Contrast Effect

The articles we read and video we watched were all about the contrast effect and how it changes our views on beauty today.  The contrast effect is when we judge beauty based on others’ around us.  These people can be more attractive or less attractive people.  They can be in our normal social lives, or they can be seen in the media.  Women and men are affected differently by the contrast effect.  Woman are more compared than men, so the basis of both of the problems is the comparison of women.  Woman struggle because they constantly compare themselves to the “most beautiful.”  Even though the beauty they see is not usually natural beauty, women compare themselves, and they never feel that they are as attractive as they really are.  Men are affected in the opposite way.  They compare women to the most attractive around them.  It is harder for them to find someone that they want to be in a relationship with because they will always compare them to the “most beautiful.”  There are only so many of the “most beautiful,” so it is impossible for all men to date or marry them.

I think that this is a very serious problem in our society.  We do compare beauty too much.  Like the information has shown us, many times this beauty we compare women or ourselves to is far from true natural beauty.  For this reason, I do believe retouching should be banned from advertising.  It is fake and absolutely wrong.  How can you advertise something that is not obtainable?  If you have to retouch the your most beautiful models, then how is anyone else supposed to look as good?  Because of the contrast effect, this advertising is destroying true beauty in our society.  It does put our focus more on physical beauty rather than inner beauty.  This should not be.  All physical beauty diminishes at some point, no matter who it is.  The inner beauty does not.  It sticks around (most times) until death.

I do believe that the contrast effect harms women more than men.  Women naturally compare themselves, and these fake advertisements just make those comparisons more harmful.  Men can get over comparing women more easily.  Yes, it is always there, but if you truly love your partner, they are your focus and the physical beauty comes with how much you love them.  I can attest to this because when I first started dating my girlfriend, I did not find her attractive at all.  This isn’ t news to her…don’t worry, she knows 🙂  Now, I think she is the most beautiful thing on this earth.  She hasn’t changed much in looks; just our love has changed.  Even though beautiful women pop up all the time, I still find her the most beautiful.  I’m not saying that my mind does not compare sometimes; it does.  In the end though, men can realize that those beauty images seem a lot better at first sight than they really are.  Women have it tougher because everyone downgrades themselves more than others.  If they have to compare themselves to false images, they will never be ok with themselves because that highest level of beauty is out of reach (not real).