Where do we go from here?

We have examined a lot of the research out there on beauty in Western Cultures and in Asian Cultures...but there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

I personally would like to know the reason why plastic surgery is so popular in Western cultures, especially the United States, and practically unheard of in Asian cultures. Americans are constantly trying to change their bodies to be the epitome of beauty...going through countless augmentations and Botox injections, and even surgeries to change their ethnicity. I'm curious to know where this is coming from. Obviously it is a cultural thing, but other cultures have a standard of beauty as well. Media is influential in all cultures (as we've already discussed), so why aren't the people of China running to get their faces reconstructed to look like the models on the cover of Cosmopolitan? I think further research should be done in this area...I personally would be curious to know why cosmetic surgery is a booming industry in the United States, but not so much anywhere else.

Along the same lines, Western cultures have a much higher incidence of anorexia and other body image disorders than other cultures. Again, we know it is the media that influences us, but is there something else going on that affects only the West?

Finally, I am curious to know what exactly makes a person attracted to someone else. There has to be something that is specific to each individual that allows them to find someone else attractive, otherwise we would all be marrying clones of the same attractive person. Some people like their mate to be taller or shorter, smaller or larger, long hair or short hair, dark skinned or light skinned. Why?? There has to be something going on neurologically that makes each person, regardless of culture, find someone else beautiful.