Beauty is always subjective, but it undeniably changes drastically according to geographical location. Each culture has its own unique standard of beauty, and in many places around the world there is a definitive ‘tick list’ of what makes the ‘perfect’ or ‘attractive’ woman. Here are some interesting and some surprising ‘beauty standards’ from across the world…
Nose jobs in Iran
Iranian women seem to have a love affair with ‘fixing’ their noses. Tehran, Iran’s capital, has been noted as the ‘nose job capital of the world’, and many travel into Iran from the surrounding region to indulge in plastic surgery.
There are multiple factors behind the rise in nose jobs in Iran, and one is the pervasive influence of the western ideal of beauty. Many women wear surgical tape in the streets of Iran, even once their surgeries have healed – it has become somewhat of a status symbol, with women sporting the tape even when they haven’t had any work done!
Light, fair skin in Japan
Polar opposite to many of the western ideals of a golden, Australian-looking tanned body, Japan sees fair, pale skin which is clear of any blemishes as the perfect skin tone. It is a sign of wealth and status, with tanned bodies more representative of the working class.
Long necks in Thailand
Kayan women in Thailand wear large gold rings around their necks from very early in their childhood (around the ages of 4 and 5), adding more and more annually, increasing the weight around their necks. This creates an illusion of disembodied heads hovering over the pedestal of gold rings – they don’t actually lengthen the necks themselves, they just appear to.
According to these tribes, the longer their neck, the more beautiful the woman.
Plastic surgery mad in South Korea
South Korea (surprisingly to me) has become the plastic surgery capital of the world! Some parents may even give a gift of plastic surgery to their daughters at ages as young as 16 and classic standards of beauty for South Korean girls are as follows: double eyelids; small, V-shaped chins; thin noses with upturned tips; light skin.
16,000 calories in Mauritania
Many women in Mauritania, West Africa, are force fed up to 16,000 calories a day, in order to make them appear desirable to men and suitable for marriage. A larger wife is seen as a status symbol as the man can provide successfully for his family.
Also popular in this culture are stretch marks (yes gals) and thick ankles.
Uni-brows in Tajikistan
Thick eyebrows have been trending in western culture on and off since the 1940s, and the especially bushy ones trended thanks to Cara Delevingne in the 2000s. The women of Tajikistan, however, have taken this a step further with their love of the uni-brow.
Rewind back to Ancient Greece and Rome, where uni-brows were praised by philosophers and scholars as they were thought to portray women as unusual and extremely beautiful. In some parts of Tajikistan, uni-brows are still seen as very desirable, with myths that the closer your brows are to each other, the closer you will be to your husband (madness, eh!)
Some even paint uni-brows on their faces if nature hasn’t blessed them with one, and many see them as a sign of purity, innocence and longevity.
‘Yaeba’ smiles in Japan
Opposed to the American classic ‘straight teeth and a perfectly white smile’, the Japanese have a term ‘yaeba’ which translates to ‘uneven teeth’, and they find crooked teeth desirable, particularly protruding upper canines. A sign of cuteness apparently!
‘Beauty goals’ in USA & UK
We’re all surely familiar with what is apparently ‘beautiful’ in the western world, especially the USA’s and UK’s similar standards for ‘beauty goals’. The rise of social media has allowed this to change drastically, and causes it to continually develop all the time.
High cheek bones are particularly seen as attractive, and are often obtained by using bronzer and highlighter, or cheek fillers. Large, plump pouts are the new fashion, with more and more girls paying for lip fillers in the UK and USA (Here is an interesting article which explains where the western lip filler trend originated from!) Tanned skin is also seen as the beauty goal – ‘if you can’t tone it, tan it’, and a straight toothed, white smile – say cheese!
What all this means then is that there is no such thing as a standard for beauty; it is not uniform and it is 100% societally driven, therefore it is all a construction. Meaning, well, everyone is beautiful of course!