"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." You've all heard that statement. But have you taken it to heart? All over the world women are striving to meet the beauty standards of their culture and all over the world women are feeling like they're just not good enough.
Japan: Women in Japan believe that beautiful skin is the key to true beauty. In order to achieve this beauty ideal, they spend hours working for smooth, soft, and wrinkle-free skin. Instead of using Botox injections, Japanese women use nightengale droppings, an old beauty recepie. This is used as face wash and scrub and supposively makes the face look young again. Another trick the Japanese use is ingesting collagen infused foods such as protein and putting collagen powder in their beverages. Japanese women also wear face-slimming belts in order to make their faces thinner. After all, who doesn't want a beautiful complexion?
Burma and Thailand: Members of the Kayan tribe have a different outlook on beauty. Situated in the middle of Burma and Thailand, women of this tribe use brass rings to elongate their necks. Starting at the age of five, young girls begin the painful process of pushing down their collar bones in order to make their necks appear longer, because the longer the neck, the more desirable they are. Throughout their lifetime, Kayan women continue to add more rings to their necks that can weigh up to twenty-two pounds.
China: You've all heard about the ancient (or not-so ancient) tradition of foot binding. Although this painful form of beauty has since been outlawed, bound feet are still a sign of wealth and social status. During the Qing dynasty, mothers would begin binding their daughters' feet at birth and continue to break the bones as they grew in order to create the concave-shaped feet that were so popular. Today, plastic surgery is a common theme of Chinese beauty. The more plastic, the better!
New Zealand: In New Zealand, women find their beauty through tatoos. These indigenous people believe beauty is found from tattooing the lips and chin. Permanent body and face markings indicate social status and each one is believed to add uniqueness to a person's image. In fact, a woman with full, blue tattooed lips is considered the most beautiful.
Ethiopia: We all have scars, and we all try to hide them. However, in souther Ethiopia, the women of the Karo tribe allow their elders to cut scars onto their stomachs. This is seen as beauty! It isn't until a woman has received all of her scars that she is allowed to marry and have children.
India: Unlike women in China, Indian women use homemade, natural remedies to make themselves beautiful. Women wear special clothing and jewelry, especially on their wedding day, that includes a forehead chain and a dot of red powder on her face. Indian women naturally have beautiful skin and hair. Have you ever gotten hair extensions? It most likely came from the Venkateswara Temple, where Hindu women cut their hair as an offering to the Lord Venkateswara. The temple then sells this hair and it is made into hair extensions.
Brazil: Of all the countries I have read about and what their ideal beauty is, Brazil is the most extreme. The average Brazilian woman weighs 110 to 125 pounds. This leads women to take extreme measures when it comes to their weight. Brazil is the biggest consumer of diet pills and plastic surgery is becoming more common as these thin ideals get more extreme. Hair is also important to women in Brazil. Naturally dark and wavy, more women are going with blonde and straight hair.
Mauritania: This one might come as a shocker. Women in Mauritania, they're considered beautiful for their curves; so much so that young girls used to go to camps in order to be force fed through what is called the gavage. The idea is that the bigger you are the better chance you have at finding a husband. Some women are so desperate that they purchase black-market drugs meant for animals in order to attain this body standard.
France: Paris is probably the most elegant of cities, with the focus on beauty and sexiness. French women, however, would never admit to spending time and money on beauty products. They work towards being effortlessly beautiful. Something different about France is that women there look forward to getting older! This just gives them more entitlement to feeling beautiful.
Women all over the world are striving for their perfect body image. Our mission is to make sure that they feel beautiful and healthy and strong, no matter what. Remember, you are beautiful!
Just remember Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
ReplyDeleteyour works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
We are made in God's image and God does not make mistakes!!
Very interesting post! It's funny how differently we all measure beauty. When I was in Ecuador, you were considered super hot if you had a big butt (and honestly, being white didn't hurt, either). I met a nurse in Ecuador, though, who had worked in Malawi. She said the big thing there was full thighs, and as a well-fed American, she had to wear a skirt every day to cover hers up!
DeleteI guess it's sort of comforting to find that beauty is so arbitrary. The standards are always changing, even within the same country and culture (or high school!) It's a moving target, but when it doesn't move fast enough, I guess there's always travel. :)