree with you 100% Muckster

It really does bug me to see how much of societies attention is focused on the physical aspects of people.

However, it is quite obvious that relationships based on physical attraction and beauty are usually doomed to fail right from the start. The best relationships are always based around something much deeper than personal appearance.

This is why I love the internet so much! On places like ATS, you can never judge someone by how they look, only by what they say.

Sure there are limits to communication in this form, but I think that generally speaking, it is a step up from the judgment one faces when going out in public.

Societies obsession with beauty has always been there and always will be.

Personaly i feel quite sorry for anyone who is that sad and shallow....and up their own backsides for them to feel they belong on a site just for beautiful people.

I really do feel sorry for them.

Thats a whole lot of future customers for shrinks when the looks start going.

CX.

Why does their website matter to anyone who has no interest in joining their site in the first place? Beauty lies w/in the eye of the beholder.

They can run it the way they want to.

I really don't see a problem w/ beautiful people wanting to date beautiful people, because that's what that website is all about. In order to make money and keep its customers happy the people who don't meet their criteria must be cut.

Originally posted by DrumsRfun
I couldn't agree with you more.
While its good to look clean and groomed I often wonder how much of our lives we spend thinking about our vanity.
Imagine how much time some people spend throughout their lifetimes thinking about the outside of themselves and not the inside of themselves.
I personally NEVER date women who want to emulate Hollywood or girls who keep up with the latest fashions.
I love a girl in jeans,running shoes and a t-shirt.


[edit on 4-1-2010 by DrumsRfun]

No kidding, you sound smart.

Back in the days of Hollywood Glamour, if a photo "leaked" of Lindsay Lohan, Nicole whatshername or Paris Hilton, etc. (gawd I detest even writing their names) there would have been a public outcry to rush them to hospitals and put feeding tubes in them, anything to save their lives! lol

So are we obsessing about other's obsessions ?
Does that make us vain one step removed ?

Beauty is everywhere and in all people.
The happiest people I know can find the beauty in everyone.
I think that's a good goal for all of us.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
So are we obsessing about other's obsessions ?
Does that make us vain one step removed ?

Beauty is everywhere and in all people.
The happiest people I know can find the beauty in everyone.
I think that's a good goal for all of us.

HAHA good point

Maybe we are... but then people’s obsession does not play on my mind all the time. I've just been thinking about it lately and thought I’d post it here to see what others think.

I do also realise that I am slowly turning into a grumpy old man

Things like the fashion industry just make me wanna go into my garden and break a few plant pots damit

My wife was flicking through the TV channels the other day and stopped at a programme called "Americas next top model" (or something like that)

The more the people on this programme were talking the more I was feeling the urge to scream!!! I have never heard so much bitchy, up their own ar5e, cat talk in all my life.

My wife just laughs at the angry old man in the armchair

However, in all seriousness there is a serious side to what on the surface seems like harmless entertainment and fashion!

There are young kids out there starving themselves in order to achieve the “look” that is paraded as the norm!

I believe there are far reaching negative consequences to the monster that is the fashion and beauty industry!

No-one's prepared to believe they're simply average, these days

I blame the screens .. the big movie screens, followed by the tv screens and now little phone screens, computer screens, etc

Average people stared glazed-eyed at the screens and loved what they saw -- the glamour, the luxury, the leisure, the ease, the fame and attention and supposed immunity to want, misery, poverty, despair

Until the screens, people accepted who and what they were

Nowadays it seems that not many are prepared to accept. Instead, they want their Fifteen Minutes, even if they achieve it only in forums like this

All those old-time movie magazines which claimed stars were 'discovered' working in soda-shops and department stores, lol. Not a word then about offering sex, any type of sex, for a chance at the big-time

So millions decided they too could become stars .. be rich and famous .. if only they could get themselves to Hollywood

Now, they don't have to travel that far. Instead, they beg for the chance to show their stuff on Dancing with the Stars, Pop Idol, Big Brother and all the other nauseating rubbish that passes these days for entertainment

They sell themselves to earn enough to have idiotic false breasts implanted, to have their noses chiselled away, to have false pecs, false calf muscles, skin peeling, etc. etc

Even people well into their 50s are not immune to vanity

False nails, false hair, false tans

Fat sucked out. False bits stuck in ...

and for what ?

In the process, they sacrifice their dignity, self-respect, sense of worth

Our grandmothers would have dismissed it with a flick of their dusters as being, 'All show -- no substance '


People don't want to know .. will not accept .. that they are NOT and never will be, the smartest, the most beautiful, the most noticed and envied

Back in the days before this lunacy began, people's character, personality, purpose and strength was built by accepting who and what they were

Those who learn to adapt and accept are amongst the most contented, happy and popular

Look around --- see all those self-absorbed, sulky, miserable expressions. Not happy, not contented. No sense of purpose or direction. Eyes staring hungrily about, desperate for attention and approval -- jealous of everything that walks -- unrealistic and unfulfillable ambition torturing their every moment and thought

Shrug. You can't tell them or help them. They have to learn the hard way. Most of them will still be clinging to their insane ambitions even when they're in geriatric homes. Hopefully the pendulum will swing the other way in time to save future generations. It would be nice to see some real people around again, lol, instead of stomaches-held-in, fake-tanned empty vessels

Hmm... Well, I agree that humans are obsessed with whatever it is that they deem to be beautiful. What I don't see is how this is a conspiracy in any way, or anything new. Humans have been obsessed about this since the beginning of time, and they always will be.

reply to post by Majiq


The conspiracy is not the obsession of beauty but the exploitation and encouragement of that obsession by companies and the failure of government to rein them in!

Let me tell you about my 82 year old grandmother. She doesn't look a day over 55 Her secret? Never put anything on your face period. You can where makeup on your lips and eyes, but never wear powder or concealer. Your face should only be washed with water and a wash rag, never let soap touch it, and only shower 3 times a week unless truley needed, it strips essential oils out of your skin. I have followed some but not all of her advice but it works. On new years I was at the club, and the bartender was refusing to serve me thinking I got in under false pretenses. A show of my I.D. got me a free drink a cheers to being 30 but liking like I'm 12. Not sure if that was a complement or not.

I used to be one of those Vogue buying, Fashion worshiping girls, and loved the glamour of Haute Couture..

Last year in school, I became fascinated with Physics, from the fundamental particles to the vastness of the universe. Reading more into it, studying, learning, I now see what I use to be, as being trivial and almost irrelevant. It really put things into perspective.

I was one of the very few that idolized Einstein and Peter Higgs instead of Paris Hilton and Co. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with the above posts and I'm all for personal hygiene and some pride in your appearance, but I will no longer worry about waiting lists for a bag or shoes.

What I don't see is how this is a conspiracy in any way

I think the conspiracy lies in the fact that our children are growing up with a false sense of what is important in life. Millions of people vote for the next winner of X factor but few can be bothered to vote for their next councilman, or senator ect;.

We, as a society, have become blinded to the things that matter. Our children's heroes are the "beautiful" people. We follow the intricate details of the lives of the shallow husks that populate Hollywood. We spend our money, and the banks, in order to live up to this ideal of perfection. We must have a new car and a new house and perkier breasts. We happily, enthusiastically pay any price to get it.

I met my partner online. I had no idea what he looked like until I was already deeply in love with him. When we did finally meet, after exchanging only one picture with each other, there was no question of attraction. In my eyes he was the most attractive man I had ever met. The physical attraction was secondary to what we already felt for each other. I tease him now, I got the better end of the stick, he is what "society" would call very attractive where as I'm just average ( I am, even though he insists I am the most beautiful woman he has ever known).

Beauty is truely in the eye of the beholder, but when a vast majority of beholders are blinded with shallow lies fed by corporations and media then what IS beauty?

Originally posted by Protostellar
Why does their website matter to anyone who has no interest in joining their site in the first place? Beauty lies w/in the eye of the beholder.

They can run it the way they want to.

I really don't see a problem w/ beautiful people wanting to date beautiful people, because that's what that website is all about. In order to make money and keep its customers happy the people who don't meet their criteria must be cut.

There are plenty of websites out there that although I have no intention of joining, disturb me greatly!

Are you not worried about fundamentalist websites, hate websites, websites featuring illegal sex acts, criminal websites etc...

Just because you don’t want to join them doesn’t mean they will not have a negative effect on your life somewhere down the line.

I believe that sites like beautifulpeople.com help to nurture a culture of self obsession and a feeling of superiority over others. This is dangerous and can lead to bullying and discrimination in the wider world!

reply to post by Merigold




If only i could give a thousand stars

I 100% agree....

Sometimes i am not very good at expressing what i mean... thanks for doing a far better job than me

As the old saying goes "pretty is as pretty does". How many times have we met someone we thought was beautiful only to discover nothing beautiful about them as we get to know them. We may meet someone we think is just average, but based on their actions and personality see how beautiful they really are. I think people are beautiful just as they are. Those who look as if they have been attacked by bees or have no expression in their faces are not beautiful, but very sad to me. Why should anyone want to look plastic. If the cosmetic, diet and fashion industry can keep us all feeling not up to par we will continue to buy their products in the hope of everlasting youth. As for me I am middle aged and loving it. I do not want to look, act or be 20 again.

[edit on 5-1-2010 by kac63]

[edit on 5-1-2010 by kac63]