Question: Why do we desire different properties on certain people and not all want the same type?

Ed Morrison answered on 19 Jun 2011:

In terms of attractiveness, it is a myth that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. If you asked people from all different cultures of the world to order the attractiveness of a set of people, they would agree very highly.

It is true that things that are considered attractive in some cultures are not in others. A nice example is preferences for body weight in Africa south of the Sahara, and Western society. Africans generally prefer fatter female bodies than we do. This is probably because, in African countries there is much disease, and diseases typically make you lose weight. So being thin is a sign that you may be ill, and so is not attractive. Also, food is often a lot harder to find in these countries, so being thin is dangerous as you may be more vulnerable to starvation.

In Western society on the other hand, we have loads of food (too much), and being fat can be a sign of illness – we know that being too heavy increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses. Disease is also much less of a problem. So thinness (although not too thin) is preferred in these cultures because it is associated with health.

So if someone says to you “beauty is subjective”, I would say, “maybe, but not that subjective”.