Rethinking Beauty: Trends in the 21st worker into helping you move some furniture.
Century Beauty does make a difference.
“Probably the most difficult thing a beautiful
woman has to deal with is social rejection.”
Dr. Dale Archer M.D.
The Psychology of Beauty
As listed by the Top 10 Things, the top thing that
makes a man or a woman threatening to his or
her fellow sex is beauty.
BEAUTY AS A THREAT
1. The key to perceive beauty is the face.
-According to Princeton psychologists Janine
Willis and Alexander Todorov, first
impressions are formed in less than a tenth
of a second.
-When we first meet people, usually, the first
thing that we notice or we look at is the face.
These faces of newly met people will
somehow serve as our first impression of
them. By that, we use our first impressions
on determining whether we should build a
relationship or not.
2. "Companies that place a premium on
hiring very attractive people had on
average higher revenues than similar
companies which did not."
Daniel Hamermesh
Economist
Beauty Pays
-From the New York Times interview,
Hamermesh found out that for beautiful
people in general, "Most of us, regardless of
our professed attitudes, prefer as customers
to buy from better-looking salespeople, as
jurors to listen to better-looking attorneys, as
voters to be led by better-looking politicians,
as students to learn from better-looking
professors."
3. Beautiful women have it even better
and get away with things ordinary people
can't.
- Try talking an officer out of a ticket, or walking
in without a reservation and getting a table at
that hot new restaurant or talking that male co-
 Why beauty serves a threat to some
people because of the societal norms that
has been raised in the society. They often
believe that better looking people have
much more of a go in life. They often think
that better looking people get things
easily, are more privileged, more
appreciated and more confident. Because
of this insecurity, studies suggest
“beautiful people” are often outcasts and
are rejected because they pose a threat to
some.
 Beauty is a complex theme and its nature
is one of the most talked about topic for
over a long time in the context of the
western philosophy. Its controversy has
raised a lifelong debate about what really
is its definition. Some say its subjective,
wherein the infamous quote “Beauty is in
the eye of the beholder,” comes in and
others say beauty is objective where it
takes into account the objective feature of
beautiful things.
DEFINITIONS OF BEAUTY
1. Ultimate Values
-Goodness, Truth and Justice
-Primary theme of the Ancient Greek,
Hellenistic and Medieval philosophers.
2. "Beauty is no quality in things
themselves: It exists merely in the mind
which contemplates them; and each mind
perceives a different beauty. One person
may even perceive deformity, where
another is sensible of beauty; and every
individual ought to acquiesce in his own
sentiment, without pretending to regulate
those of others. (Hume 1757, 136)"
3. “A concept of beauty occurs when all
parts work together in harmony so that no
one part draws unjust attention to itself.”
Aristotle
-The keys and the parts of the car work
together.
-Our legs work together to get us from one
point to another.
-A child learns how to count 1, 2, 3.
4. Provide a perceptual experience to the
eye.
5. A combination of qualities, such as
shape, color, or form that pleases the
aesthetic senses, especially the sight.
-“A beautiful woman.”
-“The Golden Ratio”
HOW DO WE PERCEIVE BEAUTY TODAY?
WHEN AND HOW CAN ONE SAY AN
INDIVIDUAL IS BEAUTIFUL?
-Dress, act, carry ourselves, social status,
wealth, race, body shape and size
 The society has provided the people a
different definition beauty, a
redefined one. It tells us that there are
certain looks that look more beautiful
than others and people have become
so engrossed by the standard that has
been set that just as fast as a news or
information may spread, these beliefs
have already become a stereotype.
STEREOTYPES OF BEAUTY
1. Beauty really only comes in one
package.
2. Beauty=Thin
3. Beauty is expensive.
4. Darker skin tones haves less need for
sunscreen.
5. Beauty has to hurt.
6. Women with oily hair do not need
conditioner.
7. Women lose their beauty as they age.
BEAUTY: THEN AND NOW
1. Footbinding
-In China, they consider those with
small feet beautiful.
-As early as the age of 5, Chinese
women undergo through a painful
process of reducing their foot size
through the process of footbinding.
-Footbinding process include folding
the toes to the woman’s sole and
breaking and arching the feet.
-Though, it makes those who have undergone it
feel beautiful and valued in China, the process
has professed a number of side effects such as, it
makes the feet dysfunctional, women can also
acquire infection, experience paralysis and
muscular atrophy.
2. Lip Stretching
-Many African tribe women who as early as a
little girl can stomach, have their lips stretched
through metal rings or lip plates inserted in their
lips to show the ultimate beauty that is believed
in their tribe.
3. Giraffe Necks
-Commonly experienced in tribes along the
border of Thailand, and also African tribes in
Kenya and Tanzania.
-As early as possible, little girls, until they grow
old, have their necks stretched like giraffes by
placing a level of metal rings around their necks.
4. Elizabethan Women
-Elizabethan beauty include whitening the face,
plucking the eyelashes, shaving back the hairline
to show a prominent forehead.
5. Georgian Wig Vanity
-In the late 1700s, women were so engross to
wear such big wigs.
-Women take long hours to prepare their desired
wig and they often sleep sitting up and have their
heads scratched using head scratchers that can
be related to the back scratchers that we have
today.
-The “hair” could be as tall as 30 inches and lice
and headaches were common those times.
6. Corsets
-Aside from making it hard for women to sit
down, before, societal standards also make it
hard for women to breathe through the use of
corsets.
-Waistline may appear look smaller however this
also promotes a dysfunctional internal organs
and irregular air flow.
7. Flappers
-Women opted to breast reductions in the year
1920s just to be able to have the “flappers” dress
style fit them perfectly.
PHILIPPINE CONTEXT
100 YEARS OF PHILIPPINE BEAUTY
1910- Still emerging from the colonial era, a
combination of American and European beauty.
1920- Fernando Amorsolo’s painting Palay
Maiden, suggested a nostalgic pre-colonial time
kind of beauty. This has served as the time’s
trend setter of what should be a dalagang
Pilipina,
1930- The kind of beauty that emerged this time
was brought by the Americans who occupied the
country. The type of beauty that became a trend
are those that exemplifies fair or white skin. An
example of it is a Filipina named Queen Marga
who won a Carnival in Pasay which lasted for
two weeks, a depiction of American influence.
1940- This is the inception of World War II. Men
and women participated in defending against the
Japanese regime. The birth of the Amazons of
Huk Rebellion.
1950- Two of the proponents of the birth of this
kind of fashion or trend in the Philippines are
Marilyn Monroe and Debbie Gibson.
1960- This sky-scraping style was likely born
out of the incredibly popular bouffant of the
1950's. The exaggerated look, which involved
piling one's hair on top of the head in a conical
shape and setting it in place with copious
amounts of hairspray, got its name due to the
fact that it looked similar in shape and size to
an actual beehive. Made popular by the musical
group, The Ronettes, the beehive was seen
everywhere from celebrities such as Aretha
Franklin to television shows like Star Trek.
1970- Flowerpower. The infamous Jesusa
Purificacion Sonora or the well renowned Queen
of the Philippine Movies in the 1960s and 1970s,
Susana Roces, debuted this look in the
Philippines.
1980- The trend during these times was a
combination of the Filipino and United States
popular culture: Colored eyelashes, heavier
lipstick and make up and the start of most
women taking notice in their eyebrows.
1990- The birth of zigzag hair and long hair.
2000- In these years, the Filipinos have come to
slowly accept the “Filipina beauty” with less
make-up but heavier lipstick without mostly
touching the hair to make it look natural.
21st CENTURY TRENDS
1. SWAG POP(ULAR) CULTURE
Pop Culture- pop culture means modern
popular culture that is majorly seen in mass
media and is aimed at the younger population.
Swag- Invented by the Hollywood gay people
meaning, secretly we are gay. Other claims
include that swag came from the Scottish term
swagger or the swaying of the skirt. The
famous singer Jay-Z also claimed that he first
used the term swag in his song Soulja Boy and
as well as Justin Bieber, in his song If I Was
Your Boyfriend.
In terms of etymology, there are really no
concrete evidences of where the term swag
came from but as time went through and so
long that this term has been used, this has
become a jargon in the fashion industry
meaning cool and in.
2. KILAY IS LIFE
With the fast paced world right now that is
largely influenced by technology through the
internet and the existence of gadgets, many
beauty or make-up videos have already been
circulating the internet that is also one of the
reasons why other beauty trends such as
kilay is life has influenced the people,
especially women nowadays.
WHY IS THE OLD FASHION COMING BACK?
WHAT FUELS THE COMEBACK?
The comeback of some old fashion trends is
fueled by the presence of media, especially
the social media. Now that we are already in
the 21st century, there is already an easy
access to information which can be found on
the internet and the information, can already
be easily disseminated and can easily be
conformed with.
WHY DO WE WANT TO LOOK BEAUTIFUL?
Social Conditioning- Society works on
unconsciously training and influencing
individuals to have certain beliefs, dreams,
desires, and to react in a certain way.
We conform because of social influence.

SOURCES:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/bl
og/reading-between-the-
headlines/201206/the-psychology-
beauty
http://beauty.allwomenstalk.com/com
mon-beauty-stereotypes-
demystified/7?lastslide
http://flawlessgene.com/why-we-
want-to-be-attractive/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/bl
og/wander-woman/201107/why-
women-have-care-about-their-looks
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/be
auty/
http://www.mikestratton.net/2011/0
6/aristotles-definition-of-beauty/