What is "Good Looking"?

AnonoBoy

Watching a beach volleyball match in the afternoon sun.... now that's some good looking.

bigeasyeah

Anything is pretty after 15 pints of beer.woo!

zoey

Ollchailin wrote: »

Good looking doesn't always have to do with initial looks- I mean, it can happen that you know of someone or are friends with someone who you wouldn't have been physically attracted to, and then something changes- and suddenly you can't understand why you didn't always think that person was the best looking person in the world.

It's like as if because you've become attracted to their personality, you've started to be attracted to their looks.

Definately agree with this! If I had seen a photo of my boyfriend before I knew him I wouldn't have given him a second glance but the first time I met him, saw his mannerisms and personality I was really attracted to him and now I think he's gorgeous!

Amy33

When we broke up last July, my ex told me I didn't have the "wow factor", critisised my hair, clothes, told me I didn't know how to be sexy, you name it. I'm 32 and he's 43...

Since then, I've stopped socialising and hate looking in the mirror. Be very, very careful when you comment on someone's appearance because in one single conversation you can destroy a person's confidence.

I'll never know why he spoke to me in that way, it wasn't a messy breakup and I hadn't done anything wrong like be unfaithful...

Fluorescence

trish990 wrote: »

When we broke up last July, my ex told me I didn't have the "wow factor", critisised my hair, clothes, told me I didn't know how to be sexy, you name it. I'm 32 and he's 43...

Since then, I've stopped socialising and hate looking in the mirror. Be very, very careful when you comment on someone's appearance because in one single conversation you can destroy a person's confidence.

I'll never know why he spoke to me in that way, it wasn't a messy breakup and I hadn't done anything wrong like be unfaithful...

He's a piece of trash. Anyone who can be this horrible to someone isn't worth the time you took to type about it. I'm sure you do have a wow factor, he was just to blind to see it :P Different strokes for different folks, right?

JC 2K3

Can't believe no one's mentioned the golden ratio yet:

http://www.intmath.com/Numbers/mathOfBeauty.php

It's nice and idealistic to say that attractiveness is 100% subjective, but that's not reality. People simply have subjective preferences for those who fall into the objetively good looking category. It's not a case of "one man's meat is another man's poison", it's more like people have preferences for which meats they prefer, perhaps they won't even like some kinds of meat very much, but they will almost all avoid the poison.

Wibbs

Beauty seems to boil down to an external expression of reproductive fitness. And averageness and symmetry plug into that. Overly strong features are not considered beautiful(though moreso in men). In women, small jaw and nose, big eyes, full lips, large forehead, essentially "baby" type features are considered on average more beautiful(makeup accentuates these features, especially big eyes). Stands to reason as they are signs of high oestrogen levels during development. In men, strong jaw, and squarer more robust face are signs of high testosterone levels during development so considered more attractive if present. Clear skin seems to be consistent worldwide as a sign of good looks. Logical again as it shows lack of parasites, some diseases and youth. The latter particularly in women as with a more finite fertile period, youth is more selected. In men status has more of an effect. While beauty is tied in with fashion and culture(especially levels of body fat in women), studies have shown that when people from very different cultures are shown groups from other cultures they can point out the most attractive in those groups, even if they aren't what their culture goes for generally.

Other studies have shown that couples show a very strong bias for ending up with people at their "level" of beauty and attractiveness. "10's" end up with other "10's" and "3's" end up with "3's" kinda thing. Male status does throw it somewhat though. So a rich/powerful/famous male 6 can end up with a female 10.

It's way more complex than just that though. Culture and individual experiences(even our immune system choices) plug into our own personal mind map of what we individually call beauty. The eye of the beholder stuff. But to deny that there are levels of good looking I think would be wishful thinking.

Gemini Sister

Wibbs wrote: »

Beauty seems to boil down to an external expression of reproductive fitness. And averageness and symmetry plug into that. Overly strong features are not considered beautiful(though moreso in men). In women, small jaw and nose, big eyes, full lips, large forehead, essentially "baby" type features are considered on average more beautiful(makeup accentuates these features, especially big eyes). Stands to reason as they are signs of high oestrogen levels during development. In men, strong jaw, and squarer more robust face are signs of high testosterone levels during development so considered more attractive if present. Clear skin seems to be consistent worldwide as a sign of good looks. Logical again as it shows lack of parasites, some diseases and youth. The latter particularly in women as with a more finite fertile period, youth is more selected. In men status has more of an effect. While beauty is tied in with fashion and culture(especially levels of body fat in women), studies have shown that when people from very different cultures are shown groups from other cultures they can point out the most attractive in those groups, even if they aren't what their culture goes for generally.

Other studies have shown that couples show a very strong bias for ending up with people at their "level" of beauty and attractiveness. "10's" end up with other "10's" and "3's" end up with "3's" kinda thing. Male status does throw it somewhat though. So a rich/powerful/famous male 6 can end up with a female 10.

It's way more complex than just that though. Culture and individual experiences(even our immune system choices) plug into our own personal mind map of what we individually call beauty. The eye of the beholder stuff. But to deny that there are levels of good looking I think would be wishful thinking.

Telling it like it is there Wibbs!

For me, a guy can dramatically up his hotness by having a fit body, because for people born without mega-genes, very good health (toned, good skin, posture) can make up for alot. But real beauty is jaw dropping. I saw it on the street the other day, this seven foot tall black girl walked down the road and every man stopped and stared, and their girlfriends! But lucky for the rest of us, that kind of beauty is very rare. Charles Bukowski, a writer, observed that if you look around you, on the street, in a super market queue, most people are pretty horrific looking, for some reason I find that comforting!
Where beauty is a bonus is as people age. Any girl can look fab at seventeen (with good presentation), but to look good at sixty you need bone structure.