Most people, when they see a man, will immediately categorize him into categories of good-looking, ugly, and everything in between. Maybe they will pass judgments based on their own standards of beauty, but most people’s definitions of beauty are purely based on what society thinks. Let’s take a look at the evolution of societal beauty standards for men standards of beauty for men and see if yours aligns.
Ideas for men’s beauty, a lot like women’s, have changed a lot in the past few years. Professor of anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, Alexander Edmonds said, “Due to the legacy of slavery and colonialism [Western] images of the beautiful man have always been very white, and in the past, there were fewer barriers for this to change but this may be happening now.” However, now, there have been a lot more men considered “hot” that are not just white. For example, in recent years black supermodels like Tyson Beckford and Alton Mason have been brought to the spotlight.
Another group that shows that the ideas of race and masculinity have changed for men is the K-pop group BTS, where all the members are Asian, none of the members match the old standard of beauty that is huge muscles and crazy strength. This group signifies a new sort of masculinity that is softer and more conventionally “feminine.”
This does not mean, however, that the idea of this old masculinity has not persisted, it has, and this conventional look of masculinity is also big in society. One especially prominent idea of beauty is the tall, dark hair, blue eyes look that has been popular among men. The conventional notion of the Mediterranean “tall, dark and handsome” type is still in demand, despite growing diversity. The phrase came to use in Europe in the early 1900s and then was commonly used in Hollywood during the 1920s to describe Italian star, Rudolph Valentino.
So, do your standards of beauty align with any of these?
Ideas for men’s beauty, a lot like women’s, have changed a lot in the past few years. Professor of anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, Alexander Edmonds said, “Due to the legacy of slavery and colonialism [Western] images of the beautiful man have always been very white, and in the past, there were fewer barriers for this to change but this may be happening now.” However, now, there have been a lot more men considered “hot” that are not just white. For example, in recent years black supermodels like Tyson Beckford and Alton Mason have been brought to the spotlight.
Another group that shows that the ideas of race and masculinity have changed for men is the K-pop group BTS, where all the members are Asian, none of the members match the old standard of beauty that is huge muscles and crazy strength. This group signifies a new sort of masculinity that is softer and more conventionally “feminine.”
This does not mean, however, that the idea of this old masculinity has not persisted, it has, and this conventional look of masculinity is also big in society. One especially prominent idea of beauty is the tall, dark hair, blue eyes look that has been popular among men. The conventional notion of the Mediterranean “tall, dark and handsome” type is still in demand, despite growing diversity. The phrase came to use in Europe in the early 1900s and then was commonly used in Hollywood during the 1920s to describe Italian star, Rudolph Valentino.
So, do your standards of beauty align with any of these?
