Essay/Term paper: Internal and external beauty

Essay, term paper, research paper:  High School Essays

Internal and external beauty are both very important in our society. To be beautiful internally means to have a kind heart and be understanding. To be beautiful externally means to be beautiful on the outside such as having a nice figure and an attractive smile. Internal beauty is important because beyond looks, it is your personality that is noticed. External beauty is important because it is your attractive figure that brings notice to someone"s great personality or external beauty. To me, internal and external beauty are represented and influenced by family members, friends, and society as a whole.

Family members are important how we perceive internal and external beauty. Depending on which family member, there is an absolute distinction made between external beauty and internal beauty. Parents are most likely to look at the internal beauty rather than the external, while siblings look at the external part more closely. This, however, is not always true. My parents seem to favor their ancestry, as compared to others. Since I am of Polish descent, my parents believe that external beauty is irrelevant as that person is Polish. This changes when the person is not Polish. If the person is not Polish, then his or her external beauty for some strange reason becomes very important.

My brother on the other hand seems to be the most reasonable. Sure, he looks if the girl that I am dating is pretty, meaning if she has external beauty, but he quickly overlooks that, and stresses the internal beauty as well. I guess that the siblings are the most reasonable of judges concerning internal and external beauty. Parents have a "duty" to preserve their heritage, and look as someone from a different area of birth, as "outsiders" and therefore their external beauty has to severely overweigh their internal beauty. My brother thinks much differently. He tries to balance both the internal beauty with the external beauty, make the most reasonable judgement between external and internal beauty.

My friends are most likely to look at the external beauty before the internal beauty. If they like the external beauty, then they may also consider the internal beauty. If they however, do not like the external beauty, they most likely ignore the internal beauty altogether. So, although friends are friends, they tend to be one of the most hypocritical judges. The thing that matters to friends is that if the girl is pretty, then chances are she may also have a nice personality. If she doesn"t appeal to my friends externally, then her internal beauty must also be lacking. This, however, is not always true, since some of my real close friends tend to overlook the external beauty, or not stress it as much as others.

Society is the most judgmental of all critics regarding internal and external beauty. In today"s society, external beauty Is always stressed significantly. This is one of the main reasons why there are so many girls in our country that have eating disorders. Successful women are perceived with external beauty are always perceived to look as if they were starving. Models like Kate Moss, all weight under 100 pounds it seems. Society rarely stresses the importance of internal beauty. Since society never real sees the person"s personality, then their only judgement call would be by external beauty. It seems however, that society places too much effort than ever before how a person looks, their external beauty. Rarely, does a society ever judge a person by the way they act.

Based on the influences of family, friends, and society, it looks like family is the most reasonable judge of external and internal beauty. Siblings especially, are the fairest judges. Friends are somewhat neutral, and stand the middle ground in differentiating between internal and external beauty. Society is the harshest critic of beauty, always stressing the external beauty. It seems that society will always be one sided, and no one can do anything about it. The best way to judge beauty is by the individual"s own standards, and not from external influences