Last
week’s Model Behavior got me thinking
about the concept of beauty and I found myself flashing back to my childhood. I
grew up reading National Geographic, flipping through its glossy pages, entranced
by the exotic people staring back at me from those beautiful photographs. It
taught me early on that humans come in a wide range of colors, practice
radically different customs, and do some amazing things with their bodies.
But my
adolescent brain was confounded. Why would people poke giant holes in their
earlobes, chisel scars across their flesh, or insert pins in the least likely
places? (My first glance at a penis pin nearly knocked me out of my chair!) Fortunately,
as I matured and accumulated a few degrees in anthropology, I came to
appreciate the fact that humans manipulate their bodies for various reasons, sometimes religious or symbolic, but mainly in their quest for beauty.
Take
those scars, for example. In the US, we go to great lengths to minimize, erase,
or conceal our scars. Yet if we take a quick trip across the globe, scars take
on a whole new meaning. Among the Karo of Ethiopia, men sport scars to
represent their warfare prowess. Karo women, on the other hand, do it merely
for esthetics. These intricate etchings are considered alluring and represent a
woman’s sensuality. And Ethiopians are not alone, for scarification is found in
many parts of the world, from the dusty Australian Outback to the lush island
of New Guinea. The custom has even found its way into the U.S. for, it seems, tattoos are now only for the faint of heart . For the more daring among us, the needle has been supplanted by the
blade.
Other
forms of superficial beautification include tattoos and piercings, widespread
customs believed to enhance the appearance of their hosts. Among the Maori of
New Zealand, facial tattoos, known as “moko,” not only represent tribal
affiliation (and scare the bejesus out of their foes), but emphasize a woman’s
desirability. Like tattoos, piercings come in all shapes and sizes and can be
placed just about anywhere on the body. Extreme piercings, such as ear spools,
have been worn for over five thousand years, from China to Africa to the Americas, as status symbols. The women of Borneo have taken it one step further.
By adorning their ears with weights, they stretch their lobes to unimaginable
lengths. And they're hardly alone, for ear stretching has shown up in some surprising places, from Egypt's King Tutankhamen to Otzi, the five-thousand-year-old frozen Alpine mummy. Even the statues of Easter Island sport elongated earlobes.
Earlobes
aren’t the only body part that is elongated for the sake of beauty. Don’t get
excited, boys, I’m referring to neck rings. Probably the best known
practitioners are among the Kayan of Northern Thailand. Known affectionately as
the “giraffe” tribe, Kayan women strive for beauty one ring at a time. The
process begins around the age of five and continues into adulthood. Length is
achieved not by stretching the neck but by flattening the collarbones, making
the neck appear longer than it actually is. Like many forms of beauty, it is but
an illusion.
Evolutionary
psychologists have been arguing about the basis of beauty for decades. The
universalists concede that culture plays a role in the perception of beauty,
but they argue there are certain underlying fundamentals, such as facial symmetry,
a clear complexion, and large eyes. In the opposite corner stand the
relativists, who believe beauty, like other aspects of humanity, is a
culture-bound phenomenon. How else to explain the bizarre expressions seen
around the globe?
Here's a fascinating article on the cultural concept of beauty.
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