If you’ve ever seen any sort of beauty pageant - be it Mr. World, Miss Universe, or even Putri Indonesia - you’re probably aware as to how similar the participants look. Smooth skin, symmetrical yet angular faces, toned arms, defined abs, perfectly white and straight teeth, you catch my drift.
It is obvious that the reason why these people are considered most beautiful, physically attractive, or even sexy is because they all follow the beauty standards set for them. The beauty bias refers to how individuals who have attributes of said beauty standard receive more benefits.
Fun fact: “beautiful” people tend to be more popular, they’re given higher grades and work performance evaluations, they’re more likely to be hired or promoted, and they make more money compared to their less attractive co-workers. In addition to that, descendants of the beauty standard associated in crimes are both found less likely to be found guilty and are given less severe sentences.
ALSO, you will always find that the protagonists in movies are much prettier as compared to their sidekicks or anti-heros. Why? Pretty people get better treatment. They get better resources, education, healthcare, and most of all: opportunities.
For thousands of years, humans have constructed these ideal standards of beauty, and have been doing everything imaginable to try to attain it. The most curious aspect of the beauty bias is that it’s a permanent concept; it has always been there and it will always be there. It’s no wonder that people have been altering their physical appearances for centuries now.
To prove the steadfastness of this phenomenon, here are some ancient beauty rituals, followed by their modern day evolutions:
Ideal: Porcelain skin
Old beauty ritual: Lead face painting
Evolution: skin whitening creams
It seems like fair skin has always been preferable. We see the first usage of white lead face painting in the Ancient Greeks, who found light complexions desirable. At around 1000 BCE, they replaced this with chalk, as they found women to be suffering from lead poisoning. Apparently, women of the Elizabethan era didn’t get the memo, because even up until the mid 17th century, the beauty treatment was to apply a powder-mix made of white lead, calcium carbonate and hydroxide to any and all surfaces of skin that was exposed. As the Roman philosopher Plautus said, "A woman without paint is like food without salt." (cringe!)
