How odd. I've never heard of that one before. The small, bonded up feet is pretty weird too. I forget what historical and cultural place that is from.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ButterflyWoman  In Medieval Japan, people put black on their teeth, because white teeth were considered to be crude and animalistic. |
I think beauty does have utility in our society. I've read studies saying pretty much that. If you are beautiful, you are more likely to get the job, more likely to get promotions, more likely to have higher salaries. May be it is the halo effect, as Agota says.
If we are going to ask whether beauty is important, I we ought to ask to what degree is it important. I don't consider my self a physically attractive person, but it is not as if I'm living on the street because of it. Would beauty help me out? Yes, of course. But just from personal experience, I can still get the rewards in life that I want based on personality, skill and good grooming (by good grooming, I mean basic hygiene and health. I don't mean putting on makeup, styling your hair and so on).
I think may be it is the difference between living from an abundance mindset vs. a scarcity mindset. I honestly do believe that I will get the career and fulfill the achievements I want in life based on personality, skill and good grooming. In my mind, I don't live in a world where natural/synthetic beauty is going to be the one factor that either 'makes' or 'breaks' my life. It may 'make' or 'break' a certain job prospect depending upon the circumstances, but there is another job out there waiting for me.
Whatever utility beauty may give us, it is seems relatively unimportant in my life.