How can we define feminine beauty? Which woman is considered pretty and which is not? What are the parameters for a beautiful damsel and is beauty universal? These are very fundamental questions to which there is no one clear answer.

It is widely acceptable, I think, that a pretty woman from a different race and culture will be considered beautiful among her people and everywhere. There are universal standards according to which people understand their world and act in it. There are some different tastes but they are particular and not cultural. That is, a beautiful Chinese girl will be considered pretty in China and in the US, in the Middle East and in Australia.

So how can we define beauty? The philosopher Immanuel Kant has tried to shed some light on it. In his third critique he defines beauty as something that is beautiful without serving and other interest and function apart from being beautiful. This cold and objective vision cannot help us. Feminine beauty is not devoid of interest – the interest of men who find a woman attractive.

Some refer to the biological imperative. A beautiful woman has a certain body shape which indicates she can bear healthy babies: wide pelvis and narrow waists like a Coke bottle. Yet this parameter is too narrow in my opinion since it ignores cultural aspects.

To be honest, I have no answer. I think it is all a matter of intuition. Feminine beauty exists in our mind and we are able to evaluate is according to what we feel inside and not a according to fixed definitions.