Unugliness

The classical Greek noun for "beauty" was κάλλος, kallos, and the adjective for "beautiful" was καλός, kalos. The Koine Greek word for beautiful was ὡραῖος, hōraios, an adjective etymologically coming from the word ὥρα, hōra, meaning "hour." In Koine Greek, beauty was thus associated with "being of one's hour." Thus, a ripe fruit (of its time) was considered beautiful, whereas a young woman trying to appear older or an older woman trying to appear younger would not be considered beautiful. In Attic Greek, hōraios had many meanings, including "youthful" and "ripe old age."

So, what is beautiful? The concept of beauty is evolving, whereas before a woman with big bosom is considered beautiful because it is related to their child rearing tendencies, however at present time the general notion of beauty is for you to be slim, tall, etc. The power of media and the arts in influencing the concept of beauty is beyond question. The movie industry perpetuates the Hollywood type/kind of beauties. Cosmetic industries would popularize models who look like stick, and the motto THIN is IN thing.

There is a concept in cultural studies about cultural relativism and ethnocentrism. Different cultural groups think, feel, and act differently. There is no scientific standards for considering one group as intrinsically superior or inferior to another. Studying differences in culture among groups and societies presupposes a position of cultural relativism. It does not imply normalcy for oneself, nor for one's society. It, however, calls for judgment when dealing with groups or societies different from one's own. Information about the nature of cultural differences between societies, their roots, and their consequences should precede judgment and action. Negotiation is more likely to succeed when the parties concerned understand the reasons for the differences in viewpoints. Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's own culture is superior to that of other cultures. You are ethnocentric if you despise other peoples culture and you judge their actions by your standard, in this sense beauty.

Why is tanning in demand nowadays? Why would all people like to become brown? And why do brown people would like to become white? Why do most white men prefer brown skinned women? And why do most brown skinned women prefer white men? Some people have preferences that is why, but media is also influencing the way people define what is beautiful. The cosmetics industry is a flourishing one and still growing specially. There is also growing market for enhancements purposes.

Tans are cool but not for Asian women

I have lived in Thailand for quite a while. I agree that the Thai concept of beauty is not the same as the western one. If you go to any beach in Thailand, you will see lots of people roasting in the sun in an effort to show off a deep tan in their home country. You can be sure about one thing – there is no Thai woman among them. Not only do they cover up as much as possible to avoid sun exposure, but they have a national obsession with whitening creams. Most Thai women try to look as light skinned as possible and they regularly apply those creams to help them with this task. The drugstores are lined with whitening products. Thai women dread sun tans, and Thai men love the pale look. Dark skin color is seen as the sign of laborers, farm workers, and lower class people.

Here come the foreigners who are trying to look as dark as possible. They don’t equate the dark look with lower class people - just the opposite, a deep tan indicates that they have traveled to beautiful and exotic locations and have the money to do so. Their friends at home admire their tan and jealously inquire where they got all this great sun exposure.

Sharmakern wrote nicely in his blog that naturally those western men transfer their ideal of beauty to the Thai women. It just happens to be that the women from Isaan, the economically less developed part of Thailand, have darker skin. The westerners see them as beautiful whereas the Thai men see them as less desirable. Many western men are in relationships or marriages with darker skinned Thai women. What a great arrangement – the Thais want the white looking women and the westerners like the dark women.