Studies Show: Less Than 2 in 100 Woman Say They're "Beautiful"

My grandfather was absolutely right when he used to say "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." : especially true, when it comes to the female body.

Different cultures throughout history have revered different parts of this form: in Japan, the nape of the neck has long been popular, while in China tiny feet were once believed beautiful. In the age of Ruben, the larger the women, the more attractive they seemed.

Almost every woman knows the importance of being beautiful both inside and out. We all want to feel beautiful by our own standards as well as those of others. Unfortunately, surveys show that less than 2 percent of women around the globe dare to describe themselves as “beautiful.” This means women everywhere, whether they have a smooth neck or dainty feet, are so enmeshed in meeting the idea of beauty that they don’t recognize their inherent attraction that comes simply from being female!

In 2008, Allure Magazine ran a spread of five female celebrities who each posed naked.The participants were:

Angie Harmon,

Gabrielle Union,

Zoe McLellan,

Ana Ortiz and

Jill Scott.

This last woman is certainly noteworthy because she defies the conventional belief that size 2 is the only size that’s beautiful! Scott is a gorgeous AND size 16. She isn’t about to be pigeonholed by stereotypes. In the end, because of these different women with different body shapes, Allure helped promote the idea of positive body image for all women.

But is it enough?

The answer is probably not. While such photo spreads instill in our minds the concept that women of all shapes and sizes are beautiful, they still don’t help individual females identify their own beauty - and therein is the problem. As women continue to compare themselves with highly unachievable ideals presented by the media – stick thin models, movie stars and recording artists, it’s no wonder that only 2 percent of the female population believes they are beautiful!

Devendra Singh with the University of Texas at Austin suggests the very measures we use for determining feminine beauty are beyond preposterous, especially when it comes to the female body. According to Singh, physical attractiveness depends on both facial and bodily features, and yet all the detailed analysis of what constitutes beauty is restricted to faces. A woman’s face, in this manner, is scrutinized for the size of her nose, shape of her chin and smoothness of complexion.

The beauty of the female body, in modern terms, is solely defined by weight.

Skinny women are more attractive than normal weight women, who in turn are more attractive than overweight women. All of this negates the real beauty of the female body, in that it was designed to bring life into this world, nurture children and fight disease. Instead, the focus is always on weight and other demeaning concepts like breast cup size, appearance of one’s tush in a pair of jeans and shapeliness of legs.

We're a lot more than our bodies, ladies!

Our bodies allow us to run marathons, grocery shop and conquer science. We use our very bodies to write novels, dig through the ruins of ancient civilizations and, yes, make love. These bodies can also car pool, cook dinner and embrace loved ones; fish, swim and rush to emergencies; dance, control airplanes and perform surgery. What, therefore, is not beautiful about us, from the tops of our heads to the tips of our toes?

Photo spreads like the one from Allure Magazine will not solve the problem of how women negatively perceive themselves, but they will help. If you struggle to find beauty in yourself, I strongly urge you to undress and look at yourself in the mirror. Forget the flaws you find and instead focus on the many wonderful things your body does each and every day. Look for the beauty in what you do, who you are and the feminine qualities you bring to both. And perceive yourself as beautiful, because only then can we women collectively begin to change how the world sees us individually.

Photo Credit: Christi Neilsen Bristol Motor Speedway & Dragway, nick step, tetsumo, www.chicagofabulousblog.com

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