Beauty

Beauty and Physical Attractiveness

• Who do you think is the most beautiful person in your country?
• What is your opinion on beauty competitions?
• Who do you think is the most beautiful person alive today?
• Does beauty affect one's success in life?
• Is it better to be physically attractive or intelligent?
• Is it better to be physically attractive or wealthy?
• Is beauty related to power?
  • Can you think of anyone who is in a position of power that is not physically attractive?
• Do people spend too much time and money on beauty?
• How much time should be spent on making yourself look better each day?
• Do you think people should have cosmetic surgery to enhance their looks?
  • If so what is the minimum age when someone should have plastic surgery?
  • How popular is plastic surgery in your country?
  • What is the most popular feature for cosmetic alteration?
  • Do you think self-esteem affects beauty?
  • Do you think beauty affects self-esteem?

Plastic teens

One top teen magazine editor calls adolescent plastic surgery a “21st century tragedy“. So why do an increasing number of teens risk their health to go under the knife?

“It was my dream come true,“ says Jodie, 19, a chef from Brighton, England. Jodie wanted a flat stomach like her idol Anastasia so baldy that she happily agreed to be a guinea pig for a cosmetic surgery clinic. She underwent 27 injections of a drug called Lipostabil, which she believed to “eat away“fat. The pain was tremendous but has it put Jodie off surgery? Hardly: “I’m fairly used to pain. I had my eyebrows tattooed three months ago. It cost £300and was agonising.“ It doesn’t stop there. Botox injections to stop her sweating and a breast enlargement are next on Jodie’s surgery shopping list.

Jodie’s case may be extreme, but she isn’t alone. In a recent survey of British teenage girls, 42 per cent have considered plastic surgery. A number of these girls, whose average age is 14, have even started saving for surgery. In the U.S., a massive 326,233 cosmetic operations were performed on teens in 2004, nearly 900 operations a day.

“Personally, I blame magazines,” says Jodie. She denies that pure vanity played a part in her decision to have surgery. The endless parade of thin yet curvy celebrities has made young girls obsessed with their own normal bodies. Moreover, it is well known that magazines “air brush” less than perfect body parts of the rich and famous. No wonder more than half of British girls are worried they will never look like their female role models.            

Do boys also have higher expectations now about a girl’s looks thanks to the media? We could say that girls feel pressure from boys who expect their girlfriends to resemble the perfect celebrity-body model from the covers of the beauty magazines. Jodie claims she was teased by boys about her body which made her feel very bad. She sees surgery as a way to correct her lack of self-esteem. Many surgeons warn, “To believe that surgery can change who you are only leads to disappointment.”

Explain or write a synonym: 

a guinea pig ______________________________________________________________

agonising________________________________________________________________

to blame _________________________________________________________________

vanity____________________________________________________________________

to resemble________________________________________________________________

self-esteem_________________________________________________________________

• How important is beauty in your daily life?
• Have you ever noticed anyone ever feeling pressured to be more beautiful?
• What are some beauty tips that you could share?
• What personality trait is the most important for inner beauty?
• How do you define beauty, using your own words?
• Would you ever date someone who was not conventionally attractive?
• What makes one person more attractive than another?
• Do you think people from different countries than you see attractive the same way?
• Do beauty standards change in time?
• Do you think one gender or group worries more about beauty than another?
• What are some of the negatives about being beautiful?

Vocabulary: moisturiser, lipstick, mascara, aftershave, blusher, eyeshadow

Write a short essey based on one of the quotes:

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." - Margaret Wolfe Hungerford

“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.“  - Khalil Gibran

“ How beautiful the leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days.“  - John Burroughs
“Beauty is all very well at first sight; but who ever looks at it when it has been in the house three days?“ - George Bernard Shaw

Vocabulary:

DESCRIBING PEOPLE:
FACE:

Does she/he have

• round / oval / square / heart shaped face

• bushy / thick / thin eyebrows

• round / almond / narrow / close-set eyes

• broad / flat / sharp / button / fake nose

• full / thin / well-defined lips

• broad smile / charming smile

• healthy / damaged teeth / (tooth) braces

• wrinkles / freckles / pimples / smooth skin

• moustache / beard ?

HAIR:

Does she/he have

• thick / rich / strong / healthy / shiny hair

• damaged hair / split ends

• thin hair / receding hair

• straight / wavy / curly hair

• spiky hair

• fringe

• permed hair

• coloured / dyed hair

• bleached hair / highlights

• pigtails / ponytail / braids / bun / dreads

• pull your hair back/put your hair up (with

a clip or an elastic band)

• long / short / shoulder-length ?

 

BODY:

Is she/he

• obese

• fat

• slightly overweight

• well-built

• heavily built

• of average build

• slightly built

• slim

• thin / skinny / bony ?

Is she

• tall

• of medium height

• shortish

• short / tiny ?

Is she/he

• curvy ?

(flat/small-breasted,

large-breasted)

Does she/he have

• thin waist

• big hips

• nice shapely legs

• firm belly muscles

• lovely figure ?

Is she/he

• pretty

• attractive

• lovely and charming

• nice and friendly ?

Is she/he

• long-sighted/short-sighted ?

Is she/he wearing

• glasses / contact lenses

• smart clothes

• elegant clothes

• casual clothes

• shabby clothes

• jewellery ?