Stealing Beauty: Pivot Point International v ... - UW Law School

2006:1067 Stealing Beauty 1091
A. Symmetrical Features and Hour-Glass Figures:
Is There a Universal Standard of Beauty?
Generally, our society is reluctant to admit that there is a universal
standard of beauty, 147 probably because we have such a difficult time
pinpointing the specific components of beauty. 148 Philosophers such as
Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas determined that beauty is only dependent
upon symmetry and proportion of parts 149 —an idea that, if accepted,
would destroy the idea that beauty is a subjective ideal. Other
philosophers, like Emmanuel Kant, contended that “questions of beauty
cannot any more be settled by vote than questions of politics,” and that
“only a man hopelessly submissive to authority will undertake to mould
his aesthetic opinions upon those of the multitude or any smaller group
whom he may regard as particularly distinguished.” 150 Thus, the debate
over whether beauty is subjective or objective has been going on for
quite some time.
Still, it is generally accepted that different cultures and societies
value different physical characteristics more than others. In The Descent
of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Charles Darwin mentions how
different cultures determine beauty based on skin color, presence and
length of beard, and facial shape before coming to the ultimate
conclusion that “the different races of man differ in their taste for the
beautiful.” 151 This idea is mirrored by the fact that, even within
147. People cling to adages such as “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” when
addressing notions of beauty, even in the most academic (and presumptively objective)
forums. See, e.g., Mitchell David Greggs, Note, Shakin’ It to the Back of the Bus: How
Parks v. LaFace Uses the Artistic Relevance Test to Adjudicate Artistic Content, 61
WASH & LEE L. REV. 1287, 1288 (2004) (“Beauty is truly in the eye of the
beholder . . . .”).
148. See, e.g., Rosemary Righter, The Changing Face of Beauty, THE TIMES
(London), Nov. 19, 2003, § T2, at 4 (“The definition of human beauty is elusive.”); Pat
Kennedy, Miss America Shows Real Beauty Comes From Within, PITTSBURGH POST-
GAZETTE, Feb. 21, 2001, at S2 (“What is that ever-elusive combination of features [that
makes someone beautiful]?”).
149. ROBIN TOLMACH LAKOFF & RAQUEL L. SCHERR, FACE VALUE: THE POLITICS
OF BEAUTY 46 (1984).
150. Id. at 35-36. Kant also contended that “a judgment of others which is
unfavorable to ours may indeed make us scrutinize our own with care, but it can never
convince us of its incorrectness.” Id.
151. CHARLES DARWIN, THE DESCENT OF MAN AND SELECTION IN RELATION TO
SEX 573-76 (rev. ed. 1874). Darwin argues, for example, that in some African tribes,
people with the darkest skin are valued as being the most physically attractive, while in
China a person with a more yellow complexion is deemed as being beautiful. Id. at 574.
Regardless of the validity (or lack thereof) of these specific claims in contemporary
society, the conclusion that groups set their own ideals of beauty is consistent with the