Showing posts with label rants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rants. Show all posts

You're Beautiful (It's True!)

It's not that I hate you Allure, it's just that you have some shallow qualities that need to be worked out; especially if you plan to empower women in the 21st century.  For now, let's just call it a 'growing distaste'. 

Perhaps it's just in my mind, but something in a recent article titled 'What Makes a Person Beautiful' rang off an alarm.  Perhaps I read too much (is there such a thing?) but I just finished reading an article titled Racial Disparities Threaten Economic Vitality in my Latin America course yesterday, and it talked about "racial conditioning".

You see, "when Brazil abolished slavery in 1888, the ensuing panic by a minority, white elite, gave birth to a whitening program...Brazil encouraged and subsidized massive immigration of Eurpeans, whose "superior" blood would prevail in race mixture and slowly eliminate the "inferior" black component.

In other words, instead of seperating the races and protecting their 'purity', the elite opted to eliminate Africans by means of race mixture itself."

Those white elites are still at it today, using poverty as their weapon.  The whole thing is disgusting.  But what does that have to do with Allure? 

"a new study from Cardiff University in Wales shows that people may find mixed-race faces the most attractive—and this may be a deeper, more lasting kind of appreciation. In the largest study of its kind, Michael Lewis of Cardiff's School of Psychology, collected a random sample of 1205 black, white, and mixed-race faces. Each face was then rated by a panel of participants for its perceived attractiveness to others. In a similar earlier study, a psychologist at the University of Western Australia found that when Caucasian and Japanese volunteers looked at photos of Caucasian, Japanese, and Eurasian faces, both groups rated the Eurasian faces as most attractive. Scientists do have a hypothesis for why people might prefer a melting-pot ideal—and it isn't because of a passing beauty trend. Evolutionary psychologists suggest that it's because humans may be hard-wired to seek out mates who clearly have genetic diversity and are therefore likely to be healthier."

Is it hard-wiring?  Or is it something else?  The fact is, throughout history the mixing of races has been used both for integration and 'ethnic cleansing'.  The following qoutes were taken right out of my Psychology textbook, Our Sexuality (it's a human sexuality course, and one I believe everyone should take).

"In wars instigated by ethnic conflict, as in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Darfur, mass rape is used as a military strategy to terrorize and demoralize a whole population, to destroy it's cultural integrity...thereby acheiving the goal of 'ethic cleansing'."

There is always a dark element to humanity, ones that need not ever be.  This makes me sad in so many ways.  I don't think 'race mixing' is a horrible thing in itself.  If two people come together, in mutual love and create a child, well that's one of the great joys in life, no matter what your ethnicity.

But what about when it comes about through obvious force or subtle social conditioning?  Allure, I'm sure you meant well, but please remember.  We are ALL beautiful, and should take pride in who we are, whether that's Caucasion, African, Asian Hispanic, Mestizo, Native American, Eskimo, Greek, Italian, etc. or a mix of these.  Beauty is not only skin deep, it comes from the inside.

After all, what's beauty without brains?



Above quotes taken from the following texts;
Global Studies:  Latin America, Paul B. Goodwin, 13th edition, McGraw-Hill, 2009
Our Sexuality, Robert Crooks and Karla Baur, 10th edition, Cengage Advantage Books, 2008

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I-Spy...or do I?


Look closely.  Do you notice anything a little off about this picture from Allure.com?  Yep, she doesn't have a damn stretch mark on her body.  I'm not sure why, but it outrages me when they post something about stretch marks and then use a model with a flawless body.  I mean c'mon!  I know there are PLENTY of real women out there, not to mention all the celebs and models who have stretch marks.  I guarantee that it doesn't make them look even an iota less sexy.

It's ironic considering #24 in the "Allure Guide to Looking Good":

 "There's nothing positive or attractive about criticizing another woman's appearance," says self-esteem coach Laure Redmond. "Even sitting around with your friends talking about how fat a certain celebrity looks or calling women 'cougars' is destructive—and it certainly doesn't make you feel any better about yourself."

Well then Allure, don't critize our natural, beautiful bodies.  You don't have to airbrush away stretch marks, cellulite, or scars to make a woman appear beautiful.  I find a woman who is comfortable in her own skin the sexiest thing of all.

I wonder, how is refusing to portray the honest beauty of a womens body instead of this flawless-as-a-newborn-baby image supposed to make us feel any better of ourselves?

Oh and one more thing, open up an issue of Womens Muscle & Fitness, Oxygen, Shape, or any other fitness magazine and see for yourself, some women DO have real six packs.

If you'd like to read the original article (there are some good tips there) then follow this link:
http://www.allure.com/magazine/2010/05/looking_better_naked?slide=28#slide=1

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