One again we have the “OMG a woman had the nerve not to do everything she can to make herself attractive to me personally” syndrome. As if it is some kind of offense that we might sometimes have other priorities than maximizing the degree that random observers want to bone us.
Beauty and sexual attractiveness are parallel but not always intertwined concepts. I’m sure Kim Cattrall doesn’t care if you personally want to nail her or not. And I’m also pretty sure her sex life is awesome, and her lover doesn’t find her one bit less fascinating or sensual because she didn’t wear the undergarments that turn you on the most. But she probably does want to be seen as beautiful.
There comes a time in your life when you have to admit you are not 18/perky breasted/exceptionally skinny/perfect skinned/whatever. Even the most beautiful among us fit this perfect form for just a few brief moments.
So you are left with some options- you can give up, get the “mom” haircut, and walk around with baggy holiday-themed sweatshirts. You can pretend, with ever-declining success leading to eventual humiliation, that you still are these things. Or you can accept yourself as a sexual, beautiful woman who has aged exactly as god meant you to. I’m starting to see my first wrinkles. What do you expect me to do? Cry myself to sleep? Lock myself in a closet? Save up for botox? Wear a mask?
Naw, I’ll just see them a sign of the life I’ve lived, the times I’ve smiled, my own history written on my face. It’s beautiful, in it’s own way. Maybe not as hot as an 18 year old model, but beautiful none the less.
While some very basic things are hard wired, much of beauty is culturally defined or at least can be stretched pretty far. Look at how societies have gone back and forth on the “fat” versus “skinny” female ideal. Or how many cultures revere white skin when we like a tan.
Societies can have a larger or smaller range of what they find beautiful. In my experience in Cameroon, people just loved women. They thought we were all beautiful. The 250 lb. volunteer got as much admiration as the 90 lb. volunteer. People hit on my mother as vigorously as they hit on me. Race, coloring…none of these things would disqualify you from being attractive. Models in magazines and in music videos all looked completely different from each other.
In China there is a much smaller range of what is considered “beautiful.” 40 kg. is well known as the “perfect” weight. Lighter skin is always better than darker skin. Nobody can rock their darker skin as “exotic” the way they can elsewhere. Basically there is one “ideal girl” and everyone is judged by how close to that they look. Models in magazines and in music video usually look pretty similar.
The US is somewhere in between. We have a variety of ways to be beautiful- from “blonde sexpot” to “exotic Asian” to “voluminous goddess.” Our models show some variety, but there could be more.
I think it’d be a worthwhile exercise to expand and challenge our concept of beauty. Perhaps part of that is because I’m a woman who will one day become an older woman. And I don’t think that makes me any less beautiful than I am now. It personally makes me happy to see older women who don’t see growing and looking older as the equivalent of getting neutered. Who don’t need to hide and pretend. YMMV