Notion of what is attractive is not universal

A study finds that children as young as five perceive thin people as more attractive and happier than people who are overweight. I would never say that their perception is right or wrong. What I would say, however, is that this study proves how impressionable children can be. I think that children’s perception of everything around them can be influenced by those around them. The most likely circle where the influence first begins, and is the strongest, is their immediate family. In other words, from those they live with and with whom they spend the most time.

It’s a well-known fact that, if a five year old uses profanity, it is more than probable that he or she picked it up from a parent or an older sibling. After all, he is spending most of his hours in the day with one or both of his parents. It can’t be the nursery or infant school because, in these establishments, teachers exercise great restraint with respect to not only their body language and behaviour but also with their spoken words or feelings about a particular subject.

In the above example, children’s perception of happiness being related to appearance is simply superficial. It’s also probably based on a few brief encounters with people of both weight categories. It could be that, at the time each child perceived a thin person to be happy and a not-so-thin person to be less happy, the individuals they’d encountered just happened to be either happy or unhappy. Therefore, it could just be purely coincidental. The reason I say this is because, it is not always the case that thin people are happy and people who are larger are not.

I am a thin person and I can assure you that I am not always happy or unhappy. And I have come across many people who are larger and are both happy about things and unhappy about others. The notion about attractiveness being linked to being thin or larger is, in my view, impressed upon a child by family who have, in turn, have had it impressed upon them by their culture. Let’s face it, the notion of what is deemed attractive is not universal. Different cultures have different ideas of what they think is attractive or not.

In some cultures being thin is considered attractive whereas in others being on the heavy side is. In some cultures a thin face is referred to as gaunt whereas, in others, the word ‘chiselled’ is often used.  The cosmetics industry recognises that, in some cultures, people will go to any lengths to lighten their skin.

They”ll not only slather on face creams but even resort to taking pills to do the job. Creams that claim to lighten skin are readily available in some countries and not in others. And most of us dark haired people try to lighten our hair because blond hair is considered far more attractive than any darker shade, even the perception of someone’s height varies from region to region.

Whereas in some parts of the world there are fairly derogatory terms to describe someone who is above average height for that region. The words can’t be translated into English without losing their impact but you might understand if you were to hear the English equivalent, ‘shorty’ for someone below average height. In some cultures being 5ft 2in for ladies and 5ft 8 or 9 for men is normal whereas in other cultures you’d have to be at least 6 inches higher to not be called shorty.

Even the perception of someone’s age is governed by their culture. In some countries, a person in their 30s is considered old where marriage is concerned and by middle age they are called old and grandpa. These unhealthy ideas are impressed upon people through movies, modelling agencies, marriage bureaus and through certain industry sectors that have very strict requirements where employees’ appearances are concerned. There are even employers in some industry sectors who weigh their female employees on a regular basis because they are not allowed to exceed a certain limit without violating the terms of their employment contract.

But that’s not to say that modelling agencies don’t also have weight related requirements of their models. Models are painfully thin and this is not by choice as former models will tell you. Some have gained weight after retiring.

And who hasn’t browsed through adverts where families are looking for brides for their sons and been astonished to read that she must have fair skinned? So if you’re not thin, are middle-aged, with dark hair and a tanned complexion and a 5 year old thinks you’re miserable and unattractive, don’t blame the child, blame his culture and family.