Beauty & Women

Jen at Et tu? recently posted her thoughts on the question of if women should want to be considered sexy and it has had me thinking for the last couple of days. It's a question of both how women perceive themselves and how they want to be perceived by others. I think I agree with Jen that women should not want to be defined by the modern notion of sexiness, even in their own marriages. And, usually, if a woman is focused on being sexy, then she is focused on how she is perceived by others and not working on her own perception of herself or the truth of who she really is.

As for myself, I would like to be perceived as lovely, elegant, poised, classy, and beautiful. I think that I can achieve these regardless of how much baby weight I have yet to lose or how many gray hairs are on my head. It's more a question of how I think of myself and how I carry myself. Truthfully, however, at the moment I perceive myself as tired, clumsy, muddled, and distracted. But, thankfully, these are temporary states as I continue to refine myself into the poised, classy lady that I want to become.

I love the You Tube video that Jen includes in her post of women in art over the centuries. It is stunning and the women are beautiful and elegant, the polar opposites of how women are portrayed in modern day media. The artists paint not only their faces, but are somehow able to also capture their souls. I think that is the problem with modern media, women are treated as objects who have been stripped of their souls. I want to teach my children to perceive all people first as souls, regardless of if they meet them on the street or see them on TV or on the cover of a tabloid at the check out counter. (And, regardless of if they meet them in a moment of clumsiness or poised confidence.)

I hope this post makes some sense to someone. During the course of writing this I have gotten the baby to sleep and he has woken up again three separate times! But, I know all of you understand and will forgive me for being a bit incoherent at times. :)