Plastische und ästhetische Chirurgie
Ausgabe: 2/2006
52. Jahrgang
Ästhetik und Schönheit. Historische und aktuelle Aspekte des Schönheitswahns
Mans yearning for physical beauty is an ancient aspect of our culture and mentality. The ancient Greeks developed popular concepts of standardized beauty, which were based on proportions set by painters and sculptors and disadvantaged the ugly and disabled. Many physicians and philosophers embraced the concept of kalokagathia, which considered outward beauty as proof of somatic health, good character and moral superiority. Once again based on ancient authority (such as Polycletus, upon whom even Galenus relied), similar canonic ideas of beauty were developed during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Yet changing aesthetic norms only affected the ruling classes, that is, the nobility and bourgeoisie. With the dawn of the 20th century beauty became a mass phenomenon, intensified by advances in mass communication. Since the 1950s the booming cosmetics industry, including cosmetic surgery, has supplied everyone that is, principally young women with the means to perfectly match their looks to ruling conventions of beauty. Gigantic and equally clever advertising campaigns aimed primarily at labile young people in the process of building their identities link beauty to social success, material wealth and career advancement. Some forms of the current health mania even take on cultish aspects. Leisure time is now exclusively dedicated to beauty and fitness. Popular media would have us believe that an attractive exterior is a precondition for happiness and health. It also seems ethically questionable that behind this seduction (itself based on the insecurities of the less attractive among us) lies a profit motive while the real reasons people become seduced neuroses, relationship problems and low self-esteem remain unaddressed. This paper presents a concise view of the main historical and present-day developments.
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