People's views throughout time about what is considered beautiful and ugly continuously change from generation to generation. To me beauty holds no limits. Something that is considered beautiful is something that is outgoing, inspiring, determined, and exquisite. Beauty is not a figure or something to obtain, it's something that is so much more than that.

Often-times what is seen in our culture today is that beauty is something that is obtained through: surgery, applying make up, models, pageants, diets, and so many more examples that aren't listed. Throughout a women's lifetime, in America, she is inspired at a young age to uphold the "Miss America" image otherwise she will not be worthy of attention and not seen attractive by men.

In our culture, celebrities and mass media have a huge influence on how young girls determine what the standards of beauty are. The image of beauty that is often seen is the one that is influencing them to change for society; instead of society changing for them and allowing these young girls to be themselves and uphold the beautiful qualities within them.

When the standards of beauty haven't been met for someone in our society's culture than that person is considered ugly. For example qualifications that are considered "ugly" in our society are things like: people who are overweight, woman who don't apply make up, people who are to skinny, people who are disabled, and many other things.

In Greek mythology similar view points about beauty are adamant through the appearance of the gods and goddesses. For example, Aphrodite is the image of beauty, love, and desire for the greeks. Her image is upheld by the expectation that she has to be a certain figure; almost like her appearance when she is approached is unattainable to other women. Having the appearance of a perfect body, luscious hair, and beautiful facial features, is exactly what the expectation is of how beauty should be portrayed in our society.

In contrast to Aphrodite, the Greek god Hephaestus is the image of something that is considered ugly. He is the god of blacksmith, sculptures, and metallurgy. His appearance represents things that are more raw and couldn't be more opposite than the appearance of Aphrodite. Out of all the greek gods and goddesses, Hephaestus is the one who is the least portrayed as this god who has this underlying beauty because of his shaggy beard, thin balding hair, and aging facial features.

Instead of a person's appearance being the standard of what is beautiful and what is not, personality within a person should be that determining factor. True standards of beauty should be things like: self confidence, independence, dedication, self determination, achievement, empathy, and passion.

Embracing yourself and who you truly are on the inside should be the most beautiful thing of all. It doesn't matter what size you are or what name brands you wear or the amount of make up you put on that makes you beautiful, it's being confident and true to who you are. Alicia Keys, a well known celebrity figure, has taken a big part in the change towards self confidence and being true to yourself by pledging to not wear make up anymore. Instead of the "Miss America" look being the standard of beauty among our society, being 110% yourself and being confident about who you are IS the true beauty within people.

Works Cited: Adobe Spark & Pinterest