We boys never even discussed our bodies or whether we were attractive or not (not even comparing willies!). We just took our bodies for granted whatever they looked like and that was that.
Young girls on the other hand are having a terrible time of it, bombarded on all sides by "beautiful woman" images and by men's endless criticism of female bodies.
Many succumb to the pressure and do their best to make themselves more "attractive", changing their appearance in any way possible, from different make-up to cosmetic surgery. Only those with very strong wills can ignore all this pressure and accept themselves just as they are.
As far as I remember my sister was never influenced by all the focus on beautiful women (which when she was growing up was nothing like as rampant as it is now). She accepted herself as she was and never got hung-up on what she looked like.
I've never had the slightest desire to remodel myself as some beautiful man. I'm very positive about my body and have no urge to change any part of it. I am what I am.
Nick, beauty is such a subjective perception and is different in other countries and cultures.Important is that you grow up in self respect and that you are ok like you are. My first boyfriend at the age of 16 loved my red hair and green eyes and he proudly talked about me as the most beautiful girl in town (haha) and that he got the chance to be with me. So nice and funny to think about this now.
ReplyDeleteHe married a blond girl with blue eyes !
Hannah
PS: I hope you feel better and will recover completely from Covid as well as Jenny.
Hannah: That's funny, him marrying a blonde girl with blue eyes. So you weren't quite the most beautiful girl in town!
DeleteWe've both recovered from covid now, thank goodness.
This has left me a bit stumped as to how to reply. As a young woman, like most young women, I fussed more than I needed to over my looks. That said, I didn't feel unhappy with myself. I look at a certain group of women who are emerging with ballon lips, over-high sharp cheekbones and inflated breasts and feel sorry they think they need to do this to themselves.
ReplyDeleteSandra: Oh, maybe my other blogmates are also a bit stumped? Yes, I don't understand the balloon-lips inflated-breasts tendency. They just end up looking totally artificial and ridiculous.
DeleteI was never beautiful, and was fortunate to be a young woman during the hippie era. We disdained make-up.
ReplyDeleteColette: That was a very radical period. Women not only refused make-up, for a time they even stopped wearing bras.
DeleteI'm disturbed by the number of 30 year olds getting botox. Do they plan on injecting toxins into their faces for 50 years??
ReplyDeleteBijoux: Probably they do. I gather the botox has to be constantly topped-up. What an incredible waste of time and money.
DeleteI've never had any cosmetic surgery and never would. We change as we get older and there's nothing wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteMary: Exactly. Why not just grow old gracefully, as they say.
DeleteI have never succumbed to beauty trends and gladly so because my $ could be spent elsewhere. However, I will confess to coloring my hair or else I would have been gray in my 30s since premature graying was hereditary in my family.
ReplyDeleteBeatrice: Hair colouring seems a fairly innocent preference to me, not very different from deciding which jacket you're going to wear. And very different from physical invasions like surgery.
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