Kwan (my boyfriend) and I just came back from the mall and of course, ran into the "back to school" mall traffic! As we walked past different stores, I couldn't help but notice the various fashions and the amount of young men and women exploring the racks in most of the stores, looking for the perfect outfits. I would like to encourage any student who is about to go back to school (grade school, college, grad school, etc.) to not get too caught up in trying to fit into any particular fashion standard. For example, don't feel pressured into wearing skinny jeans, baggy jeans, showing more skin, wearing crazy high gladiator heels, or wearing clothing that is way too tight to breathe in! Instead, find clothes that you like, regardless of whether or not they are up to par with the standards set by Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, or Vogue Magazine. I just graduated from grad school, but this time of year always reminds me of the excitement of going to the store and picking out the newest clothes for school that I thought fit my body well, and clothes that accentuated my personality and style. (I also had a funny tendency to buy a shirt in more than one color if I really liked it :)). I personally preferred stores like Macy's, Sears, and Kohl's, and occasionally checked out JC Penny's - all of the stores had amazing back to school deals, and I always did my research and studied each catalogue ahead of time to nail down which clothes that I liked the best.
If by chance you are not able to splurge on clothes and new fashions this fall season, do not fret! Find different ways to combine your outfits and create a new look that you would wear to school. Have fun combining different scarves, shirts and blouses with your skirts, pants and shorts, change up which shoes you choose to wear with different outfits, and change up your color combinations for a new style. I would also suggest even changing up your makeup or hairdo style in order to give your overall appearance a fresh new look. I also recommend that you do not compare yourself to others and their choice of style - As I always say, be you, and create your own style. You never know, you may set a new trend, and people will want to copy your style!
Back To School Style - Are You Ready?
Stress and Beauty - A Major Disconnect
Have you ever wondered about the relationship between stress and beauty? You may actually be concerned about how the stress in your life may be affecting your health, and perhaps, even your youthful glow. Additionally, the media pours beauty products down our throats on a daily basis, convincing us that if we do happen to show signs of stress or age, there is always a product that can fix it.
Stress can have serious effects on your beauty. According to Shakila Akhter in her article, "Stress Leads to Ugliness," (2002) "Emotional stresses disturb the body homeostasis that results in hormonal malfunctioning, impairment of body immunological functions and slows down the skin rejuvenation." Akhter provides further explanation of the skin and its renewal process:
"Skin constantly renews itself. At young age the cell renewal process completes within 28 days but as we grow older the speed of this process slows down. In addition to age that process is also effected due to our mental state of mind. The period of mental disturbance slows down the process of cell renewal, destroys collagen fibers in the skin, breaks down its elastin and increases the production of sebum oils in oily skin people and dehydrate dry skin."
Your mental health is therefore the key to beautiful skin, so take care of your mind as well as your skin on a daily basis in order to maintain a youthful glow and complexion. This sounds easier than done, right? I totally agree with you. I have always been aware of the effects that stress has on my hair and skin, but some of the information and advice regarding how to relieve stress was incompatible with my personality and/or lifestyle. Akhter provides some very basic and helpful tips that can help with relieving stress and minimizing stressful effects on your beauty (This list is especially useful if you notice side effects of stress like physical changes (e.g. weight gain, weight loss, hair breakage, skin changes, etc.):
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-First of all just leave the stressful situation and drink a glass of water.
-Don’t make any decision during those phases.
-Don’t make any negative judgement about yourself.
-Think about positive traits of your personality. Nobody is ideal and perfect in this world. Every one has some weakness, if you too have some than there is nothing wrong with you.
-Don’t try to seek the help of cigarette, alcohol or any drug.
-Get involved yourself in some easy to do work like cleaning your wardrobe, arranging your bookshelf, do painting. But whatever work you start you have to complete it.
-Call your friend, talk to him/her about your problem. If you don’t want to do so than just take a paper and write down about every thing that is coming to your mind without censoring anything.
-Do aerobics or yoga or just go out for a long walk.
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I have a terribly bad habit of drinking coffee when I am really stressed out, and I am currently in the process of changing that bad habit and am choosing to drink more water overall. I stay away from drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, I tend to talk out issues with close friends, and I am a big fan of exercising (particularly running, pilates, yoga and dance). When I am really stressed, I like to take epsom salt baths as soon as possible, which relax my body and mind.
Respect Yourself in an Age of Self-Obsession
I believe there is a fine line between respecting yourself and obsessing over yourself. I'll focus specifically on women when I say that a lot of us love to spend too much time and money investing in our beauty and our overall appearance, sometimes to the point of unhealthy self-obsession for the purposes of gaining respect from certain people, or pleasing whatever self-imposed standard that we believe we must fit every single day. I am a big fan of taking care of oneself and investing in creative ways to play with beauty and fashion, but I definitely do not believe in self-imposed "duties" of looking a certain way or permanently changing our appearance to gain more respect in society. Women transform all the time - they straighten/perm/cut/extend/etc. their hair, lose weight, get plastic surgery, and invest a lot of time in learning the latest fashion trends out of a fear that they may be left behind the "fashion train" and subsequently left outside the scope of society's approval. As a result, we forget who we are on the inside - we forget those hidden dreams, those hidden passions, those hidden fears that we have to conquer, and those hidden desires that only we know in our hearts. As much as I love to indulge in beauty and play with makeup, I never forget the fact that I need to take time daily to grow within. I personally like to spend time growing in my faith, reading books for leisure, and writing down every thought in my mind of the moment into the pages of my journal. A woman's soul, heart and mind do not change when she buys a new lipstick color or loses ten pounds. The only thrill that those things can get you is a temporary elated feeling that has a very small chance of carrying your happiness throughout the rest of the day. On the other hand, spending time nurturing yourself and exploring your passions has such a positive impact that can last a long time, and will help you get to a new level in your life's journey. The degree to which we allow society to dictate our life is the degree to which we lose sight of our hearts, our minds, and our true desires, and I wanted to take some time this morning to tell you that no one has the right to dictate how you should live your life or feel about yourself. What matters is that you respect yourself, that you love yourself, and that you are able to look in the mirror without any clothes and/or makeup on, be able to accept everything that you see, and say: "I am enough. I am beautiful."
The Beauty of Today's Voluptuous Woman (Of All Sizes)
There is something to be said for the beauty of voluptuous women. I’m very much impressed by the curvy beauties of today. Beyonce, Monica Bellucci, Tyra Banks, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Simpson, and Jennifer Love Hewitt are just a few examples of beauties in the media today who "own" their curves and wear them well. However, I did find it strange that people attacked Jennifer Love Hewitt for being too fat based on her photos in a bikini with a bit of cellulite on her size 2 frame:
Leave it to the media to categorize this picture as the epitomy of "sexy gone wrong".
Check out this supposedly "not-so-flattering" picture of Tyra Banks in her suit:
Now, I have to wonder: What is it about “curvy” celebrities that sends the media into a crazy tailspin? It is almost as if these women didn’t have a right to gain some weight because they, as celebrities, have a contractual duty to the public to remain as slim as possible in order to perpetuate the social consciousness of “thin is in.” How dare these women rebel against the skinny ideal by eating food! Who ever heard of such a thing?
Puh-lease.
Both of these women handled the criticism well and in a very mature fashion, helping “real” women to feel comfortable in their own skin. Tyra Banks discussed the above swimsuit photo on the Tyra Banks Show and said that the picture was “so outrageous” as she stood in the same swimsuit next to the tabloid photo on a screen, stating that the photo was “taken three weeks ago,” she only weighed 150 pounds, and she just happened to gain 10 – not 40 – pounds around the holidays. She thought the photo was “curvy,” “sexy,” and “beautiful”, but noted that it was not her real figure at the moment. Furthermore, she noted that even if she did look like that, it would be fine. She noted that the tabloids are obsessed with weight, waiting for a not-so-flattering angle in order to sell magazines. She even showed other photos from the same day that were not retouched with angles that were very flattering and very "curvy slim". Because of the not-so-slender photo, she was labeled by the media as “Tyra Porkchops” and “America’s Next Top Waddle.” When she checked out people’s comments about her online, she noted that someone had circled a little love handle that was visible during her last Victoria’s Secret fashion show in a photo. She found that to be so ridiculous, noting that if she had lower self-esteem, she would be starving herself right now. She tearfully exclaimed a message to those women who criticize those who are naturally curvy: “Kiss my fat a**!”. (See a portion of it here on a YouTube video):
Jennifer Love Hewitt had a similar message. When the tabloids freaked about the bikini "cellulite photos", Jennifer, on November 29, 2007, posted this message:
“I've sat by in silence for a long time now about the way women's bodies are constantly scrutinized. To set the record straight, I'm not upset for me, but for all of the girls out there that are struggling with their body image. A size 2 is not fat! Nor will it ever be. And being a size 0 doesn't make you beautiful. What I should be doing is celebrating some of the best days of my life and my engagement to the man of my dreams, instead of having to deal with photographers taking invasive pictures from bad angles. I know what I look like, and so do my friends and family. And like all women out there should, I love my body. To all girls with butts, boobs, hips and a waist, put on a bikini -- put it on and stay strong.”
My response? I agree 100%. I honestly think the tabloids are obsessed with Tyra and Jennifer’s curve - not because it is necessarily “bad looking” - but because it stands contrary to the “thin standard” that they used to fit into and helped them gain fame several years ago. Now, I am a fan of “healthy curve” – curve that is natural and not brought on by unhealthy lifestyles. However, these tabloids and the media in general don't really care if the curve comes in unhealthy or healthy form – if you have curve, you are automatically fat, and therefore unattractive. According to society's illogical logic today, it is completely unrealistic to be “curvy” and not be fat (and therefore unattractive) on some level.
Today, Jessica Simpson seems to be the newest tabloid obsession.
Her latest "curvy" pictures have been broadcast across every single visual medium, and bloggers and newspapers have been tearing into her weight gain like wolves on prey. Her photos even prompted AskMen.com to ask its readers, "Fast Jessica Simpson: Still Hot?," encouraging a whole slew of readers to positively and negatively opine on her weight gain. In a US Magazine article, Jessica Simpson stated, "Do you think the guys . . . are all really looking at all those skinny girls and thinking, 'Wow, I want to get with her?' Or are they looking at the girls with the curves and thinking, 'Yeah, I want to get with her'!" Simpson said. Simpson added, "I don't get the whole rail thing. It's not good for your heart, it's not good for your mind; it's emotionally destructive, it really is." My thoughts on Jessica's weight gain: As long as she maintains a healthy diet and exercise regimen, she should embrace her curviness and show it off without hesitation.
Meghan McCain (Senator John McCain's daughter) has also faced some very recent criticism about her weight from Laura Ingraham, who clearly dislikes (or is perhaps jealous of) Meghan's latest claim to Republican pundit fame.
A recent photo of Meghan:
Laura stated, "Do you think that anyone would be talking to you if you weren't kind of cute and you weren’t the daughter of John McCain?" Ingraham continued, imitating McCain using a "valley girl" impersonation: "OK, I was really hoping that I was going to get that role in 'The Real World,' but then I realized that, well, they don't like plus-sized models. They only like the women who look a certain way." Meghan's response? A reincarnation of Tyra's "Kiss My Fat A**!":
If you are a woman with curves and occasionally doubt the beauty of your natural size, I encourage you to consider the confidence and beauty of more than a handful of curvy celebrity beauties out there, including:
And the curvy and celebrated European beauty, Monica Bellucci:
“Monica Bellucci is proud of her sexy curves. The sultry 'Matrix Reloaded' actress takes great care of her voluptuous figure and refuses to feel guilty about her body. She told Esquire magazine: "My body is so important to me. My face, my arms, my legs, my hands, my eyes, everything. I use everything I have. Today, if women look or feel voluptuous they feel guilty but beauty has no law and there is no way to be beautiful . . . She believes playing strong, passionate characters will help women change their body image perceptions . . . "Beauty is like a Ferrari because you have got to know how to drive it. Beauty can serve you if you know how to deal with it. . .”
Wonderfully stated.
Conceptualizing a Voluptuous Woman Within a Thin Standard
Main Entry:
vo·lup·tu·ous
Pronunciation:
\və-ˈləp(t)-shə-wəs, -shəs\
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Middle English, from Latin voluptuosus, irregular from voluptas pleasure, from volup pleasurable; akin to Greek elpesthai to hope, Latin velle to wish — more at will
Date:
14th century
1 a: full of delight or pleasure to the senses : conducive to or arising from sensuous or sensual gratification : luxurious
synonyms see sensuous
— vo·lup·tu·ous·ly adverb
— vo·lup·tu·ous·ness noun
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Somehow, over time, the term "voluptuous" evolved from the above definition that was used as a pleasant description for the female mystique and beautiful curves to just another way of saying “fat.” An example of this transition is a situation in which a girl was talking about one of my friends to a guy and described my friend to him as “voluptuous,” and he immediately responded, “Oh…she’s fat.” Not only did this offend my friend when she heard about the situation, but it also offended my own personal understanding of the term “voluptuous.” How is it that in today’s day and age where women are running to plastic surgeons for breast and butt implants, we still find the term voluptuous to be an offensive and/or negative term?
A few days after my friend told me about this story, I was watching "Good Morning America" and one of the top Victoria’s Secret models, the stunning Marisa Miller, came on to be interviewed and disclosed the fact that she is considered a “curvy model” in the modeling industry – to the astonishment of Diane Sawyer, who could not believe that this model was categorized as “curvy" (she must have also considered the term "curvy" to mean "voluptuous"/"fat").
Her measurements, as listed by Wikipedia, are 34D-23-35 (US), 5 feet, 8 inches tall. I understand that she has a larger-than-the-norm breast size for the modeling industry, but labeling Ms. Miller as "curvy" is quite strange in my opinion - she is incredibly thin, and yet, the modeling industry chooses to call her curvy because she does not fit into the standard of non-breast/non-butt that the modeling industry chooses to promote and blast across magazine pages every month.
The more important question I have now is – do you accept what you see? I hope the answer is yes. And if it is not - I truly do hope that at some point, you will accept your body and your beauty overall.
One of the reasons why I created this blog is because I wanted to encourage women to accept themselves and celebrate their unique beauty. So if you have curves, I say rock them! Be comfortable in your own skin. Dove’s national campaigns about accepting your own natural beauty and the show “Do I Look Good Naked?” are relatively recent nation-wide additions to the subtle yet powerful underground revolution against the “unhealthy skinny” prototype that has been promulgated by the modeling industry down women’s throats, as if to say that curvy women must accept that their bodies are considerably second-class to the thin prototypes found in high fashion magazines.
I disagree. It’s time to stop chastising the curvy female form – no matter what size it comes in – and start celebrating what we have naturally been given – and celebrate the fact that it is a wonderful thing to have curve – and it is a major compliment to be considered “curvy.”
Embrace Your Lips on Valentine's Day!
Whether you are single or in a relationship, today is a day to celebrate your lips! It doesn't matter if your lips are thin, thick, or medium-sized - treat your lips to a special treat that adds that special kick to your beauty regimen. Of course, in this crazy economy, you may want to bypass the expensive lip products and instead visit your local drugstore and find a shade of lipstick/lip gloss or lipbalm that fits your needs and your unique look. That said, there is a plethora of options available at your local CVS/Rite Aid/Walmart, etc., and it is good (and cost-effective) to already know what kind of lip product will suit you best before you shell out the cash. Total Beauty has saved you some research time and has compiled a great list of pricey lipsticks and their not-so-pricey equivalents that can be found at your local drugstore (click on link below):
Total Beauty's Lipsticks Comparison Guide
Now, I won't just leave you hanging with an article without some personal tips for your lips! It is very important to keep your lips moist AND exfoliated with some sort of lip balm and exfoliator. To exfoliate, you can gently rub your lips with a moistened washcloth and/or a lip scrub. Treating your lips like a palette will help with your lipstick application, allow your lipstick to stay on longer, and also soften your lips and make them even more kissable than they were before!
When considering lip balms or chapsticks, I heavily advise you to consider one with SPF 15 - otherwise the sun can cause damage to them and also slightly alter the balance of their natural color. In addition to my Cherry Chapstick (which has SPF 15), I have fallen in love with Carol's Daughter's lip balms, which lay smoothly on my lips, make them extra extra soft, and the flavor and scent are just right and not overbearing at all. I currently use Carol's Daughter's "West - Natural Shine for Lips" in Mango, and I can honestly say it is the best lip gloss/lip balm I have ever used. Check it out! :)
Remember to spend some time to enjoy Valentine's Day today - and don't forget to love your beautiful self!
My Personal Love for Windproof Hair and Quick Tips
What is up with the weather these days? The wind in New York City almost knocked me off my feet yesterday - I felt like Mary Poppins without the umbrella, fighting the elements and trying to push through the semi-tornados rushing past while still managing to carry my law books in my backpack on the way to school. Interestingly enough, a friend of mine emailed me and said - "well, you should be fine in this weather because you love it when the wind blows and your hair falls right back into place anyway." Well, I wouldn't say that yesterday's type of NYC-style tornados is my "cup of tea", but I will say that I love it when my hair falls perfectly back into place after being consumed by wind.
Here are a few of my personal tips for windproof hair:
1) Avoid product overload in your hair - if you overload your hair with gels, hair lotions, very heavy leave-in conditioners, etc., you are bound to pull an "Alfalfa" look in the wind.
2) The Dominican Blowout/Roundbrush technique (for straight hairstyles): Ever since I went the "Dominican hairstyling" route, I haven't looked back. The roundbrush method of drying my hair in layers is the best way to get that great shiny bounce in the hair that just falls perfectly back into place if messed up by a windstorm.
3) Avoid the extra strong hairspray - unless you use one of those very light hairsprays, hair stiffened up by too much hairspray in a windstorm is bound to look weird after being attacked by a windstorm.
4) No split ends - it is harder to manage any look when you have split ends. Trim those off, so you can have a more "tight" hairstyle bouncing straight back into place after it dances around outside.
5) Protect your tresses with some LIGHT hairdressing - the weather has all sorts of drying effects on your hair, so you want to protect your hair and its shine with a light hairdressing that does not weigh the hair down (I am a big fan of Chi Silk Infusion).
"Thinking" Yourself Into Beautiful
It's Monday, the beginning of the work/school week - do you feel beautiful today? Do you think that you will be gorgeous on every single day of this week? Well, it may be a silly question to ask, but if I had to answer on your behalf, I would answer with a resounding YES.
It's not egotistical to love yourself, and to appreciate your beauty. However, we live in a society that sometimes promotes the idea that your natural self can only be beautiful if you PURCHASE your beauty (through makeup, a special bra, plastic surgery, etc.). That's a great message to make companies richer, but what does that do to your confidence and self-esteem? That when you look in the mirror, some sort of concealer, lip plumper or some combination of eye shadow colors will transform you into some version of supposed perfection? Well, if you want the truth about beauty, here it is: You cannot PURCHASE beauty. You can only THINK it. You can only BELIEVE it. Beauty is a perception, a concept that varies from mind to mind. Therefore, don't fall for the hype and conform to society's supposed "ideal beautiful" - even Hollywood stars require photoshopping and plastic surgery to conform to an ironically evolving and changing standard of beauty.
Main point? Purchasing beauty will empty your wallet. Thinking and knowing your beauty will realize it into existence. What YOU need to do: Let go of the world's hype, look at yourself through your own lens (not the media) and notice your real beauty.
We are trained to think that we are not naturally beautiful (the "what is wrong with me"/"what can I find wrong with my look?" complex). This video pretty much sums up this point:
I know it sounds somewhat esoteric to state that you can "think" yourself into beauty, but it is the truth. You know the saying, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"? Well, its time to reframe our conception of whose "eye" we are looking through - and it is not Johnnie Boy down the street. You should really be focused on looking at your beauty through your own lens, cleansed of whatever societal conceptions of beauty that may have already poisoned your self-esteem like toxic traffic fumes.
There are books out there like "The Secret" and self-help speakers out there who talk about "mind-mapping", both which talk about your "thinker" and how to reframe your thinking, and the how your thoughts dictate your life. For example, if you want more money and success in life, you can visualize them into existence by changing your thought life and therefore your actions as well as the reality around you. The principles they teach are not new - they are very much common sense and practical, if you seriously sat down to think about it. You can actually "think yourself into beauty," and be able to realize your beauty by emanating it through your thought pattern. And it doesn't require any sort of rocket science to do it. Here are some quick examples of reshaping your thoughts about your beauty:
Your usual thought: "Why do I look so fat/skinny all the time?"
Pinpoint the problem --> You think there is an ideal beautiful body type. (There is no ideal - despite what the media may say).
Reshaped thought: "I love my size - my curves are right where they should be! I'm going to wear clothes that fit my size, and flatter the size that I have."
Your usual thought: "Why does my nose look like that?"
Pinpoint the problem --> You think there is something wrong with your nose. Why? You are comparing it to some idea of what a better nose looks like.
Reshaped thought: "My nose makes me uniquely beautiful and I embrace it."
Your usual thought: "Why is my skin so pale/dark/whatever in between?"
Pinpoint the problem --> You think that your skin would look better if you altered it to look like whatever you believe is ideal (tanner, darker, lighter, etc).
Reshaped thought: "Wow, my skin is absolutely stunning! I can rock my skin tone with whatever fashions and makeup I want to! I have all these wonderful skin undertone colors that make my skin unique and I can rock this wonderful tone in a way that no one else can!"
Your usual thought: "If only my breasts were bigger, I would be able to get more attention and be more popular."
Pinpoint the problem --> You've equated bigger breasts with being beautiful. Correction: bigger breasts do not make you more of a woman. Women of all chest sizes are all beautiful.
Reshaped thought: "I may have this chest size, but I love it! I'm going to wear clothes that flatter my size and I'm going to wear those clothes well!"
Interestingly enough, there is someone out there that dreams about having the very thing that you complain about - so let go of the hype and the lack of self confidence about your beauty. The reshaped thoughts may seem cheesy, but they purposely throw the negative thought words out, and instead focus on the positives about your look and your beauty. "The Secret", just like all of these other books out there, pretty much tell you that you can think yourself into whatever you want in life - that you can shape your reality if you think it into existence. Well, I'm here to tell you that this idea applies to your beauty - you can think your beauty into existence by thinking positively about it. By regarding yourself as beautiful, you will appreciate your unique look better, and work with it, and rock it well, which will naturally result in a thought pattern that will reflect on how you walk, carry yourself, treat yourself, take care of yourself, interact with other people, and the words you choose to describe yourself. The ability to look in the mirror this morning and say to yourself, "Wow, I am really beautiful today. I know this - and I feel it" can take you a lot farther in your ability to emanate beauty. Why? Because your thought life realized it into existence just by those words: "I am beautiful." You may think it sounds too easy - but try it out. Changing your thought will change your reality. You'll be pleasantly surprised how far your thought life can take you!
Making Your Beauty Work for YOU
What is it about black eyeliner and mascara that really "gets" me? It pulls me in like candy draws a five year old, and I've been researching the best eyeliner and mascara that best suits me for years! I have even gone so far as to take some time during my travels to Europe and Asia to look for different types of makeup, hoping that perhaps markets abroad may offer a different and perhaps better melange of options.
It is very important to figure out what you like most about yourself and have fun enhancing it and playing it up to your advantage. I am very much about playing with eye makeup because I love the shape of my eyes (almond shape) and my eye color (brown), and I am very self-aware of what works/doesn't work for me. Make makeup work for you, rather than the other way around. Too often women walk up to beauty counters or stores for a "fix" - to be dazzled by the glitter and glitz of the makeup packaging, only to be disappointed by the resulting effect of the makeup on their face. And such disappointment doesn't exactly come cheap - the product that is now collecting dust on your shelf is the same product that somehow convinced you to shell out a whole bunch of cash to purchase it. (At times I wonder if the majority of the cost of the product is due to the glitzy packaging! That's a shame...).
That's why I very much encourage you to buy makeup and experiment with makeup with an agenda - if you even have to make a list before you go to the beauty store (I do this!), I encourage you to do so. And even before you leave your home, make sure to spend at least a minute or two studying your features in the mirror to figure out how EXACTLY you want to play with your look. When I say EXACTLY, I mean it - you want to nail your new look down to a science. The same way an artist knows how he wants his painting to look and buys the required materials to make it work, you need to study your palette and have a strong idea of what you are looking for, so you don't go out and waste money and time on a product that you will subsequently be a major disappointment (I've been there!).
I also encourage you to expand your perception of your best features. For example, you may think that your lips are your best feature, not realizing that if you shaped up your eyebrows and perhaps applied a little bronzer, you would make your look even more spicy. Every woman has SEVERAL features to play up, but we tend to focus on maybe only one or two features, probably because we don't always appreciate all of our features, or because people constantly compliment us on one particular feature and we therefore pay more attention it, rather than embracing more than just one great feature.
And if you think you don't have a great feature, I very much challenge you on that belief. I can find a great feature on just about anybody, so there is not much you could do to make me think otherwise if I took a look at you. Everyone is uniquely beautiful, and women have been blessed with a bounty of options to play their beauty up to their unique advantage - so have fun and explore your beauty!
A Woman's Brain, A Woman's Beauty
Is it possible for a woman to celebrate her brains as well as her beauty? Well, the answer is quite obvious - of course. But in my opinion, the topic should be discussed a bit. The media today seems to imply that intelligence and beauty are mutually exclusive in women, as if to suggest that if a woman has a high IQ, there is a fair chance that she may not be aesthetically favorable in the human gene pool (or that her beauty is not necessarily praiseworthy). If you need examples, look at women who are celebrated for their beauty on television (to name a few, Angelina Jolie, Tyra Banks, Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton), and look at the women who are celebrated for their intelligence (e.g. Hillary Clinton, Condoleeza Rice, Suze Orman, Rachel Maddow [who are all beautiful in my opinion]). It is very rare that I see a woman on television celebrated for their beauty as well as their intelligence - and that is quite annoying (and for the extreme right conservatives who are reading this - I do not believe Ann Coulter fits either standard!). We are living in the 21st century, where women are flocking to colleges, grad schools (they even outnumber men at a lot of academic institutions today), and yet, the media seems to lag behind the times. Instead, shows like "Girls Next Door" continue to portray women as airheadish, uneducated and dependent on men to support them. Tyra Banks (as much as I appreciate "The Tyra Banks Show" when decent topics come up) doesn't stray far from playing a "ditzy" character at times, which may make her more likeable and cute, but unfortunately makes her come off as airheadish as well. And let's not forget about the hip hop music industry today, which pretty much considers women as accessories - interesting "jewelry" to dispose of at their will, if they so choose.
I think it's about time that the media promotes more "Natalie Portman" types - rather than view them as the exception ("She's beautiful! And she went to Harvard? Wow!"). Seriously, get a grip. There are plenty of Natalie's out there - they are not as rare as the media may suggest.
