Publish at March 19 2025 Updated March 19 2025
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", Voltaire is quoted as saying. A fine phrase to say that everyone will find different physical aspects attractive. Nevertheless, many are trying to find out if the value of charm is universal, if there are criteria that, from ancient times to the present day, have endured. YouTube artist Charlie Danger has produced a video on the subject, with a partnership from an exhibition at the Louvre based on the notion of beauty.
Evolutionary theorists claim that men have always preferred young women with a slim waist-to-hip ratio because they would be a demonstration of their fertility and therefore the preservation of the species. Except that this theory doesn't hold water when we compare women's vision of beauty with men's. After all, they too should be looking for the best. After all, they too should seek out the males who represent fertility. Yet this is not really the case. Especially since studies show that women's fertility is highest after the age of twenty, up to around the age of 30.
In fact, culture is central to our vision of what is and isn't beautiful. Among the Greeks, women's finery was more important than their bodies, and the Romans adored thick eyebrows. Thin, pale-skinned women were attractive in the Middle Ages, while voluptuousness was the order of the day during the Renaissance.
Athletic men were of the highest standard during Antiquity, but the late Renaissance saw monarchs launch fashions for wigs and high heels among the bourgeoisie (when these artifices served to hide flaws). While certain Western traits seem to recur in the various periods, this remains tenuous and each will embrace different approaches. The Middle Ages outlawed cosmetics as abject manipulation, while the modern era demanded many aesthetic changes from women.
Running time: 48:19
Image: Marcos Marcos Mark from Pixabay
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