Joseph the Weird
Bearer of Radical Views
Now, I normally consider myself to be an FA, simply on the basis of empirical evidence. That is, that the women I tend to find attractive are almost always over the media/society projection of ideal size/weight. There are a few times, however, in which this was not so, and they're leading me to an interesting conclusion, but let's start from the (approximate) beginning.
About a week ago I met a certain Colombian girl. She was someone in my class that I simply hadn't seen before (80+ students, and I'm normally looking for the "bigger" ones anyway) and she just sort of sidled up to me, so the next thing I know she's in the chair next to me and making introductions. Now, I look at her and that part of my mind that evaluates these things chirps up "wow, she's pretty damn cute", okay fine, but it takes me about half a minute to realize what's wrong with this situation: she's thin, and I don't mean "not very chubby" kinda thin, I mean "there's no way in hell to pinch more than an inch of fat on this girl" kinda thin. I'm confused, and I turn around to look at the other rail-thin members of the classroom (too many, by the way) to check that I still find them totally unattractive, in case the media was using mind-control guns now or something. Check, I still find them unsexy going on repulsive for the extreme cases.
More perplexion. This isn't the first time I've admitted that a girl this thin is attractive, but it's probably the first time one's been so close. So I start surreptitiously looking for the differences between exhibit C and the rest of the assembled toothpicks. Bingo! Some I can point out, like how her body curves properly, not showing bones, or how her face isn't as drawn out, but it's mainly just a general aura of, let's say, "healthiness" that is exclusive to her. So what is it? What's her secret method? Because I'm pretty sure more than half the world wants in on it if she's found the correct formula of food/exercise/chemicals to create instant beauty.
A few hours of conversation later, I'm pretty sure there's no formula. In fact, I think she doesn't even realize what she's got. Not a low self-esteem, but she doesn't swagger her body around as if it was her personal achievement after years of hard work like most do. I have a few theories left, but no proof, until she opens her bag, and after a few seconds of indecision, which let me see she's got not only a few pieces of fruit there, but a small collection of miscellaneous chocolates, she produces an apple and starts munching on it, and this must be around 5pm. I guess she spots me staring, because she says "I know you can't tell from how I look, but I actually eat quite a lot, all throughout the day."
(Insert lightbulb above head, cartoonish-style, here)
Is it remotely possible that beauty, in that abstract and not-precisely-universal sense that makes most people, considering they have no special prejudice for or against anything in particular, say that someone is pretty, regardless of personal taste or preference, is based not on closeness to an objective ideal image, but rather on an individual ideal state? What I mean is that if a person eats and does approximately what her (although I'm sure this applies to men as well) body tells her to, she will reach a size and shape appropiate for her body. This probably isn't 100% genetic, as both the appetites and placement of fat in the body are based on hormonal levels, amongst other things, but I'm thinking now that there is a definite "ideal weight", but different for each person, in which their natural beauty shines brighter. This just happens to be higher than media standard amongst many, many people, but a lot of asian women (for example) manage to look great thin-ish, while those of afro-american descent seem to be made to be built even heavier.
This makes a lot of sense from an evolutionary and biological point of view (certainly much more than the crackpot "one size fits all" theory in vogue right now), and I'm wondering if it is probably not also healthier than straining oneself to reach the aforementioned objective ideal. But now it is time for discussion, has anybody else noticed what I'm talking about? What do you think of my conclusions? ("They're absolute rubbish!" is a valid answer)
About a week ago I met a certain Colombian girl. She was someone in my class that I simply hadn't seen before (80+ students, and I'm normally looking for the "bigger" ones anyway) and she just sort of sidled up to me, so the next thing I know she's in the chair next to me and making introductions. Now, I look at her and that part of my mind that evaluates these things chirps up "wow, she's pretty damn cute", okay fine, but it takes me about half a minute to realize what's wrong with this situation: she's thin, and I don't mean "not very chubby" kinda thin, I mean "there's no way in hell to pinch more than an inch of fat on this girl" kinda thin. I'm confused, and I turn around to look at the other rail-thin members of the classroom (too many, by the way) to check that I still find them totally unattractive, in case the media was using mind-control guns now or something. Check, I still find them unsexy going on repulsive for the extreme cases.
More perplexion. This isn't the first time I've admitted that a girl this thin is attractive, but it's probably the first time one's been so close. So I start surreptitiously looking for the differences between exhibit C and the rest of the assembled toothpicks. Bingo! Some I can point out, like how her body curves properly, not showing bones, or how her face isn't as drawn out, but it's mainly just a general aura of, let's say, "healthiness" that is exclusive to her. So what is it? What's her secret method? Because I'm pretty sure more than half the world wants in on it if she's found the correct formula of food/exercise/chemicals to create instant beauty.
A few hours of conversation later, I'm pretty sure there's no formula. In fact, I think she doesn't even realize what she's got. Not a low self-esteem, but she doesn't swagger her body around as if it was her personal achievement after years of hard work like most do. I have a few theories left, but no proof, until she opens her bag, and after a few seconds of indecision, which let me see she's got not only a few pieces of fruit there, but a small collection of miscellaneous chocolates, she produces an apple and starts munching on it, and this must be around 5pm. I guess she spots me staring, because she says "I know you can't tell from how I look, but I actually eat quite a lot, all throughout the day."
(Insert lightbulb above head, cartoonish-style, here)
Is it remotely possible that beauty, in that abstract and not-precisely-universal sense that makes most people, considering they have no special prejudice for or against anything in particular, say that someone is pretty, regardless of personal taste or preference, is based not on closeness to an objective ideal image, but rather on an individual ideal state? What I mean is that if a person eats and does approximately what her (although I'm sure this applies to men as well) body tells her to, she will reach a size and shape appropiate for her body. This probably isn't 100% genetic, as both the appetites and placement of fat in the body are based on hormonal levels, amongst other things, but I'm thinking now that there is a definite "ideal weight", but different for each person, in which their natural beauty shines brighter. This just happens to be higher than media standard amongst many, many people, but a lot of asian women (for example) manage to look great thin-ish, while those of afro-american descent seem to be made to be built even heavier.
This makes a lot of sense from an evolutionary and biological point of view (certainly much more than the crackpot "one size fits all" theory in vogue right now), and I'm wondering if it is probably not also healthier than straining oneself to reach the aforementioned objective ideal. But now it is time for discussion, has anybody else noticed what I'm talking about? What do you think of my conclusions? ("They're absolute rubbish!" is a valid answer)
