“Cutters make the best models.”
This is what Christine Chamberland, a model since 2011, was told by a photographer. Cutters and anorexics make the best models, he said in seriousness, because they always aim to please. Little did the photographer know Chamberland suffered from an eating disorder herself.
The world of beauty and fashion is a hard one to break into, with only well-known supermodels making enough finances to live off it. Most of the time, the pay is clothes or products.
It is a world of constant criticism that often idolizes very specific body types and races. Tall, white and skinny has been the golden ratio of beauty for ages … or has it?
According to some scientists, a golden ratio of beauty actually exists.
European scientists, artists and architects used what they called the golden ratio as a map for their creations during the renaissance. This ratio only takes into account facial beauty and ignores the body. Today, scientists are still trying to nail the golden ratio and figure out why some people are beautiful while others are not. According to an article on Oprah.com, the golden ratio consists of several aspects. After calculating measurements, it is possible to then determine a person’s beauty on a scale of one to 10.
First, a “beautiful” person’s face is about 1 ½ times longer than it is wide. Second, three segments are measured for uniformity — “from the forehead hairline to a spot between the eyes, from between the eyes to the bottom of the nose, and from the bottom of the nose to the bottom of the chin. If the numbers are equal, a person is considered more beautiful.”
Finally, the measurements of all other features determine symmetry and proportion. Perfection, in part, consists of the length of an ear being equal to the length of the nose. According to science, most people are between a four and a six. No one has ever been a perfect 10.
In a 2019 academic journal article by Daniel Yarosh titled “Perception and Deception: Human Beauty and the Brain,” he describes beauty from a biological standpoint, pointing out, “evolutionary pressures to maximize reproductive fitness.” Certain aspects of beauty, such as pronounced jawlines for men and hourglass figures for women, are clues in a mate’s potential to produce offspring.
A study of over 15,000 observers determined that both men and women across many cultures have very similar ideas for what is and is not attractive, this suggesting that physical attraction is, “hard-wired in human genetics, likely fixed at an early stage in our evolution.”
And indeed, ranking people by how beautiful they are is common. Through possible genetics and celebrity images, America’s youth are groomed as to what beauty should be. Abraham Larsen is only 11 years old. In his eyes, Scarlett Johansson, who has twice been named Esquire Magazine’s “Sexiest Woman Alive,” is the prettiest person he’s ever seen. Abraham lists such specific features as “eye color” and “mouth divot” as some of Johansson’s most prominent claims to beauty. He knows exactly what the one to 10 attractiveness scale is. In his opinion, most people are somewhere around a seven … except for his sister, who is a one, he jokes.
Abraham thinks natural beauty is the best and thinks it’s best to “skip the full face of makeup and just be yourself,” a sentiment his older sister Mackenzie, a sophomore studying molecular biology, also recognizes.
Beauty products are not a way in which to feel beautiful because they have no real or lasting value. As soon as someone fixes their acne, they’re going to want to whiten their teeth, or color their hair, or fix something, anything.
“What’s going to make you feel your best is being healthy,” said Mackenzie.
“I feel most beautiful when I am clean … just when I get out of the shower,” she laughs. No makeup, no fancy clothes. “Most people feel the need to cover up imperfections because they assume they have imperfections … I just don’t care.”
Mackenzie rarely wears makeup. She doesn’t feel the need. Her usual outfit consists of a t-shirt, button-down flannel and well worn blue jeans. “I’m comfortable, somewhat beautiful. I don’t see anything wrong with myself.”
Sure, she occasionally has days where she feels more or less pretty based upon her emotions, but none of it is contingent upon wearing the perfect makeup or perfect clothes.
Concentration on flaws may not be a focus for Mackenzie, but this is perhaps the result of an extraordinarily confident young woman. For some women, flaws are all they see.
In a recent Dove Real Beauty Sketch, women described themselves to a police sketch artist. They could not see what he was drawing. The women list imperfections. They say they look tired, or that their eyes are sallow. They would talk to another woman for a period, and after went home. The “other woman” would describe their partner to the sketch artist, and the drawings were put up side-by-side. In the descriptions given by the women themselves, they were flat and wrinkled, with squashed noses and limp, stringy hair. But in the drawings described by strangers, the same women were beautiful. They were grinning ear to ear, with bright eyes and smooth skin.
It is nearly impossible not to be affected by the almost 5,000 daily advertisements, according to Huffington Post. Models of perfect angular proportions are supposedly normal, but many fail to realize that almost all of these images have heavy Photoshop. Even A-list celebrities fall victim to magazine and tabloid Photoshop.
It has led to a beauty industry worth $532 billion, and expected to rise more in the coming years. However, only cosmetics and personal care items, such as shampoo and deodorant, count as beauty items. Other looks-based industries, such as fashion, plastic and cosmetic surgery and even health and fitness, are all separate million to billion-dollar industries.
In an effort to make women love themselves as is, the body positive movement was born, which centers around loving all shapes and sizes. Psychologist Lisa Kaplin weighs in. Both obesity and anorexia are becoming increasingly common. And although loving yourself and feeling beautiful is important no matter the size, some have ignored certain health concerns that arise with this movement.
“The message is clear: you can be fat or thin but the focus is still on how you look. The outrageous spotlight on our appearance is keeping us from living full, complex, productive and healthy lives … why are we not focused on how amazing it feels to be flexible and strong, powerful and athletic versus how sexy we look at any weight? If we are highlighting appearance and not the physical and emotional strength that comes with good health, we are failing.”
Chamberland has a friend who modeled for large department store catalogs who was stick thin. She was very healthy, and her skinniness was entirely genetic. “People would ask why she was so skinny and if she was sick,” says Chamberland. No matter what you look like, “people are always going to judge.”
Criticism is constant, whether verbalized by family, strangers or photographers. It is a constant for young girls who look in the mirror at 8 years old and decide to stuff their tank tops with tissues and put on lipstick in hopes of looking like an image that has been so drastically altered from the original that any replication is impossible and disappointing. It is constant for men who believe the only way they can be attractive is by spending hours a day in the gym to have a six-pack and defined shoulders.
Beauty might be measured on a scale, but confidence and self-worth are not contingent upon the same number, regardless of filters, makeup or clothes.
“Beauty is someone that is living their healthiest lifestyle and is confident and comfortable in themselves,” says Mackenzie.
