News Flash #2: Four attractive faces out of 67 hundreds million of people?

http://springerlink.com/content/e175751w73028088/fulltext.pdf


Recently, a Korean plastic surgeon attempts to put an end to the controversy of beauty standards by trying to create the most attractive faces of different races. In his letter published online on the latest issue of The Official Journal of the ISAPS, Seung Chul Rhee, a plastic surgeon at Ilsan Paik Hospital, shows the results of his study “Attractive Composite Faces of Different Races”. In this study, Seung Chul Rhee created four ideal female faces of four races: African, Caucasian, Chinese, and Japanese, by using computerized morphing systems to mix and match the facial features of some the biggest stars of these four races. The African attractive composite face was created by using 13 African female models including Agbani Darego, Beveryl Peele, Brandi Quinones, Faustina Agolley, Kate Tachie-Menson, Lerato Moloi, Pearl Amoah, Rihanna, Soraya Khalil, Waris Dirie, Yamin Warsame, Yvette Nsiah, and Zoe Saldana. The 16 Caucasian female stars whose facial features contributed to the attractive caucasian composite face were Aishwarya Rai, Alexis Bledel, Angelina Jolie, Ashley Olsen, Blake Lively, Brooklyn Decker, Ciara Harris, Elisabetha Canalis, Eva Longoria, Hayden Panetierre, Hillary Duff, Jessica Alba, Mandy Moore, Marissa Miller, Megan Fox, and Scarlet Johansson. The Chinese ideal face generated from the facial features of 20 entertainers including Li Gong, Bingbing Li, Bingbing Fan, Vivian Hsu, Jingles Xu, Dee Hsu, Wei Tang, Yifei Liu, Jacqueline Li, Chiling Lin, Qinqin Jiang, Maggie Cheung, Cecilia Cheung, Yuqi Zhang, Zilin Zhang, Feifei Sun, Huang Sheng Yi, Xun Zhou, Gillian Chung, and Ziyi Zhang. And for the Japanese look, Seul Chul Rhee used the facial features of the following 14 Japanese stars’ faces: Masami Nagasawa, Nanako Matsusima, An Watanabe, Riyo Mori, Erika Sawajiri, Juri Ueno, Miho Yoshioka, Namie Amuro, Norika Fujiwara, Nozomi Sasaki, Yuu Aoi, Ryoko Hirosue, Kyoko Fukada, and Mina Hayashi. Seung Chul Rhee expresses that “the average face is not an attractive face and that the most attractive face is the average of attractive faces”(1). He also expected his research to be used to “understand the aesthetic preference of different races”(1). Despite the rather tepid results Seung Chul Rhee received, I found this study rather threatening. And although Seung Chul Rhee created four ideal faces of different faces, these four faces are actually atypical within these four races and this study actually suggests a rather single standard of beauty which denies beauty of other shapes.

These four attractive faces shown in this study are quite unrealistic. The attractive composite face of Japanese is “relatively long” and has “slightly slanted eyes, sharp chin, and chubby cheeks”(1). The Chinese ideal face is slim and thin with a “relatively narrow cheek” and “lantern jaw”(1). The attractive face of Caucasian is some what masculine which “has a narrow palpebral height, angulated and squareshaped mandible, protruding cheek, and fuller lips compared with the average Caucasian face”(1).And the African female ideal face “has a narrower nose, smaller and more acute eyes, smaller upper lip, and slender chin compared with the ordinary African face”(1). However, all these faces are relatively atypical within their corresponding races. Most African women are fascinated for their fuller lips and broader noses, however in this study, the attractive composite African face “has a narrower nose” and “smaller upper lip”. Although, I have been the United States for no more than three months, I am quite aware with the fact the eyes of most African Americans are rather large; but the eyes of this ideal African face not merely become “smaller and more acute” but also reduced to the same size as these of the Caucasian, Chinese and Japanese. It is elementarily knowledgable that Asians are yellow race. But on this article, quite strangely, the two Asian faces appear even lighter than the Caucasian face. And the African face also appears lighter than ordinary African women.

The doubtable authenticity of these entertainers’ faces that be used to create these four attractive composite faces also accounts for the unreality of this study. Despite the possibility that these entertainers may have undergone plastic surgery, other means such as makeup and light effect must have made these entertainers look better whenever they are under shot. In this society with highly advanced beauty industry, it has become public that people can easily make extreme makeover with the help of makeup and skilled cosmeticians; apply a shade darker than the skin on both sides of the nose can make it look smaller, curl eyelashes make eyes look bigger and put a bit of light eyeshadow right at the inside ridge of eyes, where the upper lid meets the bottom lid, near the tear duct brightens eyes and makes them look whiter. So these entertainers appear on the media can look completely different after removing makeup. Because Seung Chul Rhee used the photos of these entertainers appear on the media in which the faces of these entertainers are deceiving, his study is actually based on unreal beauty. Additionally, it is unwise to use the faces of entertainers to compose attractive faces because most these entertainers are popular not for their appearances but for their profession on acting, singing, and modeling.

This study also denies that beauty comes in all shape. Though the plastic surgeon states that “attractive faces differ considerably according to race”(1). It is not hard to tell that these four faces are actually alike despite their color; all four in oval shape with eyebrows, eyes, and lips on the same line. But in fact there are approximately 9 different shapes of faces, including oblong, oval, round, rectangular, square, triangular, diamond, inverted triangle, and heart. And it is impossible to tell which shape is better and more attractive than others since it is easy to find existing attractive faces that come in all these shapes. And there are approximate 14 hundreds million Chinese people and half of them are female, but this Korean surgeon only used 20 faces of them and tries to find the most attractive Chinese face.

Most importantly, this study neglects the most attractive parts human race -- diversity. Life always provide us with surprise and seeing people of different features can be enjoyable. Even, as a woman, it is really interesting for me to see beautiful women come in different features. Eyes do not necessarily need to be big with double-fold eyelids, Chinese eyes with single-fold eyelids and outer corners going up can also be very attractive. Baby faces can be as charming as those thin faces. But this study unwisely tries to suggest the standards of attractiveness. If this world, which has 67 hundreds million people exist in it, has only four attractive faces, can these faces still be attractive?

This study also endangers the independent aesthetic judgment. Although in American society this study has only received few attention, it does have some effect on Chinese society, at least on Chinese internet society according to the many reviews I found on Chinese websites and I actually first noticed this news on a SNS website because people keep forwarding this. On that SNS website, people are talking about how to judge the attractiveness of women by this study. This reminds me a similar study which uses so-called new golden proportion of women’s faces to determine the level of attractiveness of women. Because of that study, many plastic surgeons suggested many female entertainers whose faces fit that golden ratio perfectly. Although these entertainers were said to be standard beautiful women and they are really beautiful, but they are far from the most attractive and a lot of entertainers whose faces do not fit into that scientific finding appear more attractive. But this kind of studies is really threatening as many people, who tend to believe scientific research rather than individual judgement, will use them to judge who is more ‘attractive’ and ignore, and even deny the beauty of these people who falls out of the ‘rules’. If things goes like this, people will gradually lose our abilities on judging.

As Seung Chul Rhee is a plastic surgeon comes from a country which has and is well-known for highly advanced plastic surgery industry, it is easy to tell the real purpose lying behind his study -- to brainwash people and to prosper plastic surgery industry. By providing people with the images of the “attractive” faces of different races, this study persuades women to deny the facial features that they possess but different from the facial features that are presented on this study, and men to disprove the appearance of their partners and women around them. Therefore, women will try to adjust their appearances to the facial features approved by plastic surgeons. This kind of scientific suggest can really impose effects on public just like the makeover shows can prompt people to take plastic surgery, as Susan J. Douglas presents in Enlightened Sexism; “a 2007 study by the ASPS asserted that four out of five cosmetic surgery patients reported that they had been “directly influenced to have a procedure by the plastic surgery reality television shows they watch” ” (Douglas, 225).

Beauty standards are really harmful because they have made more and more women become depressed with their own appearances and bodies. In her book Enlightened Sexism, Susan J. Douglas states that “young women today are more dissatisfied with their bodies than previous generations” (Douglas, 217) because we are exposed to thousands of makeover shows, advertisements with sexy women bodies, and radio shows having women denouncing their own bodies (Douglas).

Again, women are endangered by introducing to beauty standards. By creating what he called as ‘attractive faces of different races’, Seung Chul Rhee neglected the variety of beauty with unrealistic beauty, and made women to be more dissatisfied with their appearances.






Resources:
1. Seung Chul Rhee, Attractive Composite Faces of Different Races, http://springerlink.com/content/e175751w73028088/fulltext.pdf, 16 October 2010.
2. Susan J. Douglas, Enlightened Sexism: the seductive message that feminism’s work is done, 1st ed, Times Books.