What's attractive

My definition of beauty is happiness. I believe that when you are happy, it shines through and makes you a more attractive and beautiful person

- Bianca Balti -

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I spent time in the Art Gallery of South Australia recently and, particularly as I viewed the portraits, a thought came to me about what was perceived as physically attractive in years past opposed to now.

The painting above entitled, A lady, thought to be Catherine Fenn, was painted in the year 1623 by Cornelius Johnson, an English portrait painter born in 1593, and it's a rather nice looking painting; in real life the intricate details bring the portrait to life and the expression on the woman's face leaves one thinking, what was the saucy little minx thinking. [Well, maybe not quite that.]

I wondered how accurate the portraits were meaning, were they a true depiction of the person or did the painter enhance the appearance of the subject? With old artworks like this we'll never know, but it left me thinking about the perception of beauty and what's considered attractive in today's modern society.

No big lips, boobs or false eyelashes...

I mean in the painting above...in our modern society these things are in great abundance along with other cosmetic enhancements that, those who have them at least, feel are attractive - One can only assume so anyway.

Styles change, I get that, however I wonder when and why people's opinions changed and why that made over-inflated lips, boobs that look like perfectly symmetrical (and massive) chest-melons, eye lashes that seem to protrude well past the person's nose, perfectly smooth Botox-faces, surgically chiselled jaw-lines and chins, butt lifts and all that other cosmetic fuckassery so popular.

What's attractive

We're all different, quite clearly, and I think most of us would like to look as best as possible; there's a certain confidence and happiness that comes from it. I also believe that there's a use-case for cosmetic enhancements: Those disfigured by war, fire, vehicle wrecks, birth defects and cancer, for instance. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for people in those situations and some enhancement may offer a better quality of life; I'm all for it. But I wonder about cosmetic surgery and enhancements undertaken simply because society/social media says it looks better and more attractive or for popularity purposes.

I don't have the answers and understand that people have differing opinions and reasons for it but I thought I'd throw it open to you folks to see if you were keen to share your thoughts.

What do you personally find physically attractive in others and why? Are there certain aspects of a person's physical appearance you find particularly attractive or is it of a more general or overall physical attractiveness. I'm not talking about personality here, put that aside for a moment and think purely on the physical.

What about yourself and how you personally look or perceive yourself to look? What would you change, if anything, and why? If you wouldn't change anything, why? You may like to comment on cosmetic enhancement also and why you think it's so popular even for very young people, the pros and cons of it in your opinion...feel free to comment about anything around the general topic if you'd like.