Ugly vs Attractive

Attractive is an assumption relative to a socially contrived expectation.

It's been awhile since I've seen someone so concisely wrong.

Physical attractiveness, the type referenced in the OP, is instinctively determined by humans. It's not contrived socially, it's known upon sighting. Facial symmetry, number of blemishes, recessed/protruding chin, adiposity -- all things the human mind calculates to determine attractiveness. 

Now, there are exceptions to this rule. People, especially women, will change their standards relative to what is available. If there are hundreds of available options on Tinder, the standards will rise. If there are few options out in a rural setting, standards will lower. But the attraction calculation is performed subconsciously, nonetheless.

So just for example, let's look at the current social pressure we are put under to accept that overweight women are attractive.

Or the current trend in body disfigurement with ink.

Both socially contrived expectations required, of both the observer and the observed.

And make up. If attractiveness is subliminal then why the need for a multi-billion-dollar facial cover up business.

And then there's cometic dentistry, another socially contrived expectation, where anything less than perfect white teeth is not good enough.

Cosmetic surgery. 

The list of expectations goes on.

Where do you think that "social pressure" comes from? Do you think people have random feelings?

You subconsciously judge these people *and then* your conscious mind takes over to process those feelings. You subconsciously recognize that overweight people are not genetically great to breed with. You subconsciously understand that having layers of fat, a stressed heart, a super spiked glucose level, diabetes etc. aren't healthy. 

The push for perfect white teeth and blemish free skin are a result of a subconscious drive for people to be more attractive. Make-up companies, diet programs and teeth whitening services aren't determining what people should find attractive, they are catering to it.

Fat thin or ugly, see fuck reproduce is the basis of human procreation.

Everything has evolved from that point onwards relative to intellectual development/overthink.

Overthink creates expectation and so on.

Sexual attraction has come a long way since the see, fuck and procreate era.

Nowadays all sorts of concepts and social pressures overbear instinctive sensory attraction.

How do rich past-it old men attract 30-something bimbos. It's certainly not their physical and sexual prowess.

--> @Shila

Albinos are albinos.

And the colour scale darkens from there on in.

Interestingly there are black albinos, which is to say, people who are racially black who display albinism.

Which sort of puts the old black white issue into perspective

--> @TWS1405

I'm waiting to see how being black will somehow tie into this. After all, you blame them for everything else in life.

Whites set the standard for beauty. One would expect they would at least meet it. But ugly vs attractive is a white issue after they passed the albino  standard for white.

--> @Public-Choice

--> @TWS1405

I'm waiting to see how being black will somehow tie into this. After all, you blame them for everything else in life.

“Everything else in life”? Nope. Just half the violent crime in this country and the segment that’s overtly racist towards anyone not black (namely whites).

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@Shila

No idea what you're getting at.

Your definition of attractive is very narrow.

Nonetheless, carbon copy models, is a perfect example of contrived social expectation.

I personally can quite like a girl with short hair, as long as it looks healthy and she doesn't look sick.

Most female models also do not look anything special to me. They tend to have very masculine bone structures when a more moon face shaped has been shown to be generally preferred by men in the modern day. 

Although i would agree with you that it is probably very silly to believe all our beauty standards are cultural. It seems much more likely to me that it would take vast amounts of socialisation to get us to stop liking some physical features. 

--> @Avery

Men tend to be more attracted to more neonotenous traits in women, such as larger eyes and just in general, youthful features. I can't remember where I read it, and I can't seem to find it now. Although most men do see strong bone structures as masculine. A woman can have high cheekbones and still look feminine. She can even have a jawline and look feminine. It's just harder to pull it off on average, it seems. A weak chin does not necessarily make a girl look more attractive than a well-developed one, but it certainly does not make her look more masculine to have a weak chin. A weak chin on a man makes him look more feminine on average. Which just means a woman can get away with having a weak chin or a negative canthal tilt easier than a man can, as it doesn't change their sexual dimorphism profile.

Whites set the standards for beauty.

--> @Shila

Yep, I know what albinism is. Though I still don't know what you are trying to say, because as I stated previously, albinism affects people of all racial sub-groups.

Whites set the standards for beauty.

We all set our own standards for what we find appealing in others, relative to how we discriminate, relative to conditioning,

Socially contrived standards are generally marketing tools, and how we market health and appearance is ever changing relative to social change.

So lighter skinned people are likely to have once set standards relative to social conditions and social conditioning, just as darker skinned people would have done the same in a separate social environment.

Social interaction between sub-groups defined by skin tone has moved on a tad, though for sure there are still places where this will be significantly less so.

Species evolution is slow and might be getting less slow, relative to concurrent technological advances, and if we are being realistic, we shouldn't really expect any more or any less.

In evolutionary terms, blaming lighter skinned people for everything, has always been a counter-intuitive compliment dressed up as criticism.

And so, in a few thousand years, the generally swarthy hominid occupants of planet Earth might look back and stick two fingers up at their lighter skinned predecessors, but their lighter skinned predecessors will not care because they will all have long since died. 

Nonetheless the generally swarthy will not be able to deny their genetic inheritance. 

And presumably albinism will still occur.

And hopefully we will have evolved to become more tolerant. (Yep, seems like a big ask)

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@Shila

In evolutionary terms your scope of reference amounts to a nanosecond.

In so much as, you cherry pick the bits of very recent history and human social development that you have been conditioned to cherry pick.

Not to forget whites came up with the idea of colonization and slavery.

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@Shila

Not to forget whites came up with the idea of colonization and slavery.

You’re so ignorant of world history it’s pathetic.