The Body-Breakdown: Physical Attractiveness and it's Effect on Gender Perception
The modern-day perception of attractiveness has drastically changed from more traditional times. One can say that this change has occurred mostly owing to the feminist revolution of our day and age. Physical attractiveness is one of the paramount issues of our recent struggles against inequality and a lack of inclusiveness in society of individuals who do not seem to “fit” the “norms” of beauty in society. However, we must try and understand why physical attractiveness has played a role in our perceptions of individuals for millennia of mankind’s existence, and how we can use these explanations to further the cause of gender equality and better reason with people while trying to make everyone’s perceptions more inclusive.
If you were assigned female at birth and are somewhere between the age of 15 and 35 years at present, it may be very likely that you have tried, or at least thought, to rebel against your parents and/or societal pressures at some point, regarding some of the following issues:
“Why do you want me to lose weight?”
“Why do I have to dress-up and look ‘pretty’?”
“Why is it unattractive for me to wear more comfortable and non-body hugging clothes, if I do not like to?”
“Do people not fall in love with me just because I’m too fat/thin?”
“Why do I NEED to shave my body to look good/attractive? It’s so much effort and I do not feel the need anyway.”
If you were assigned male at birth, you also must have had some thoughts like:
“Why do I have to lose weight?”
“Why do I have to look ‘macho’ or have a muscular/athletic build?”
“Hah! I don’t have to shave my body hair to look good; some girls even find it attractive and manly.”
“Am I too dark skinned or too fat, for someone to fall in love with me?”
It is evident that the requirements for a female and a male to appear “attractive” are galore. We can also see how these thoughts are an example of gender perceptions of attractiveness. But like every good argument needs a well-researched explanation, so does the argument of gender inequality and individual exclusion, based on appearance.
There have been many studies conducted in the past as well as recent times to understand the human rationale behind finding someone “attractive,” especially on men finding women so. When we think of this subject of attractiveness in general itself, our first thoughts are about what men find attractive in women since the standards that have been set for women in this scenario are naturally more profound, given the societal pressure on women as a result of misogyny. In relation, a study was conducted in 1979 to identify what features men find attractive about women physically, and along what wide range of dimensions. It was found that some of these dimensions may stem from the sex-role stereotypes that surround the male and female “roles” in society, others may come from the ancient evolutionary history of mankind, using certain marks of attractiveness as indicators for reproductive success and increased chance of survival. Another study was conducted to see what men find attractive about women by tracking their eye movements to measure first fixation duration, gaze duration, and total time while viewing the images of different women. In a relevant study (Sanders, 1982), 60 undergraduate students evaluated male and female counselors on fifteen counselor variables based on listening to a tape recording of a counselor’s self-introduction paired with an attractive or unattractive picture. Two groups served as control groups; they heard the tape but did not receive an image of the counselor they were hearing on tape. Attractive counselors received higher ratings than unattractive counselors along with the control groups that received no picture. The attractive counselors were perceived as much more decisive, interesting, caring, open-minded, likable and better adjusted as compared to the unattractive counselors. These effects were more pronounced for the female counselors than for the male counselors. This shows that just adding a visual to the metaphorical “image” of an individual can have a very dramatic effect on how the individual is perceived, with a certain degree of bias of course.
One can see that there is clearly a higher standard for “attractiveness” placed on females than males and that “physically attractive” women are more likely to receive better social acceptance as compared to “physically not so attractive” women. But why is it that this emphasis on a rather unattainable standard of physical beauty has been placed on women and in some ways, even men? Let us go back to the origins of human thought and perception— evolution. Men’s adaptive preferences from the point of view of evolution, reproduction, and the survival of their lineage have been associated with the variable Waist-to-Hip Ratio (WHR). According to studies on WHR, women with broader hips and thinner waists were seen as more fit to give birth and increase the chances of the child’s survival by men, as compared to other women from a primitive standpoint. On the other hand, men with stronger, bulkier physiques, and men who were taller were seen as having good genes which would mean the woman and her potential family with that man of good genes, which would mean better protection from the physical, wild dangers of the era. The entire concept of physical attraction began from the need of men and women to find partners who “seemed” more well-equipped to survive, help the other survive, and reproduce to ensure the survival of their lineage. What one can see, in contrast, to these primitive times is that humans have developed into much more complex, emotionally and intellectually intelligent creatures over the centuries. After having set up the institution of marriage, dating and various forms of romantic relationships, we now have the power to communicate our needs from a relationship more effectively.
With the development of science we have proven means by which we can know if a person is physically “fit” to increase the success of survival and reproduction, no matter what shape, size, gender or sexuality that individual may belong to. What we have failed to realize is that the concept of physical attractiveness has been given a very negative connotation in our day and age, with very high stringent standards of beauty that one must adhere to, or fear being shamed and rejected constantly. Humans have grown to find emotional stability a very key aspect of human relationships while being the most intelligent species on the planet, yet we continue to judge every book by its cover and reject or accept individuals solely on the basis of their appearance a lot of the time. In fact, this is just a peek into the subject how far we have come to misinterpret physical “attractiveness” as a feature of the human experience, while we have come to infinitely sexualize, and consequently place taboos, on the topic of human anatomy in so many different ways. Whether it is female breasts, the male or female genitalia or simply body hair, we can't openly talk about the taboos on these subjects or even just show off our own bodies freely because all of these have certain “attractiveness” or sexual appeal criteria attached to them. We must learn, as a society, to change our very paradigm and connotation of the term “physically attractive” and evolve with the times to more inclusive and free ways of loving and living.
About the Author:
Co-head of Psychology Creative Column,
Psychology Committee of SDSOS, NMIMS.
Anushkaa Prabhu is a student in her second year pursuing B.Sc. Applied Psychology. Her main interests lie in artistic fields like dance, music, painting/sketching, etc., where she has won major accolades for Indian classical and folk dance, internationally. Undoubtedly, these interests include the pleasures of writing short essays and poetry. The author found her passion for writing at the very beginning of the infamous Covid-19 pandemic and continues to enjoy the freedom of expression and the depth to emotions that literature and language can provide.
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