Natural Women : Thin Doesn't Equal Beautiful

In Western societies over the last few decades the ideal of female beauty has been well ... thin. It's a look showcased by androgynous looking models who glower at the camera rather than risk appearing overly anxious to please. The message is that they are invincible, empowered and yes ... thin. Even when they seem coy or vulnerable on the pages of a fashion magazine, you know it's an act because behind the pose and the artful lighting, the business of image marketing is a deadly serious game.

The rail thin androgynous look is rarely natural and in extreme cases involves a regimen of dieting, pill taking, purging and even induced vomiting. A number of models have become seriously ill as a result of the pressure to remain significantly thinner than their biological norm. Some have even died as a result of being chronically malnourished.

This 'fashionable' form of self- abuse has begun to change of late as the fashion industry responds to well publicized dangers associated with self-induced thinness. Some fashion houses are now even imposing mandatory weight requirements for models - a few pounds above the skeletal ideal that was du rigeur in times past.

Beauty is big business. Entire professions owe their existence to the creeping narcissism that won't allow even the best looking among us to believe that nature's handiwork is quite good enough. There is always more that can be done. A few hair plugs, a tummy tuck, a face lift. There never seems to be any end to what the image conscious believe they need to do in order to achieve an approximate degree of perfection.

The more vanity surgery people get done, the more they interfere with the natural template each of us has inherited. Someone with an unfashionably long nose and a chin that recedes a little too much, is unlikely to be perceived as unattractive if he or she refuses to be found wanting in comparison with some designated beauty ideal. True beauty is often flawed. The young Barbra Streisand was plain by glamor standards, and yet succeeded in captivating audiences. True beauty is also after all, about attitude. There is something genuinely beautiful about a woman who is no fashion magazine siren and yet who is possessed of unpretentious confidence and flair. If a person doesn't view themselves as unattractive, it's much less likely other people will.

Women who are obsessed with their physical 'flaws' and who believe that a diet or cosmetic surgery will make everything alright, are in some cases compensating for a lack of self-confidence or low self-esteem. What they often discover is that the cosmetic work fails to do the trick. The self-doubt returns, along with more obsessing about body parts that require improving. It's a never-ending cycle in some cases.

The adage "to thine own self be true" should also apply to physical appearance. Self-acceptance and a sense of humor, go a long way toward making the best of natural assets.