
It’s an age old question, with no specific answer. For every trait that a person in the West might find attractive, there’s a trait that’s found appalling by the tastes of those from other countries. This is true, also, of history. The extent that women, and men, have gone to to appear the height of attractiveness in their culture is truly amazing.
Keeping it fairly modern, the roman empire had vomatoriums, specifically built for just as it sounds. That’s not including those that ingested, on purpose, tape worms so that they could appear slimmer yet could eat to excess due to their ‘partner’ inside.
In many African and south east Asian countries, the fattest man was thought to be the most attractive, as being fat meant that he was rich, as he didn’t have to hunt or work as hard as others. Similarly, in these cultures, a woman with wide hips was thought to be a better catch, as she was more likely to survive child birth.
In the West, in modern times, we simply have to look back to the seventies to see excesses like never before. The different chemicals applied to hair to give it a blond color, or an afro, or that ‘ just so’ teased look – all point to excess’s in the beauty field. This is without even looking at the punk styles, with hair gels, bizarre makeup types, eye liner tattoo’s, tattoo’s on every body part, piercings in every opening etc... you have to wonder though. Are the people of the future going to look back on our actions as "excesses"? Are they going to be agast at the amount of cosmetic surgery that we have carried out as a race, at the things we have done to our bodys in order to fit with the current fashion?
These are all part of life’s different views on beauty, and it’s a good way for people to remember that even though we’re all very similar, there are no two of us alike. Which gives such a disparity of views on what beauty is to each individual, as we all see things from a different point of view.





