That is, are being fat and being physically attractive mutually exclusive? This is a question which I have been considering for a little while, and I am genuinely interested in whether an overweight individual can be aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
I assert that beauty begins in one's face. Whenever I look at an individual, I first notice their face, and use this as the first determinant of beauty. Closely following is the body type, shape, proportions, etc. So, using this methodology, it is conceivable that a fat person could have a pretty face...I think. But, perhaps their fatness would extend to their face, and that makes me wonder, can a fat face be pretty? I doubt it. But, assuming that the fatness does not extend to the face, then it is possible that a fat person could have a pretty face - nice eyes, lovely hair, etc. But, could the attractiveness of the face make up for the unattractiveness of the fat body? That is the main question that remains, and one I feel unable to answer.
I have tried very hard to think of fat people who are physically attractive, and have not yet been able to identify one. This leads me to conclude that fatness and physical beauty are not necessarily mutually exclusive; however, a pretty fat person certainly must be a rarity.
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3 comments:
Ted Kennedy has a fat face. He is pretty....
I think I remember something I studied in my Into to Anthro class about how in Fiji, being plump is highly valued and seen as beautiful. If you are plump or fat, they believe you look healthy and it is a statement of nurterence. In the US, we have an obsessive concern for thinness and see this as beautiful, but I don't think this is a universal thing. Aesthetically pleasing things are culturally relative, not something written in our genes. In Fiji, they really value eating, where we tend to sacrifice commensality for busy schedules that get in the way of our family dinners. Another interesting thing I remember, though it's off topic, is that health is 75% genetic and 25% enviornmental. We might as well all be smoking all the time with all the pollution we breathe in everyday.
Fat people are pretty just about as often as skinny people are. You could tell that if you weren't biased against fat people automatically, rather than actually looking. Example:
http://www.tastyclips.com/content/images/IV-VIII_1.jpg
http://thetrendsetter.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/crystal26.jpg
http://www.prlog.org/10041987-maggy-london-plus-size-holiday-dress-modeled-by-maggie-brown.jpg
http://www.curvystyle.com/fluvia1.jpg
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