Ideals of Beauty

         
                    Something that we discussed in class recently got me thinking about the discrepancies between society hundreds of years ago and today. When we were learning about the pilgrim's move to Jamestown, we learned that a few women would come over to marry the men and start families with them. As the girls were getting off the boat, the men had their pick of which one they would want to marry. Our classes first thoughts were that attractiveness by today's standards would be the major factor in the men's decision. However, we learned that the first women that were chosen were the largest ones. This is because the bigger you were, the healthier you were considered. Men wanted to marry a woman that was bigger and healthy, meaning that she could survive a long winter and have many children.

              As strange as it sounds in today's society of rail thin models, bigger actually was considered more beautiful. Above is a painting called The Three Graces from the 17th century. Many paintings of women from this era and beyond had a similar, larger body type. They way in which these women are painted, as well as calling them "graces" shows that this was the epitome of beauty. Being large was admired because it was a sign of status. It showed that you were rich enough to afford good food and other luxuries, and that you didn't have to work. This is in stark contrast with the stick thin figure that many women of today strive to be. Why do you think society had evolved in this way? What factors do you think cause beauty ideals to change?

Economic Aid at New Trier

                 When my family first started participating in Adopt a Family during Christmas (a program where you are assigned to a family that is economically struggling and you buy Christmas presents for them), I was surprised to hear that all of the families in the program had kids at New Trier. Attending a school that is considered so wealthy, you never really consider that there are people here that are actually seriously struggling with money.  According to the ChicagoTribune, the number of low-income students at NT has doubled to 202 since 2007. Many wealthy schools have seen increases in state funding for low income families in the past few years. This is great because it is easy to overlook wealthy areas as not needing of any financial help, even though there is diversity everywhere and there are people struggling even in the wealthiest of areas.

            What seems strange about this situation, however, is that while poverty grants from the state have been raised for New Trier and other wealthy schools, they have recently been dropped for some of Illinois’ poorest schools. This is interesting, because while there definitely are kids from low-income families that need help at New Trier, I would think the very poor schools should receive the same amount if not more, because there are probably many more low-income families at those schools.
          Why do you think there has been this inverted trend of wealthy schools getting increased funding while poor schools are receiving decreased funding?

#freejahar

       

       A disturbing new Twitter trend has recently come into existence. #freejahar has been becoming a popular hashtag for tweets from teenage girls all over the world. Shockingly, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev (his nickname is Jahar), the 19-year old responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings last month, has been gaining a lot of support from young girls as he awaits trial. Why does he suddenly have this group of backers? His looks. These girls are saying he is simply too attractive to be guilty or to pay for his actions. On Twitter, @FreeJahar97 tweeted on April 25, “Yes i like Justin Bieber and i like Jahar but that has nothing to do with why i support him. I know hes innocent, he is far too beautiful." Another user, @Shadowlily1993, has tweeted, "Yall can judge me as much as you want. I’m on his side. This kid needs people behind him. . . . I hope to meet him one day he fascinates me.”  "Too pretty to be guilty" is a popular tweet that is coming out from girls in his defense. 

               The tweet above is from a girl that claims she is not basing her support for him off his looks, and she feels that, "he doesn’t have a voice. Somebody needs to stand up for him and not the little high-school girls who just think he’s cute... We live in this country where we are innocent until proven guilty and it’s not our job to prove that he’s innocent. It’s the government’s job to prove that he’s guilty,” she says. Based off this explanation, you could say that his looks aren't a factor for many of these girls in their decision to support him and that they honestly believe he is innocent for "legitimate" reasons. However, pretty much all these twitter supporters are teenage girls. I think this says something about what their reasoning is for their support. 
    This news makes me feel even more sad for everyone affected by the bombing. Among the death toll was an 8-year old child. Many people lost limbs, which will drastically change their lives forever. Right now should be a time for mourning the victims and their families. I can't imagine being personally affected by this in any way and then seeing people trying to defend the perpetrator, only because of his looks at that. This shows cruelty and a huge lack of respect for those affected that these girls are putting this person's appearance in front of the terrible losses these victims have suffered. 


      Taking pity on a criminal because of their appearance ins't unheard of in our society. In a study published in the academic journal, Behavioral Sciences & the Law, a defendant is less likely to be found guilty if he or she is more attractive. Better-looking defendants get less severe sentences. In the experiment, jurors were given a case study with four pictures of the defendant's face, and then listened to the closing arguments. They were asked whether the defendant was guilty and what sentence he or she should be given. The jurors tested ended up finding better-looking defendants guilty 22% less of the time than defendants they though unattractive. Also, the more attractive defendants were given a sentence of almost two years less in jail.


            What do the actions and opinions of these Jahar supporters, as well as the study, tell you about our society today and what values are held by the general population?