The Global Makeover
http://www.msnbc.com/news/988111.asp
How we are remaking ourselves and—in the process—creating a new global
standard of beauty
By Fred Guterl and Michael Hastings
NEWSWEEK
Nov. 10 issue — When the ancient Indian poet Kalidasa wrote his epic
tale of love between Lord Shiva and his consort, Parvati, his vision
of female beauty had little to do with the half-starved waifs of
Western catwalks or the lean-muscled athletes of cereal boxes. To
Kalidasa, Parvati was a soft, voluptuous temptress. In the centuries
since, ampleness has remained a great female virtue in India. This
classical image of beauty is inscribed on temple walls and depicted in
sculpture, paintings and literature, including the famous treatise on
esthetics, the Kama Sutra. The ideal Indian beauty, says Alka Pande,
author of "Indian Erotica," has always been "heavy breasted, with a
languorous gait, large child-bearing hips, full—in every sense of the
term—luscious lips." The ideal has been expressed, too, in crude but
simple measurements of chest, waist and hips, most often in inches:
36, 24, 36.
Biology: Sex and Dung Beetles
http://www.msnbc.com/news/988110.asp
Why don't women like square-jawed macho men? And what's all this fuss
over J. Lo's bellybutton?
By Michael Hastings
NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL
Nov. 10 issue — Why is sugar sweet? To Victor Johnston, it's not an
idle question. Johnston, a biopsychologist at New Mexico State
University, takes evident pleasure in pointing out that if you were a
dung beetle, dung would taste like sugar on your tongue. "Sugar is a
molecule, and we have evolved a brain to generate a positive response
for its taste." The same, he says, goes for our perception of beauty—a
perfect smile, an ample bosom, a muscular bicep. All, basically, dung.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/deconland/messages?msg=1166
.
|
