Is Beauty a Gift or a Curse
Sometimes I wish I could see myself through the eyes of others. For my entire adult life the two constant adjectives that have been used to describe me are pretty and sexy. The funny thing is that I've never felt pretty or sexy. Maybe my flaws distract me and I am unable to appreciate my seemingly appealing physical features. I don't think I'm ugly, but I also don't think that I am an ideal human specimen either. And there lays the downfall of most attractive women. They are so used to their physical beauty that they are unable to appreciate that they really are beautiful. Instead, they obsess over imperfections that are barely noticeable and disregard their overpowering beauty. Which leads me to the age old question, is beauty a gift or a curse?
posted by Lovely Lady @ 12:43 PM
5 Comments:
At 1:44 PM, November 30, 2006,
none said…
I think it is a little of both. Some people have described me as beautiful, though I don't personally think that I am. Pretty, sure, but beautiful? ehh... I'd say not. My younger sister, however, is beautiful. She's got the kind of beauty where many people (especially men) fawn over her, and others (mostly women) hate on her. It's a rare day that she will go out (shopping, to her job as a waitress, etc) and not have a man (or several) ask for her phone number or give her their card. Basically, she's gorgeous... but she still doesn't have any more self-confidence than the average person. As a young teenager, she was quite insecure, actually. Perhaps it's because she didn't fit the ideal of beauty at our mostly white high school in a small, full-of-racists town... or perhaps because, like anyone, she has her hangups. Perhaps it's because people place such importance on her appearance that she begins to see it as her main source of value, and thus, when she feels unattractive or is having a bad hair day or for some reason does not get positive feedback, it holds higher significance than it would for someone else. What's great about my sister is that she's got the substance behind the beauty as well. She's hysterically funny, down-to-earth, will make a fool of herself for a laugh, is working 2 jobs to pay her own way through college, really loves God, etc. She's a fantastic human being, and yet, I am sometime angry at the way that many men cannot see beyond her beautiful face, hair, and body to her REAL worth. I wonder if she ever feels that way... I think I'll ask her.
At 11:10 PM, December 05, 2006,
Dawn said…
You guys should take a look at this video on beauty and read the post/comments after.
At 1:36 PM, December 06, 2006,
The Prufroquette said…
Whew. Loved the ad. Didn't really agree with the comments in the post surrounding it.
This is going to have to lead to my own post. I've been putting it off, but I can't anymore.
At 3:48 PM, December 06, 2006,
Dawn said…
Yeah, if you read through the comments on there, Jeremy and I had a long debate over his commentary on the video. It's one of the rare moments in which it's crystal clear that I'm not a guy--only a guy would fail to understand the societal pressure on women to look a certain way.
At 4:59 PM, December 06, 2006,
The Prufroquette said…
I would have to agree with you completely. I loved your responses. I'm formulating something to say directly on that post, but in the meantime, you're exactly right -- even the nice guys don't get it. They seem to think that because a woman SHOULDN'T feel societal pressure to be horrifically thin, she DOESN'T. Um. No. And it goes far, far deeper than, If I buy Olay products I'll look like HER. Most of the time the product being advertised, especially on billboards, doesn't register at all. What registers is how she looks, which is a not-at-all-subtle message to me that that's how I SHOULD LOOK, regardless of product.
That's the true evil of advertising and body image. That and how a lot of the men who talk about it, even the nicest ones (especially the nicest ones?) tend to be unaware.
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