BEAUTY STANDARDS FOR GIRLZ

I recently returned to MAC as a makeup artist, and I’ve worked some shifts this week. It left me thinking about standards of beauty for young women, and women in general, in North American culture, and how I would like to create a story for Late Bloomers centered around that. 

I am starting to put together a list of qualities that contribute to our collective definition of traditional beauty, and here is what I’ve come up with thus far (feel free to add to this list, or comment on something I’ve added):

Long, thick hair

Big eyes
A small nose
Big lips

Strong bone structure, although not “too” strong

a long-ish neck

thinness

long legs

small hands

almost all eye colors, now that I think about it

small ears

straight, white teeth

And obviously there is more. I find this topic intriguing since I consider myself someone who absolutely appreciates female beauty, although I find myself attracted to few of the qualities I understand to make up traditional beauty. It might be because I have eccentric taste, though. 

Anyway, I am thinking about developing a character who is not traditionally beautiful, but is interesting in terms of looks, and has a questionable yet lovable personality. I want to express how people see this person and how she sees herself. 

I am working on that, and trying to narrow down the themes I want to govern each story. I admit, it is a big task and I am feeling intimidated because this project is something that I care very much about. I think I am going to start making some outlines of each story and really work on the structure.

I went back into my creative writing notes from my second year of university and I remember how much more important structure was than the actual writing itself, so that’s something to consider as I work towards what I feel like right now is a massive project. I think I feel that way because things at school in my other courses are also piling up, and now I am taking on shifts at MAC as I mentioned before. 

To close, I leave you with a picture of something I consider to be pure beauty: By the way: yes, it is Dog the Bounty Hunter’s Wife, and yes I think she’s very sexy. I wrote a poem about her in the summer for my friend Alison who is in Creative Communications with me and who also loves her. I will post it eventually.

Image from Google.