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The True Meaning of Beauty
By Lauren Suess
Over hundreds of years, no word has changed meaning as frequently as
the word beauty. It has redefined itself constantly, showing how
flexible it really can be. Although nearly impossible to concretely
define, Dictionary.com gave it its best shot; "the quality present in
a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to
the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape,
color, sound, etc.)"
There are many ideas of 'beauty' ranging from the voluptuous women of
the paintings from the renaissance, to the tightly corseted women of
the sixteenth century, to today's stick-thin models. All these were
considered 'beauty' at one time, yet when they are put together they
seem very different from each other, and it seems nearly impossible to
truly believe that all were once haphazardly tossed under one
description.
Also, beauty is often times mistaken or taken as a synonym for 'sexy'.
Which, is interesting, to say the least, seeing as they have different
definitions. Sexy is defined as "sexually interesting or exciting;
radiating sexuality." To be 'sexy' is to have sex appeal, which is
tremendously different from being 'beautiful'. It's a shame really,
seeing as in today's society, generally sexy steals beauty's
spotlight. The tantalizing view of a woman's ankle of the early
eighteenth century or the glimpse of a geisha's wrist in Japan has
been replaced with rude head on exposure of a woman's breasts [real,
or possibly recently purchased] fighting to burst from too-small tops
and great lengths of bare, heavily tanned leg stretching down into
feet shoved into 5 inch spike stiletto heels. Along with this visual
violation, the woman's nose may not be the one that she had been born
with. Clearly, we have come great lengths from our ancestor's ideals,
but these steps may not be ones in the right direction. We have
stepped further from modesty and the essence of beauty and have come
closer to sexy and racy images that decorate any major city's
billboards.
Another common modern misconception about beauty is that it is equal
to perfection. This has encouraged leagues of women from all over the
world to 'go under the knife'. They change their physical appearance
to become more 'beautiful' in modern cultures eyes, never mind staying
true to their own bodies. This need to reach perfection has lowered
self esteem of today's women, and the stick thin wisps of women
strutting down catwalks at fashion shows have not helped in the
slightest.
It is close to insanity, the extent to which women have gone to
achieve 'beauty'. Yet, they have missed the entire point, beauty
cannot be associated with flawlessness or sexiness, beauty is not
necessarily a certain look, it is perhaps, more of an attitude, of
modesty, for lack of better words. True beauty is to be confident in
one's self, not to believe that you are anything less then lovely.
Beauty is not a contest; there are no prizes for being the most
'beautiful'. Beauty is timeless and hard to define. However an old
saying captures its underlying meaning perfectly: "beauty is in the
eye of the beholder."
Posted 05/27/2008
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