A Curious Girl: One Beauty

Look what I made!

Aren't they beautiful? :)

All courtesy of

Hehe. That was fun.

I should get back to revision. Bah. Or have some lunch maybe.

I've been thinking about the whole body image thing again. It might be because Laura Housemate has lost lots of weight recently and she reminded me of my various gripes against dieting (she lost it more through being ill than through dieting, I should note).

Everywhere, in every advertisement and magazine, there seems to be one image of beauty. I went through the copy of Cosmopolitan that's been in our house since November and found I had to have a small celebration simply for seeing a woman with freckles! It's rather like looking at Argos porcelain dolls - they all have different names, but the names are only there to distinguish between the clothes, not the models themselves, who are essentially identical (and need I state, all extremely thin). If you want to have identical models, try a doll-maker instead :)

About a week ago, we (meaning whoever was in the living room at the time) watched Mutants on Channel 4 by Armand Marie Leroi. One of the things discussed was beauty and how people who are better looking tend to be literally more average looking. They cited the most 'perfect' face of them all - that of supermodel Saira Mohan. Take a look -

She does have a lovely face, and quite stunning eyes especially, but it still seems to me to be rather uninteresting - just another beautiful face. Leroi says in the Telegraph, "An image of a beautiful face is not about the subject, but rather what it is not." The only thing distinctive about Saira Mohan's face is how undistinctive she looks. At least she had a role on Mutants instead of just being the mute model - they did let her talk. (Leroi notes, "It would be easy to dwell on Saira's charm, modesty and intelligence – she has all in abundance.") But even so, there seems to be something zoo-like - or even freak-show like - about how beautiful people are treated. They seem to be people who exist for us to look at them.

Something that disturbs me particularly is the way in which there is seemingly one ideal for beauty. This is slim, with just enough breast to add significant curves, but no more, very long legs, and a symmetrical, average looking face. As many have pointed out, Marylin Monroe wouldn't have a chance today if she wanted to star in a Hollywood film.

Have any of you guys seen the show on Fox, The Swan? I read about it on About-Face. If narrow standards of beauty have ever gone to extremes, it must be evident in these garishly homogenised women, who, I am sure, were told to look as if they'd had at least twenty IQ points taken off. Essentially, some 'ordinary' women are given life coaches, beauticians and plastic surgeons to 'improve' their looks. I looked at the gallery and was disturbed at how uninteresting the 'after' photos of these women looked. However, the 'beauty' they got is supposed to be a wonderful thing.

This, from the Swan website, in particular, sickens me -

Kristy approaches the curtain first. Deep breath and… no, she needs five more seconds. Ok, she's ready. The curtain parts and she bursts into tears. Is that me? She touches her waist… is that me too? "I've wanted to be pretty my whole life." There's not a dry eye amongst the experts looking on. Kristy vows to do anything she can to impact someone else's life the way they've impacted hers.

Now it's Cristina's turn. She enters the room and… Wow! The curtain parts and… she can't believe it! "I'm so beautiful!" She thanks the experts and God and everyone in the room. By the way, she loves the dress. She came for the American Dream and she got it.

The American Dream? What a way to mock the dreams of those who fought for independence, and those who wrote the constitution. And I wonder, how will Kristy feel when her hair goes grey and she gets wrinkles?

But hey, apparently society will only love you if you're beautiful, and it has a very specific idea of what beauty is. So why not change your entire face, subject yourself to risky cosmetic surgery, and starve yourself?

Why not? Because it's ridiculous. If that's what society wants, it doesn't deserve you.

*wears a Vipe t-shirt*

(Blackly funny parody put on Am I Right today... It's called I Am A Major Model, And We're Very Thin In General)

Thanks Mum and Nicky for the hugs :)

Random word for today: ectomorph

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