ATTITUDES TO THE BLEMISH

From ancient times, it was considered fashionable to have a beauty spot. Marilyn Monroe had one, pencilled near her top lip. Why do we find this beautiful? Is it mere fashion or convention? Is Marilyn more, or less, beautiful with the beauty spot removed?

Blemishes can be ugly, sometimes very ugly. Yet human beings have a remarkable ability to overlook blemishes, and indeed turn the blemish into a positive feature.

The conventional view is that a beauty spot 'calls attention to an attractive feature'. This explanation looks weak. If that were true, then you could draw attention to, say, an attractive nose with a black spot positioned right at the tip, which is surely not the case.

A similar criticism applies to the explanation that 'a single imperfection highlights perfection'. The response to that argument is that it all depends on the imperfection and where it is placed.

The truth is that imperfections and blemishes have a meaning, or we attribute a meaning to them. A beauty spot mimics a mole, which can occur randomly on any part of the face or body. A symmetrically placed beauty spot appears unnatural, and therefore unattractive.

Scars are not always ugly. A scar has significance, it tells of an accident, or operation that you have survived. People are often proud of their scars. When cosmetic surgery is used for facial scars, the aim should not be an 'invisible mend'. Human beings are not garments.

Scars and blemishes are marks of uniqueness, and it is in our uniqueness rather than what we have in common with others, that our humanity is expressed.

© Geoffrey Klempner 2008