Beauty By Any Other Name
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| elizabethahawksworth.com |
Wanda Wade
Four year old little girls are amazing, creative
and believers of fairy-tales. I remember my now nineteen year old
daughter at this age. She was giggly, funny and, an uncontrollable ball
of energy. The family game room was continuously covered with her things.
There was a sea of pink and purple everywhere, and yes she did believe she was
a beautiful princess. She had tiaras, those plastic Cinderella slippers
and the complete princess attire in several different styles. Though it
was short lived, it was a fun and playful time in our house.
It was a time of dreams, make believes
and fairy-tales, which is something that all young girls
should experience. I'd like to think of it as the princess effect
because it encourages girls to dream and it gives them a positive view of
themselves. If all girls grew up believing that they were beautiful it
could boost their self-esteem times ten and set them on a path of self-love,
don't you think? It would further give them a positive self-image and
instead of relying on what others define as beauty in them, they'd be equipped
to determine that for themselves. Making it almost impossible for anyone
to fit a particular mold of beauty.
Recently I came across an article written three
years ago in Psychology Today and it contradicted everything I believed about
beauty and myself. It was written by Satoshi Kanazawa, a Reader in
Management at the London School of Economics. A reader is someone who
uses evolutionary psychology to analyze social sciences, such as sociology and
economics.
Kanazawa is known to write controversial
articles and his findings have come under scrutiny by his peers in the
past. The article in Psychology Today was no exception, depicting women
of color as unattractive. The article was titled, Why Black Women
are Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women. The title was later
changed before it was removed completely by the website.
Although his results seemed to have been skewed
it didn't stop the post from being printed. Also, Psychology Today
did include a disclaimer warning that this blogger was known to offend. I
guess it was their way of throwing the rock but hiding their hand, so
to speak. After reading the article I was left with less questions about
beauty and more about humanity. For instance, who thought demeaning a
race of women would be a positive thing? Does Satoshi Kanazawa's
statistical findings determine beauty? Or is beauty truly in the eye
of the beholder? I'd like to think that beauty can be found in everyone.
So, my question is, shouldn't we all be considered beautiful?
As a human race we all have something of beauty
to contribute to this amazing space that we share.
Beauty isn't just based on physicality, it’s something more.
Look around and you’ll find that you’re surrounded by beauty. I revel in
the beauty of being awaken to a new day and new experiences, and all that it
encompasses. To me, this is a beautiful gift in and of itself.
The beauty of the human spirit surpasses all things aesthetic – wanda wade
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