The Standard of Beauty: Tuberculosis

Consumption, spes phthisica, tuberculosis... It has been called by many different names throughout time, yet the one thing that hasn't changed is that it remains the deadliest infectious disease in our history. Caused by bacteria, made worse by social factors, tuberculosis has shaped several different aspects of our current lives. One of them being... beauty standards. Or more accurately, western beauty standards. You might wonder, how does a lethal infectious disease shape beauty standards? There are several psychological and social factors involved, of course. Let's dive deeper into the topic!

During the 18th century, tuberculosis was at an all-time high, especially in Europe. Millions of people died annually of tuberculosis. There was no known cure for it yet, nor did they know what actually caused the disease. When it first emerged, it was thought to be a disease of poverty. Because tuberculosis becomes active more easily when one is malnourished, poor people were more likely to be affected by it. But then, the disease started spreading among everyone, regardless of their financial situation. For some time, it was known as "the disease of civilization". Since tuberculosis thrives in crowded places with little clean air, the recently industrialized cities of the time were the places most affected by the illness. So, people supposed tuberculosis must be affecting the more "civilized", more developed societies. And when even the richest among them started getting infected, a panic spread among the people along with the disease. It seemed to be unstoppable, everyone was vulnerable to it and it seemed to be a death sentence. Before, when only the poor seemed to be affected by it, the society's defense mechanism was to cast the ill out of the social order. But now that even the richest, the most influential people were falling ill to tuberculosis, they could do so no more. So, they did what the human psyche always does in a psychologically distressing situation: They developed a new coping mechanism.

Everything about this disease was so frightening, so horrible, that people needed to find an upside to be able to cope with it. And because there seemed to exist none, they made some up! At the time, more and more famous authors, poets, and artists were becoming ill with tuberculosis. So, people thought there had to be something related to them about this disease. The explanation they came up with in the end was while tuberculosis consumed the body (hence it being called "consumption" at the time), it fed the soul. The consumptive person was supposed to be more creative, more artistically inclined. In this way, tuberculosis became nearly a desired disease, especially for people in the arts.

And for a woman, what could be more desired than beauty, right? So of course, tuberculosis had to have something to do with beauty, too. The most common physical manifestations of tuberculosis are a pale complexion caused by deoxygenation, wide, sunken eyes, rosy cheeks caused by fever, prominent cheekbones, and a shrunken, fragile-looking frame. Sound familiar? In time, people started romanticizing tuberculosis to be able to cope with its psychological strain. And just like the idea that it must bestow artistic genius to the person, they also thought it made the women more beautiful. All the physical symptoms listed above became extolled traits in a woman. In other words, tuberculosis became the beauty standard. And what a lethal beauty it was, indeed. Women started applying small amounts of belladonna, which is known to be a toxic plant, to their eyelids to benefit from its effect of dilating the pupils so that they could get the "doe-eyed" look of tuberculosis. Popular magazines of the time started giving instructions on how to apply red paint on the cheeks and the lips. White skin became a sign of beauty, so much so that a book called "Female Beauty" published in 1837 wrote: "Whiteness is the most essential quality of the skin." It isn't hard to guess how that mentality would've contributed to racism as well. And, believe it or not, some people even wished to move to urban areas where tuberculosis was widespread, just so they could also become sick with it and thus become more beautiful. Soon, consumption was also known as "the flattering malady". In fact, several authors and poets of the time wrote about it. For example, the famous poet Henry David Thoreau wrote "Disease and decay are beautiful- Like the pearl tear of the shellfish or the hectic glow of consumption." in his journal. And the renowned author of Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë, wrote to one of her sisters, who was sick with tuberculosis at the time, in a letter "Consumption, I am aware, is a flattering malady."

Fading Away by Henry Peach Robinson, a combination print in which a girl dying of tuberculosis and her family's grief is depicted.

Tuberculosis has been around for 15-20 thousand years. Throughout that time, not only has it affected millions of lives, becoming the deadliest infectious disease in our history, it has also shaped the world we live in today immensely. One of the things it has influenced is, surprisingly, modern western beauty standards. It is certainly amazing how a disease can have such an impact on even seemingly unrelated aspects of life. This piece was inspired by John Green's book "Everything Is Tuberculosis". In his book, John Green goes on to tell in even more detail various influences of tuberculosis on our lives, its history, our fight against it, and some very touching stories of tuberculosis patients. If you would like to learn more about tuberculosis, you should definitely check it out!