Defining Beauty.
By Amanda Pasciucco, Marriage and Family Therapist
Due to commercialism, many people assess their own beauty by the models in magazines, commercials, and on billboards. Unfortunately statistics today imply that there is lower self-esteem among all Americans than ever before. The reason for this may be that people are constantly being flooded with depictions of alluring and attractive individuals within advertisements. When people begin to compare themselves to these models, they begin to feel incomplete. Acting off their emotional impulses, they will go out and do exactly what the companies want: buy the products that their models are selling.
The misconception of beauty must stop if we have any hope for the self-esteem of young or future generations. Within our society, the definition of beauty has become extremely skewed. Beauty is defined as “the quality present in a thing or personthat gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising fromsensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.) or something where spiritualqualities are manifested.” What Americans are bombarded with is commercialism that uses glamour to play on our notion of beauty. Glamour is “the quality of fascinating, alluring, or attracting, especially by a combination of charm and good looks” or “magic or enchantment; spell; witchery.”
The most interesting part of this whole notion is that glamour is defined as “enchantment” or “witchery” because it truly has captured us as individuals and made people entranced in what it provides. If people understood this core distinction between beauty and glamour, there would be higher self-esteem throughout the nation. However, people are not told that what they perceive as beauty is actually something entirely different. Therefore, they begin to compare their own beauty against the cultural media’s definition.
It is important as individuals, educators, parents, and friends that we educate people about the definition of beauty. This week, begin to identify the ways in which you are beautiful. Where are you most beautiful? Who is around you when you are the most beautiful? What qualities represent your beauty? Remember, it doesn’t have to be physical beauty.
Expanding exercise: Ask friends and family if they would express their beauty to you. It could be a powerful experience to find out if others can even identify the ways in which they are beautiful. If they struggle to find the qualities they possess that can attract others to them, it is alright. Every person has some way in which they possess beauty. Let them know that all people deserve to know the ways in which they are beautiful and are deserving of hearing praise for their beauty.
*All definitions within this article have come from dictionary.com. The idea for this article came from a workshop I took last week at the Institute for Sexuality Education, Enrichment, and Enlightenment (ISEEE) with the founder of the institute, Dr. Rosalyn Dischiavo.