I’ve been doing alot of research on the new breed of feminism that seems to be on the uprise (On the internet, anyhow) these days… and I found a site http://www.bodyobjective.com the other day and it got me to thinking about body image and what defines beautiful.
So what do you consider beautiful?
Psycologists have shown that good-looking people are often assumed to be smarter or more “together” than unattractive people. It would be pure folly to state that there is no such thing as physical beauty. But what is beautiful? A certain symmetry. An unblemished complexion. High cheek bones. Who knows? Different people have different tastes. But if you find someone attractive, what difference does it make what others think? Personally, I find woman who are “perfect” to be quite sexless.
Discover had an article a couple years ago in which a scientist was trying to identify and isolate the characteristics that most people associate with beauty. You might scan their web site, see if it’s in the archives.
Well, call me kinky, but I consider “posting in the correct forum” to be beautiful.
Off to IMHO.
I checked out that website, and I was truly shocked to see the picture on the front cover! Not what I was expecting, but exactly what I needed. What a breath of fresh air. Thanks for the link, Malkavia. I can’t imagine ever having such confidence, but it would be lovely, I think, to feel so secure.
To answer the OP, I think kindness is beautiful. It’s so easy to be cruel and heartless, and some people see it as funny, I guess. But when someone does something out of kindness, expecting nothing in return, simply because it will make me smile - that’s beautiful.
I don’t want to get too philosophical here, but I think of physical beauty in terms of a beautiful piece of writing. Every once in a while, I’m reading or writing and I come across the perfect combination of words, or sounds, or maybe literary devices, that causes me to re-read it until I’ve got it memorized and imprinted on my brain. That feeling I get - a sort of breathlessness at having found something truly perfect - is the same way I feel when I see someone who is beautiful.
But usually it’s not the first time I see that person, but a moment after I’ve talked to him, and realized that he is special, or particularly kind or good or funny - I look at him with new eyes and see that he is a beautiful person.
I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who is beautiful specifically in the Vogue/model sense. But I’ve known plenty of people who were beautiful anyway.
Whoops, I opened that link at work! :o
To me, beauty is something that is projected (an atttude). A pleasant expression improves anyone’s looks. A gorgeous person with a scowl is not beautiful to me.
I apologize. I probably should’ve mentioned that opening the link at work would be a bit inappropriate. (Although, thats where I found it… and I must say… it really made my day go alot smoother.)
At first glance, I didnt really notice the beauty inherant in that website… but as I went through the gallery and read these womens statements, their confidence shone through their words and I was completely awed by them.
If I had to define beauty, I personally would say its something that eminates from within. A confident, sexy person is beautiful because they -are- confident and sexy, and their features become beautiful… Just as an insecure person with alot of bitterness with the same physical characteristics will seem unappealing.
But the stereotypes are still incredibly prevelant. Men with bare chests and well defined 6 packs (By the way, I would be incredibly disappointed if my SO shaved his chest or lost the cutest belly in the entire world.) and women with hair a shade of blonde not found in nature, D cup tits with silicon resiliancy, a tan that looks minutes away from melanoma and a body that screams anorexia are still telling the rest of the world that we’re just not fake enough to be beautiful.
But I must admit… seeing women with real breasts talk about how proud they were of hips that bore children and breasts that nursed them was far beyond beautiful and as Sara mentioned… completely refreshing.
ps. Sorry about posting in the wrong forum… the question mark at the end of my statement confused me. =)