Horrific and Tragic, Yes. Beautiful, No.

I don’t for a minute dispute that the societal image of “beauty” is skewed and promotes detrimental thinking in women.  The darlings made over by the media are frighteningly unnatural, and have cultivated a mentality where self-loathing is chic, where low confidence comes pre-packaged, purse sized.

I can’t help but think that somewhere, somehow, we’re letting this happen.  What is it about women that makes us subscribe to this?  To look at this glossy picture of perfection, then at ourselves, and buy into it?  Because I think more than trace amounts are owed to our passivity.

My commute companion this evening was an article titled “Behind the Beauty,” a sneak-peak look at the Miss Universe pageant, Style-section style. The piece featured comments from Ines Ligron, a French fashion-maven turned beauty pagent coach. 

Among other atrocities, this paragraph stuck out.

“Ligron said it is commonplace for contestants to remove a rib or two to make their waist smaller, to have breast augmentation, nose reshaping, or eyebrow lifting.  Complete reworking of the teeth is also de rigeur.”

Holy Hell and God Alive.  How, in any context but that which is truly warped, is surgically altering the human skeleton, our basest frame, considered “beautiful”?  

Part of this is certainly owing to the big, bad, evil sex-driven word we’re in.  Sure.  The rest, though, is just competition.  This is a pageant setting and can’t be construed to be “real” life, except it is, for these girls.  A lot of their wants and neuroses certainly carry over into the mainstream.  Girls wanting to be better, prettier, skinner than their peers.  The world has pitted us against each other, but oh how we rise to the bait!  Removing ribs to better your comparison to your fellow woman?  Surgically choreographing your chance to out-smile the next one?  Ladies of Miss Universe, WTF.