Most Painful Cultural Beauty Practices

Author: Brooke Winsor

Most people have heard the old saying that “Beauty is Pain.” All over the globe people are striving to be beautiful every minute of every day because of the fact that humans tend to be very visual creatures and will always first observe the look of a person before finding out what is held in the other person’s heart. Many find this idea shallow and preach against it, but it does not mean that they don’t do the same thing when they first judge someone harming their natural bodies for beauty. Looking at a person from the outside and then getting to know them is just easier since we can’t read each others minds from a distance. What a particular culture designates as beautiful can vary though. When was the last time you saw an American woman following the ancient Chinese tradition of bound feet? Yet, these extreme cultural practices for beauty are a constant throughout history and geography. Let’s take a look at some extreme appearance practices from the past and present to see the bodily mutilation committed in the name of ideal beauty.

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