Whether we think too much or too little of ourselves, we seem to live in a society full of the image obsessed.
Beauty and Weight Loss Specialist, Alicia Hunter, joins the Mad Life panel for this ego-boosting conversation.
Why are we so vain?
I also agree with this. This is more true than we realize.
A few people here responded that it was the media's fault. It cannot be anyone else's fault unless they come to your door and force you to dress and do make-up. You are the one in control. You are the one who decides how to dress. You are the one who can choose to ignore all the people on TV. Or you can choose to listen and follow.
Quoting Babujai:
It's easier to focus on surface issues than the deeper character attributes that we should actually take pride in.
Because perfection is thrown at us from every direction. It is frowned upon to be anything less. Sad
I blame the media. I'm happy with my looks though. I know I'm not the most beautiful person in the world but I am to m husband and my children and that means all the world to me.
Physical beauty/allure has always been on most of the world's peoples agenda whether in a manner such as we see in the western world or in a format which we find unreal but to the individuals/cultures who engage in it is considered beautiful (full body tattooing, cicatrization, lead face whitening, wasp waist cinching the list is virtually endless through the ages). Many studies have been done as to the effect of human beauty in a large variety of situations from attracting a sexual partner, effects of beauty on juries decisions, beauty and job acquisition and many others i am sure I have never heard of or read but the bottom line of the majority is that natural beauty or enhanced beauty is a boon and so knowing this we seek to attain the current norm for beauty . Not everyone seeks that but vanity is not unusual or a thing of the times though it is more attainable by every day people because of greater wealth distribution and availability of material goods than say earlier in the last century and before.
Quoting Charizma77:I see more insecurities than I do vanity...
I think there is a lot of truth to this. Plenty of people cover up their insecurities by focusing on their outward appearance.
Quoting butterflycircle:My MIL and the whole family is far more worried about looks and apperances. I hate it. I like to look nice too but I don't worry about it like they do. My husbad has argued with me over our sons gloves. They are blue and have grips on them that look like a monster. He says that the grips go on the top of the hand (not the side you grab with). I told him no, they are grips so he can grab things. He said we should (and his mom would) still put them on the top b/c it looks better. Silly. Looks aren't that important. the other day he was uphappy b/c I let the kids color with markers before going to his parents house. He said it looks like we are bad parents b/c our toddlers hands had marker on them. I asked what makes us bad parents? That we let our kids have fun and be creative? It is not like there was marker all over his face and stuff just some that didn't wash off of his hand well, he was in no way "dirty".
I personally think that having marker on a toddler's hands is a sign of a good parent! Maybe if the same marker was there for a week or something it might not be good. But giving them the chance to play & be creative is good - and many times that process is messy, esp for toddlers!
Quoting AussieReg:Physical beauty/allure has always been on most of the world's peoples agenda whether in a manner such as we see in the western world or in a format which we find unreal but to the individuals/cultures who engage in it is considered beautiful (full body tattooing, cicatrization, lead face whitening, wasp waist cinching the list is virtually endless through the ages). Many studies have been done as to the effect of human beauty in a large variety of situations from attracting a sexual partner, effects of beauty on juries decisions, beauty and job acquisition and many others i am sure I have never heard of or read but the bottom line of the majority is that natural beauty or enhanced beauty is a boon and so knowing this we seek to attain the current norm for beauty . Not everyone seeks that but vanity is not unusual or a thing of the times though it is more attainable by every day people because of greater wealth distribution and availability of material goods than say earlier in the last century and before.
Very true. Every culture has it's standard for beauty & many people in that culture do whatever they can to get there.
You are definitely right that one of the biggest differences from the past is how much easier it is for us to be vain just because of our available resources. One of the biggest resources is time - many people in the past just didn't have the time or energy, they were too busy trying to survive.
why are we so vain? because the media and society have made it very acceptable to be vain, to be better than everyone else.
- Cafe AmyB
on Dec. 26, 2012 at 3:47 PM