Okay, firstly I don't mean to offend anyone by writing this.
So, we sexually discriminate between people all the time. For example, without generalising, on an average, women prefer muscular handsome men as opposed to average looking/weak ones, rich/powerful men with some standing in society as opposed to ordinary ones (power is a great aphrodisiac and all that), men with ambition and talent as opposed to the rest.
Men, again on an average, in addition to valuing intellect, value beauty. Many of them, unarguably, enjoy features like large breasts and curvaceous bodies. Men, usually, also discriminate against features like obesity. One can think of many more things based on which we hold one person as more attractive than another.
People, in many instances, also berate and make fun of 'ugliness'.
So, what I want to ask is, when there's already so much sexual selection and discrimination going on, how is it any more wrong to say that you find fair skinned people more attractive, on an average, than dark skinned people or vice-versa ?
If you judge a person's intellect and/or character solely based on physical traits like skin colour, weight etc. (without having any evidence of correlation and without mentioning the specificity of correlation in a particular instance) then that's erroneous thinking. But if you find one physical trait more attractive than the other how can you really assign terms like 'wrong' or 'right' to that feeling? I suppose, in a longer, more explanatory sense, you could. Like assessing why one trait is practically more useful than others (and re-assessing your ideas about what you find attractive vs what you should find attractive).
The thing is, we have this fairness craze in our country. Fairness creams and all that.
Funny thing is, back when I was in school I would find dark people making fun of other dark people for being dark. One of my dark skinned female friends tells me that people in her family say (about her), "Oh, she's a sweet girl, but she's dark." . I can imagine how irritating that must be.
One might argue that physical beauty is purely a matter of aesthetics and has no practical purpose. But look at peacocks and other birds that attract mates based on their beautiful plumage. The purpose of their aesthetic beauty is in itself to attract mates. So, I could, in an analogous manner, think of human physical beauty the same way.
Other than skin colour and all that, I'm generally interested in what makes people physically beautiful. Why some features make people exude sexual feelings while others are non-stimulating while still others are repulsive.
As in the case of most men, I would say, when I look at a physically beautiful chick and I'm attracted to her, I tend to fantasize about her by internally adding the kind of intellectual traits I'd like her to have though this may not be the case in real life. When I look at women that I don't find physically attractive, they may have wonderful characters and intellects and I may be appreciative of those qualities of theirs but they fail to stimulate me the same way in terms of attraction.
What say you guys ?
So, we sexually discriminate between people all the time. For example, without generalising, on an average, women prefer muscular handsome men as opposed to average looking/weak ones, rich/powerful men with some standing in society as opposed to ordinary ones (power is a great aphrodisiac and all that), men with ambition and talent as opposed to the rest.
Men, again on an average, in addition to valuing intellect, value beauty. Many of them, unarguably, enjoy features like large breasts and curvaceous bodies. Men, usually, also discriminate against features like obesity. One can think of many more things based on which we hold one person as more attractive than another.
People, in many instances, also berate and make fun of 'ugliness'.
So, what I want to ask is, when there's already so much sexual selection and discrimination going on, how is it any more wrong to say that you find fair skinned people more attractive, on an average, than dark skinned people or vice-versa ?
If you judge a person's intellect and/or character solely based on physical traits like skin colour, weight etc. (without having any evidence of correlation and without mentioning the specificity of correlation in a particular instance) then that's erroneous thinking. But if you find one physical trait more attractive than the other how can you really assign terms like 'wrong' or 'right' to that feeling? I suppose, in a longer, more explanatory sense, you could. Like assessing why one trait is practically more useful than others (and re-assessing your ideas about what you find attractive vs what you should find attractive).
The thing is, we have this fairness craze in our country. Fairness creams and all that.
Funny thing is, back when I was in school I would find dark people making fun of other dark people for being dark. One of my dark skinned female friends tells me that people in her family say (about her), "Oh, she's a sweet girl, but she's dark." . I can imagine how irritating that must be.
One might argue that physical beauty is purely a matter of aesthetics and has no practical purpose. But look at peacocks and other birds that attract mates based on their beautiful plumage. The purpose of their aesthetic beauty is in itself to attract mates. So, I could, in an analogous manner, think of human physical beauty the same way.
Other than skin colour and all that, I'm generally interested in what makes people physically beautiful. Why some features make people exude sexual feelings while others are non-stimulating while still others are repulsive.
As in the case of most men, I would say, when I look at a physically beautiful chick and I'm attracted to her, I tend to fantasize about her by internally adding the kind of intellectual traits I'd like her to have though this may not be the case in real life. When I look at women that I don't find physically attractive, they may have wonderful characters and intellects and I may be appreciative of those qualities of theirs but they fail to stimulate me the same way in terms of attraction.
What say you guys ?
There are other bigger things in life which you'll be missing out if you keep focusing so hard on this.
