What People Find Unattractive In Different Parts Of The World

Beauty is an aesthetic, a concept, a product, a tradition, and even a sport. It is always subjective, but one sure thing about beauty, is that it changes drastically depending on geographic coordinates.

Each culture has its own unique standard of beauty, making an attractive person in Hollywood likely to appear unattractive in Africa, for instance. Some countries keep beauty practices minimal, while others have a whole lot to say about what makes the "perfect" woman.

Though curves are becoming more accepted as a beauty ideal in the west, there's certainly not an overt acceptance of large body types. On the flip side, some countries live by the phrase "the bigger the better." North West University nutrition professor Salome Kruger told How Ghana, "Some African men find obese women more attractive and would like their own wife to be obese, to show that he cares well for her and that she is not sick and [is] able to produce children."

A generous booty and wide hips are also sought after in Jamaica, according to NPR. "If you have no meat on your bones, the society can't see your wealth, your progress, your being," said Sonjah Stanley-Niaah, a lecturer in cultural studies at the University of the West Indies. Some Jamaican women even go so far as to take "chicken pills" to plump up their backside, which can be dangerous due to their arsenic content.

According to How Ghana, studies by the Human Sciences Research Council demonstrated that obesity among black women in South Africa may be due to their inclination to link weight gain with wellbeing and attractiveness. This concept is not a new one: Just change "weight gain" for "weight loss" and you have America. This correlation between a woman's weight and her status in society appears to apply in a variety of forms — so every woman can rest assured that she can feel bad about herself somewhere in the world.

Many of us have seen women with rings stacked high on their elongated necks in issues of National Geographic. This kind of body modification takes place in regions of Thailand and Burma (Myanmar), and it is the trademark of a Padaung tribeswoman. Even though the necks appear to get longer, what actually happens when a woman receives her rings is that the heavy gold coil pushes down on her shoulders and collar bone, making the neck seem longer than it is.

Still, it is not for the end result of seeing the long, bare neck that these women practice this tradition. In fact, having an exposed neck is uncomfortable for a woman of this tribe, despite the initial amazement at finally getting to see what her neck looks like. The long, coil-bearing neck is a mark of belonging, as well as beauty.

In many countries around the world, such as China, pale skin is idealized, and women go to great lengths to avoid the sun (more on that in the next slide). However, that's not the case everywhere, as in some places, having a tan that makes you look fresh off the beach is considered desirable. Jefferson M. Fish, a Professor Emeritus of psychology at St. John's University wrote on Psychology Today that, "In the United States, many white folks like to sport a tan. Some even go to tanning salons, despite warnings about skin cancer."

Why is this is considered attractive to people? Fish continued, "A temporary tan — an acquired tan — has one set of social meanings — health, leisure, and sexual attractiveness." So it shows that you have both the time to go to the beach and the money to get there, which is a reflection of your status in society. Fish also noted that this is a privilege afforded to white people only, so race is clearly a factor here.

Many people with flush bank accounts in the US get work done to their faces. Nose jobs, botox — anything to get that much closer to perfection or youth. But plastic surgery means something a little bit different in Iran. For many Iranian women, getting a nose job isn't just something you do if you have a lot of money or a bad nose, it's something virtually any woman of any class wants.

According to Vice, Iran has the highest rate of nose surgery per capita in the world. So why is everyone running to the surgeon? Not only is it a status symbol, it's a way of trying to find a good mate. "The bandage signals that you come from a family who cares and provides for you," Vice reported, "Even if you don't need a nose job, having a family that can afford to give you one is preferable to having the genetics for a petite nose." Iranian women will often continue to wear a bandage over their nose long after they've gotten their surgery to indicate to others — especially men — that they have had the coveted procedure done. If you've got the nose you were born with, you're getting picked last for a "happily ever after."

In South Korea, the biggest plastic surgery trend is the double eyelid surgery. This is a procedure many caucasian or African Americans may not have heard about before, but for many South Korean women, it's normalized. It's not unusual for South Korean parents to offer their children double eyelid surgery as a gift. So what is it, and why is it so desirable?

Many Asians have what is commonly referred to as a monolid — literally meaning "one eyelid." It's that crease on the upper lid that they're after. Many South Korean women think that the double eyelid is more attractive. While a double eyelid is common in Western women, many cosmetic surgeons argue that South Korean women don't get the surgery to Westernize themselves or reject their heritage, but rather to emphasize their facial features and emulate their favorite K-Pop stars.

As The Atlantic reported, it's widely known that the majority of South Korea's pop stars and celebrities opt for this kind of surgery and, as in most cultures, people like to emulate what they see famous, successful people doing. So while the double eyelid surgery is normalized within groups of family and friends, it is made even more desirable by the country's entertainment culture.

In Thailand, a person's beauty is determined not just by their physical appearance, but by their character. What kind of virtues they have and what values they uphold affect people's perception of just how beautiful they really are. According to an article published in the journal, Ethics In Science And Environmental Politics, qualities like charm, good nature, a devotion to one's duties, and modesty are all positive characteristics that make a woman beautiful. If a woman lacks these qualities, she will be seen as ugly or undesirable, no matter how physically appealing she may be.

Because Thai beauty is evaluated in such a way, there is an emphasis on how well one gets along in their society. The positive intermingling of physical beauty and internal beauty lands a person in good social standing, which also improves their chances of entering into a beneficial marriage.

So on the one hand, it could be said that the Thai pay close attention to internal beauty, while on the other, it could be said that it's simply for the sake of social acceptance. Either way, if you aren't an agreeable person, you're less likely to be accepted in Thai culture. This view of beauty is essentially the polar opposite of the American notion of beauty where, for example, physically attractive celebrities can maintain their place at the top of society, regardless of their personal values.

Even though body piercing has become quite popular in the United States in recent years, most of those piercings are found in the ear, according to The Lancet. But that's not the case in other parts of the world. 

As Erin Kenny and Elizabeth Gackstetter Nichols noted in Beauty Around the World: A Cultural Encyclopedia, "Whereas a few piercings are considered part of the norm of appearance in the United States and Europe, in a nation such as India, a nose piercing for women is a well-established element of beauty norms." So without one, it might look like something's missing. It doesn't stop at just a piercing, though. 

Kenny and Nichols continued, "Married women frequently pierced their noses to wear flat studs or rings (called nath), occasionally connected with a gold chain to the ear, especially as part of a bridal costume. Today, many women choose to pierce their noses to enhance their beauty with gems, rings, or semiprecious stones." Women in India also wear a bindi or pottu on their forehead, which has a spiritual connotation. 

Grills (or grillz) are one beauty trend that gained traction right in our own backyard, though American hip-hop culture — but it isn't too difficult to imagine how unusual they must seem to outsiders. While this isn't a trend that bloomed in modern America overnight, it actually has some surprisingly ancient roots. 

As Kenny and Nichols wrote in Beauty Around the World, "After a decade or so of underground bling in the hip-hop community, lavish dental ornamentation as a status symbol entered the American pop culture mainstream." They also note that the trend has roots that go back to the middle of the seventh century BCE, when wealthy Etruscan women wore flat gold bands over their teeth.

So what do grillz represent today? "As expensive and elaborate systems, grills embody the definition of wealth, social status, and masculine virility in the contemporary U.S. urban landscape," they continued. And as time went on, it wasn't just men who sported a literal million dollar smile. "Later, women celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Lady Gaga also began wearing grillz," they added, showing just how popular the trend had become.

Make no mistake about it: Arab women are some of the most fashion-conscious women in the world. And beauty trends are shifting in the United Arab Emirates, where all women wear an abaya (a robe-like dress) outside of the home. Emirati abaya designer Alia bin Omair told The National, "Before we used to wear only black, but about two years ago the ladies started wearing beige, white, grey colours." So anyone still wearing basic black may look a bit behind when it comes to what's fashionable.

Omair also noted that women are wearing different kinds of fabrics, such as linen and wool, depending on the season. "I feel it is better to change a bit and use other fabrics," she added, after noting that all of the women she knows used to wear the same fabric all the time. Colored abayas are popping up in some parts of Saudi Arabia as well, according to National Geographic, though not in more conservative cities and towns. 

What's the one beauty product you just can't live without? For the women of The Himba, a semi-nomadic tribe in northwest Namibia, that product is otjize, which is a paste made out of red ochre, fat, and butter that's sometimes scented as well. The women put it on their skin and in their hair to give themselves a reddish hue, according to CNN. This is why they're known as "Namibia's iconic red women," and have drawn photographers from all over the world who want to capture their image for years.

While the origins of the practice have been debated — perhaps it helps to repel insects or keeps their skin protected from the sun — that's not the motivation behind the practice now. Himba women say that it's an "aesthetic consideration," and they put it on every morning just as any western woman does with her makeup. Although the region where The Himba live is threatened by development, they continue to live and herd cattle in relative peace.