Beauty

I recently had a conversation with a friend about beauty. We had a disagreement about the basis by which we define beauty. Let me explain.

I sense two camps here: those who think beauty is on the inside and those who think beauty is on the outside. I'm going to use these two broad definitions to explain my theory on beauty.

In my recent discussions, I was asked the question, "Could you admit that a woman was beautiful when she walks past?" I replied, "no." Thus began our debate. I said that I could not submit that a woman was beautiful just by looking at her. I told my friend that I felt it was not right to label a woman beautiful unless I understood her personality, etc. My friend took a different stance. He claimed that he could look at a woman and innocently call her beautiful by looking at her exterior features. This point of view believes that there is something inheirantly engrained in us that can recognize beauty.

If you think about this topic in sociological terms, the beauty we know today is socially constructed. Media and advertisements have created a definition of beauty. As women, and men for that matter, begin to strive for these ideals a spiral begins to refine the definition. If you look at models in the last 100 years, the women have gotten thinner, taller, and more unnatural. It is the system which has defined beauty.

If you think of beauty as going beyond the surface, you begin to see a much deeper and more meaningful definition. I believe God intended human beings to be beautiful creations that reflect the image of God. This involves much more than our physical bodies. God desires that our whole being be transformed to be like Christ. I have a friend that I can honestly call beautiful. She does not neccessarily meet the socially constructed criteria for beauty, but she possesses something unique and special that simply radiates "beauty".

I just do not feel right calling a woman beautiful according to a superficial definition when there is so much more to people than their outward appearance. Some of the most beautiful people I know do not fit the definition of pop-beauty.