What is Beauty?

Throughout history, beauty has been one of the ideas that have propelled the human race. Legend says that wars have been fought over beauty. Beauty in the form of art has been stolen during wars, and personal beauty has been mimicked (Marilyn Monroe look-alike contests) and copied (breast augmentation, rhinoplasty). When it comes to pinning a specific answer on the question "What is Beauty?" it seems as if it can not logically be done. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", it is said, and every man, woman and child has his or her own idea of what is beautiful. However, regardless of supposed preferences, there is a scientific definition of beauty in the human face that cannot be denied. Before we uncover that definition however, a brief tour into what beauty is, is necessary and in store. Basically, human beauty can be defined in two very basic ways: Commercially and aesthetically.

An important basis of the democratic, free-market society is the ability and freedom to make money. The business of beauty is "A rock solid multi-billion dollar, ever growing industry" (see the clicusa website). Imperfection and implanted ideas of what is beautiful as well as insecurity lead to purchases of cosmetics, creams, cleansers and toners that may or may not work. If they work or not initially makes no difference as cosmetics are generally considered safe and people will try anything that makes the claim or promise to enhance the physical appearance. Further up the cost ladder and vastly more permanent is the cosmetic surgery business.

The majority of cosmetic surgery performed is either age reduction surgery (skin-tightening) or enhancement surgery (increasing chest or gluteal sizes). According to the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery (see the cosmeticsurgery organization website), over 3.5 million cosmetic surgery procedures are performed yearly with almost 700,000 of those done on men. The breakdown of cosmetic surgery procedures is as follows:

33% - 35 and 50 ("I am not young anymore but I have money now to correct that").

22% - 26 to 34 ("I finally have the money to make myself look more sexy")

18% - 25 and under ("I'm rich and going to maximize myself")

27% - 51 or above ("I'm rich and I must look young to fit in")

As a general rule, cosmetic surgery is successful without mishap, but occasionally something goes vastly awry, as is demonstrated by Michael Jackson during his court appearance of 13 November 2002 (Photo was on Reuter's website, but no longer available there). In fact, one famous radio talk-show host stopped just short of saying that Jackson looked like he came from the Planet of the Apes movie.

Modeling and talent agencies make money by providing services to those who need or want to get their name broadcast as a possible beauty talent and by providing the search services to the businesses or organizations looking for beautiful people for commercial or advertisement purposes or beautiful with talent for acting purposes. Thus far, this discussion has been on the commercial values of beauty. That is, what is beautiful is what brings in money. Looking younger is commercially beautiful. Having bigger breasts is commercially beautiful. But scientifically, what is beautiful? Many people have searched for this answer and finally, some amount of solution has been determined.

After much research on the internet, I found a link to the Marquardt Beauty Analysis (see the beautyanalysis website) where beauty is pretty much defined. Principally, beauty is defined by MBA as: "The quality or combination of qualities or characteristics in something that evoke in the perceiver a combination of strong positive emotion and a high degree of attraction". Additionally, research has been performed that shows that physical beauty is defined from color, texture, size and form. The more these items invoke the "Beauty Response" (the combination of strong positive emotion and high degree of attraction) the more beautiful the item is. In order to be judged beautiful, a face must have the color of brown (no matter the shade), a smooth texture and a size of 1/7th to 1/8th the size of the body.

With this understanding of the scientific definition of beauty, it is easy to understand why so much money is being made from cosmetics and surgeries. Surgery makes the skin smooth as do the cosmetics, which also allow for some variation in skin shade. The desire for bronzed skin, whether by cream, tanning bed or the sun can also be realized. In conclusion, there are not two definitions of beauty, but one definition which provides the impetus for propagating businesses selling items which help people have the appearance of beauty.