There was this article that caught my attention, "Princess Diana is the most attractive royal
of all time, according to the ancient Greek 'golden ratio' formula.
But even if it's fun comparing faces on a 'most attractive ranking', this points a flaw
in our concept of 'beauty', and of course, how we perceive and value ourselves.
Welcome back, my body language buddies!
my name is Jesús Enrique Rosas, I'm the Body Language Guy, and it would be great if you
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The ranking of this article puts Diana first, then Queen Rania of Jordan second, Grace of
Monaco third, Meghan in fourth place and Catherine in the fifth.
And every image has got conveniently uncomprehensible numbers and percentages, just to make them
look more interesting.
But before we continue, I'm going to ask you to do a very easy exercise.
Easy on the eyes, If I might say.
You're gonna take a look at Henry Cavill, Robert Pattinson and Idris Elba.
That's it!
you just have to take a look at them.
Now, what's with all these numbers, and rankings, and why are they important for our self perception
and confidence?
Well, Defining what is attractive or what is beautiful can be really elusive, because
quantifying beauty is no easy task.
The system proposed in this study is based on the golden ratio, that I've already mentioned
a few times when we have taken a look at photographs and paintings.
> The best example that you can get to illustrate this concept is simply dividing one rectangle,
so that the proportion of the larger section to the complete figure, is the same proportion
of the small section to the large section.
A more practical way to experience the golden ratio, is having two squares side by side
and draw a point at the geometric center of one, but the other resting on a golden ratio
section.
The second one will be more pleasing to the eye.
More balanced, so to speak.
You might have the idea that this goes back to ancient Greece, or this is somehow related
to Leonardo... the OTHER Leonardo.
Leonardo Da Vinci.
And Yes, Da Vinci was the illustrator of the Luca Pacioli book "On Divine Proportions",
an extremely boring book unless you're heavily into math and geometry, that somehow connects
the golden ratio with ideal face and body features.
Just for reference, in over three hundred pages of polyhedrons and diagrams, [ there
are just two illustrations that barely resemble a disembodied human head.
That's it.
]
The story of why we became so obsessed with the golden ratio is really interesting and
includes both an eccentric German Psychologist, who kept seeing it everywhere, including his
sauerkraut, and Donald Duck, who mistakenly planted the seed of the modern Golden Ratio
myth.
But for the sake of brevity, we just have to remember that humans really excel at something:
taking things to the extreme, even if it means sacrificing common sense.
That's why we have bigfoot races, skyscrapers and Mukbang.
So, golden ratio could not be different, and someone, with a lot of time on their hands,
figured out that if you made enough measures of the human face, and divided it enough times
according to these 'divine proportions', you could come up with some sort of 'ideal' archetypes
of beauty.
Too bad that those archetypes look like very angry, low polygon anonymous masks.
What are these rankings based on?
Well, there is software, used mainly by plastic surgeons that help measure any deviations
of a person's face from the supposed ideal.
So, the closer a person's facial features are to the golden ratio template, there's
the assumption that they are more attractive.
And I know that you're starting to see the flaw in that reasoning, and that's why I wanted
you to see the pictures of Pattinson, Cavill and Elba.
According to these rankings, Pattinson would be the most attractive man in the world, since
his features fit best the golden ratio mask.
Cavill would be a close second, and Elba is number eight.
And I can read your mind.
You want to know how Bradley Cooper and Brad Pitt did on this test, right?
Well, they are third and fourth place, respectively.
But it's not like you actually agree with the ranking, or take it seriously, but you
were really curious to know about the order.
And that's because how our mind works.
No matter what we stumble upon, we will always try to make sense of it.
Either organize it, or put in in certain categories, so we can retrieve the information later.
Our brain NEEDS to do that, so it can work more efficiently, and in turn, be able to
combat uncertainty.
Now, a ranking of beauty sounds fun, but that's it.
Especially when you already know that the template used for those measurements, really
doesn't make sense.
Because if we generate a face based exactly on such proportions, we get alien Kardashian.
Yes, If I had to see it, you will see it too.
That is like 2030 Kylie Jenner.
But the fun ends when WE enter the mix, and somehow our brain logic just jumps out the
window.
Because most people, especially women, have a hard time NOT comparing themselves to others.
And this is a very unhealthy situation for your sanity, because any insecurity about
your own features, will be amplified when you dare to compare yourself to ultra-modified,
photoshop standards.
And I know that you're gonna tell me that you know that whatever you see on Instagram
is not real.
You know it, consciously.
Your rational mind is one hundred percent aware of it.
But it doesn't solve the fact that you can feel insecure from time to time about your
appearance, and if you don't keep those feelings in check, it can lead to anxiety, depression
or eating disorders.
Let's use this image of very cute puppies to clear up your mind now.
There's one reason most people are not going to have any problem with Diana being number
one in that "most attractive royal" ranking.
And it's because of her character, and how she earned the 'Queen of Hearts' name.
She had flaws, like everyone else, but she made up for them with her service.
And that's another angle that we use to assess her in that ranking, even if it doesn't have
to do anything with physical beauty.
By the way, you know which woman is one of the 'most beautiful in the world' according
to the golden ratio angry mask?
Amber Heard.
Which proves that you can be beautiful on the outside, and at the same time crazy as
f*ck on the inside.
What we are missing is that sometimes, it doesn't make sense to think that one person
is objectively more beatiful than the other.
And to prove this point, you can vote in the comments who would you prefer dating.
Henry Cavill or Bradley Cooper.
AND NO, you cannot choose all of the above!
The concept of beauty is closely related to our self perception, but the problem is that
if we dare to compare ourselves to other people, we will always be losing.
Especially when we lose track of everything else.
Charisma, character, attitude, self acceptance.
There are so many factors that affect our body language and that's way more important
than trying to fit inside a standard.
Because let's face it.
Nobody really wants to fit in the standard, because that would mean that we are all pretty
much alike and we would not have all the differences that make us unique.
There's also a great saying: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Maybe you're not Amber Heard, and I'm glad you're not, but there is no doubt you are
attractive, in your own way, and not just to one person, but to many people around the
world.
And I'm not saying this to stroke your ego.
I'm saying this because it's a statistical reality.
But you will not be able to see that reality unless you realize that there are so many
things, beyond appearance, that can make you attractive.
And the most important of all is being confident of who you are.
That is not something you have to achieve.
That is something that you already are.
You just have to stop burying it under loads of insecurity.
Maybe you know it, but somehow you forgot it along the way.
Well, there's no better time to refresh that belief, than now.
If you want to refine your observation skills, all you have to do is download my 100+ body
language tips, right in the description of this video.
My name is Jesús Enrique Rosas and it will always be a pleasure, my body language buddies!
Much Love, and Bliss.