5 ms·

Whiteness of teeth and eyes are biological markers of being a good potential mate with [currently] good health and [presumably] strong immune system (evolutiona

Whiteness of teeth and eyes are biological markers of being a good potential mate with [currently] good health and [presumably] strong immune system (evolutionary "hints" of having "good genes"), an analogy of peacock's tail. Breath is another important hint, btw. These are just hard-wired to our brains. People are mere monetizing these "heuristics" into absurd.

golemotron 11y ago
Yes and the author tells a story about Western culture but I kept asking "how do you know?" Eastern cultures may have the same bias but without enough technological development over their history to actualize it at the same rate that we have.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- hodwik 11y ago
  A lot of Asian cultures actually have a culture around teeth blackening. http://www.traveldudes.org/travel-tips/tooth-blackening-forgotten-tradition/14811 http://www.traveldudes.org/travel-tips/tooth-blackening-forg...
  - tabio 11y ago
    And some American subcultures have a cuture around teeth goldening!
- IkmoIkmo 11y ago
  > "how do you know?" Maybe he doesn't. If I tell you a story about my culture I don't necessarily imply to know about everyone else's, too. For example I've got no clue how whitening plays a role in much of the world as a beauty standard, but I know how it plays a role where I'm from. And indeed standards may not be the same. For example in much of Asia it's often a beauty standard to have the lightest skin colour possible, for light-skinned people. While this exists in the west for dark skinned people, light skinned people generally have the opposite and getting a tanned skin is considered better than a pale one. How that works for teeth I don't know, although I'd imagine in most cities white teeth as a beauty standard are probably fairly common but it's just an assumption.

5 ms·

Whiteness of teeth and eyes are biological markers of being a good potential mate with [currently] good health and [presumably] strong immune system (evolutiona

by dschiptsov 11y ago

golemotron 11y ago
Yes and the author tells a story about Western culture but I kept asking "how do you know?" Eastern cultures may have the same bias but without enough technological development over their history to actualize it at the same rate that we have.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- hodwik 11y ago
  A lot of Asian cultures actually have a culture around teeth blackening. http://www.traveldudes.org/travel-tips/tooth-blackening-forgotten-tradition/14811 http://www.traveldudes.org/travel-tips/tooth-blackening-forg...
  - tabio 11y ago
    And some American subcultures have a cuture around teeth goldening!
- IkmoIkmo 11y ago
  > "how do you know?" Maybe he doesn't. If I tell you a story about my culture I don't necessarily imply to know about everyone else's, too. For example I've got no clue how whitening plays a role in much of the world as a beauty standard, but I know how it plays a role where I'm from. And indeed standards may not be the same. For example in much of Asia it's often a beauty standard to have the lightest skin colour possible, for light-skinned people. While this exists in the west for dark skinned people, light skinned people generally have the opposite and getting a tanned skin is considered better than a pale one. How that works for teeth I don't know, although I'd imagine in most cities white teeth as a beauty standard are probably fairly common but it's just an assumption.