How does a person judge as of whether another person is beautiful or not the first time they meet? Through the physical appearance, is the most probable answer one may find. By a large number of people, beauty is solely defined by an individual outside look. However, another group might argue that the inner beauty of a person is more important compared to the external appearance he/she may possess. On close look, the definition of beauty may be a challenge because every individual has his way of understanding the phenomena of being beautiful (Jones, 2010). Beauty is the experience of pleasure than a person draws from a place, person, object, idea or even an animal. Nonetheless, beauty, deals with an individual’s view of the object, animal, place or person in question.
The word beauty has its origin related to France, the Anglo-French ‘but’ and was used for the first time in the 14th century to refer to the physical attractiveness of an object or person. The word was also related to biaute (French), meaning beautiful person and Bellus from Latin referring to pretty or charming. For a greater period, the word beauty has been adopted to refer to the people's physical attractiveness, and in turn the reason as to why a large number of people have used or uses the word to refer to the outer appearance (Lieu 30). Nevertheless, today, two different trends or understanding and use of the word beauty have been adopted referring to physical appearance as well as personality.
The first and more so the most popular among people refers to the word beauty is the way people view the outside appearance. Despite the fact that the closeness with the term attractiveness the two words vary in meaning. A beautiful individual may be attractive, but an attractive one doesn’t necessarily have to be beautiful. A person who doesn’t possess the striking beauty may attract people due to his ways of expression or personality. More so, other people may be attracted to a person due to their feelings of comfortableness, feeling connected, and being happy around them. External beauty has been related to short timed pleasant or attractiveness, on the other hand, may result in lasting relations (Lieu 42). However, beauty conquers many. For example, American culture has excellent focus on people’s appearance. This value has in turn been transmitted from one generation to another. From the different beauty pageant shows to have been conducted as well as more celebrities who focus on being beautiful, has led to the culture and belief into physical beauty as an essential aspect in people’s lives (Wolkoff 258). The media not only in the US but also globally has influenced the way beauty is viewed and evaluated with more and more people been drawn to the conclusion outside or the physical beauty is the primary and essential thing in life.
The beauty delivered by experience rather than the appearance of a person character makes the inner beauty. Physical appearance is overlooked and can be regarded as a bonus to inner beauty. Individual confidence and self-belief makes them more attractive. Inner beauty enables an individual to appreciate the outer beauty (Wolkoff 251). The outer beauty can glance at an individual, but the inner beauty makes a person stay.
In conclusion, in addition to the two mainstream understanding if the word beauty, the thinking about the word has been altered over and over. The understanding of beauty has been narrowed to physical appearance and appeal to people’s eyes. Even though the outer beauty is dominant in peoples understanding of a beautiful person, it doesn’t not, in turn, mean people have to agree with the ideology. Some people believe in inner beauty and an essential feature in a human being.
References
Jones, Geoffrey. Beauty Imagined : A History of the Global Beauty Industry. OUP Oxford, 2010.
Lieu, NHI T. “Beauty Queens Behaving Badly.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, vol. 34, no. 1, Mar. 2013, pp. 25–57.
Wolkoff, P. “External Eye Symptoms in Indoor Environments.” Indoor Air, vol. 27, no. 2, Mar. 2017, pp. 246–260.
