“Personal beauty is a greater recommendation than any letter of reference.”
- Aristotle

            There is no doubt that physical beauty is a highly-valued quality throughout the world.  Whether we wish to believe it or not, appearance is the first layer of our character, and people pass judgments on us based on this superficial aspect of our bodies.  In spite of our many proverbs – “Never judge a book by its cover,”  “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,”  “Beauty is only skin deep” – we are constantly told through literature and popular culture media that the outer shell represents what is inside us.    
           Why is the love of beauty so ingrained in us?  According to Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual selection, which explains the survival and evolution of the species, beauty corresponds to health, especially in the reproductive system.  In order for a male to spread his genes, he must impregnate the most fertile female, who is likely to be sexually attractive.  Similarly, females must seduce the opposite sex in order to spread their genes.  Thus Darwin believed that standards of beauty come from three basic contributors of sexual attraction: averageness, symmetry, and sexual dimorphism.  According to Anthony Synnott, averageness is desirable because evolutionary pressures operate against the extremes of the population; therefore, averageness reflects a greater probability of passing along our genes.  Bilateral symmetry is preferable because it reflects the developmental stability.  Only 15% of the human population has perfectly symmetrical faces.  Sexual dimorphism represents physical maturity.  Larger breasts and wider hips, for instance, indicate sexual maturity which implies fertility.  Males prefer females with features that are representative of their higher estrogen levels.  These feminine features include a thin jaw and small chin, large and widely-spaced eyes, small nose, high cheekbones, and short upper lip.  For males, prominent chins, deep-set eyes, heavy brows, and abundant hair indicate high levels of testosterone. 
            For an article in The Regional Economist, Kristie M. Engemann and Michael T. Owyang pointed out that a recent study found that the average CEO is approximately three inches taller than the average American man, who is five-foot-nine-inches.  Occupations that require more interpersonal communication tend to hire better-than-average-looking candidates.  And in general, studies have found that wages increased as the employees’ physical appeal increased.  Researchers have hypothesized that level of confidence is directly proportional to level of attractiveness; confidence eases communication, influencing productivity.  Moreover, clients tend to interact with the best-looking employees. 
            The primary focus of beauty is the face.  We look to the face to interpret people’s emotions, to extrapolate personality traits, or to determine their sincerity during discussions.   In fact, whether we do it consciously or not, we often communicate complex ideas solely through our facial expressions.  For example, if someone purses the lips and slightly frowns, we can recognize that he or she is expressing disapproval.  If a woman makes eye contact with someone at a bar, smiles shyly, looks down and gazes somewhere else, we assume she was flirting with the man. 
            People tend to recognize each other by their faces.  We carry pictures of our loved ones’ faces.  “Wanted” posters feature faces of people.  It is clear that the face is a crucial part of a person’s identity – in a sense, we are our faces.
           Though one’s image is not everything, it does give others their first impression, which will affect how they view the person’s behavior and interactions with people.  To some degree, our outward appearance is a mirror image of our characters and personalities.  If we get plastic surgery for even a slight enhancement of external beauty, people will perceive us differently and treat us in a slightly different manner, which can heighten our self-esteem, leading to a change in personality.  This cycle reinforces the view that our appearance is symbolic of our inner selves.
            Physiognomy, the art of judging people’s character from facial features, also contributes to our obsession with appearance.  In his article titled “The Naked Face,” Malcolm Gladwell writes about a face analyst who said that George Clooney’s upturned chin indicates stubbornness.  Reese Witherspoon’s narrow pointy chin indicates that she is emotional.  Lindsay Lohan’s high forehead is related to intelligence.  And Jamie Foxx’s protruding forehead implies creativity.  Though people generally don’t investigate facial features with such specificity, many opt for surgical procedures to change their images.  They don’t want to be perceived as submissive or obtuse in a job interview.  They don’t want to appear tired and depressed at parties.  They want to look like the person they want to be, which again raises the issue, “How much of us is represented in our faces?” 
           Considering such compelling evidence for the importance of our appearance, we can understand why people go to drastic measures to shape and mold their faces.  But what is beauty anyway?  According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, beauty is “the quality or aggregate of qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably exalts the mind or spirit.”  As expected for such a vague concept, standards of beauty are not universal.  As Synnott says, some cultures perceive chubbiness as a symbol of opulence and social status.  In New Guinea, pierced noses are attractive, and the Angku women of China view blackened teeth as a mark of beauty.  There is also the countercultural definition of beauty, which promotes body modification such as tongue-splitting, tattooing, and branding.
            According to an article by Peter A. Adamson and Matthew B. Zavod, the ancient philosophers believed that beauty can be equated to truth and goodness, while ugliness is sinful and evil.  They thought that purity in mind and soul radiated through the face; therefore, beauty was considered a godly gift to only the most virtuous people.  Sir Francis Bacon once said, “Beauty is harmony.”  Aaron Spelling, a famous television producer, expressed the elusiveness of describing beauty, “I can’t define it, but when it walks in the room, I know it.” 
           Dr. Stephen R. Marquardt, however, attempted to quantify beauty scientifically by developing the Golden Decagon Mask. 

            This two-dimensional visual of the human face is based upon the Golden Ratio (also known as the Divine or phi ratio): 1:1.618.  This special number is believed to symbolize perfect natural harmony and appears in Renaissance art, ancient Greek architecture, music, and nature.  Using this proportion, Marquardt uniquely positioned forty-two Golden Decagon Matrices, which are the same shape as the Primary Golden Decagon Matrix but vary by multiples of phi, in the framework mask.  The closer a face is to this template, the more aesthetically pleasing the face is.  Now many plastic surgeons use this model when enhancing their patients’ facial features. 
            The plastic surgery industry has been growing faster than ever.  Anthony Synnott reports in his article “The Beauty Mystique” that Americans spent at least $12.5 billion on cosmetic surgery in the year 2006, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS).  However, this figure does not account for all the procedures that were performed because not all practicing surgeons are members of this society.  Nonsurgical procedures, such as Botox injections, chemical peels and laser hair removals, increased 726%, and surgical procedures have increased by 119% since 1997.  Nowadays people buy beauty, altering what their genes naturally express. 
            Some people use advances in technology in more drastic ways.  Synnott mentions that some extreme practitioners of body modification transform themselves to look like a certain animal.  For example, they wear customized contact lenses, tattoo their entire body with a tiger print, shape their teeth into pointy tips, and surgically insert whiskers.  Regardless of what act of beautification people undertake, they are expressing their inner selves in the most superficial way possible. 
            Advertisements in magazines, television, telephone booths, buses, subway stations (and the list is endless) don’t help to mitigate this obsession with outward appearances.  Agencies use models or celebrities to send messages such as “aging is bad” or “being thin is desirable” in commercials.  The marketing industry is essentially built upon manipulating the human psyche and selling commercials that sell sex in order to sell products.  Andie MacDowell (58 years old) can still be seen on television commercials for L’Oreal Paris’ hair care line.  A 36-year-old Claudia Schiffer advertises L’Oreal Paris’ Wrinkle Decrease cosmetics by instantly blasting away her wrinkles on TV with the help of an expert lighting crew and camera technicians.  But people on the other side of the screen are thinking, “If this supermodel’s been getting rid of wrinkles with this product, it must work for me too!”  “If Andie has a full head of such thick, lustrous hair at her age, I should try this product!” 
            Furthermore, the average American sees 3,000 of these ads every single day, yet have you ever seen an obese person featured with a product that a company is advertising?  Have you ever seen models without make-up on, not concealing fine lines and pimples?  In reality, according to media analyst Jean Kilbourne, only 5% of women have the body type seen in nearly all commercials today.  This unattainable look of beauty surrounds us everywhere we go and we absorb all the subliminal messages just as the corporations want us to.
            Beauty is a controversial topic that has puzzled everyone from the ancient philosophers to young girls coming of age.  People have studied its roots, effects, and types in all shapes and forms, yet this mystery has not been solved.  It has been equated to goodness, power, and virtue by some, and dismissed by others as a meaningless, trivial matter.  Some believe that there is beauty in everything if only we are open-minded enough to perceive it.  And still others think that it is solely based on personal preference and there is no universal standard of beauty.
            From such varying opinions, we can conclude that people are fascinated with physical appearance, and regardless of what people say, looks do matter.  Of course the outer image is not the only thing that matters, so people who lack in that particular department tend to strategize and further develop what they have more control over.  They compensate by becoming more educated, funnier, or kinder.  Often, they become more successful than their beautiful rivals because they are accustomed to working harder and being more clever.   
            In general, however, more importance is being placed on beauty than ever as it has become more accessible with advances in cosmetic surgery and make-up.  It has become more acceptable to discriminate against ugly people because everyone has the choice to be beautiful as long as they have the financial means.  After all, it is a significant instrument of communication, with facial expressions composing a language of their own, and the one part of ourselves that we cannot conceal from others.  Though societal perspectives on face value probably will not change, perhaps one day in the future, a person’s moral character and intelligence will receive the kind of emphasis they deserve.

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