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Inner Beauty: What Men Don’t Tell You
The guy's perspective on the elusive concept of "inner beauty."
by Ky Henderson
It was not a simple task. But I eventually found about 20 pictures that I thought would meet our art director’s approval. Then I looked on, horrified, as he dismissed all but two, his British accent making his rejections— punctuated with vocabulary that would have gotten me sent to Human Resources—sound almost affectionate.
Internalizing his standards, I became a brutal and unapologetic beauty critic, dismissing any woman who didn’t embody the popular ideal (perfect face, flat stomach, pneumatic curves) and using the word “beautiful” to describe women who, for all I knew, used paralyzed orphans to club baby seals.
OK, so I was shallow and evil. But beauty is tangible, beauty is sensory, and beauty is external. People who refuse to admit this need only walk down the street with a beautiful woman. I’ve done so with ones who are charming, and I’ve done so with ones who love reality TV and frequently use the phrase “Don’t go there.”
Their personalities don’t matter to the passing men who stumble as they stare, or to the women who look on with admiration and envy, or to everyone who looks at me as though I must have done something extraordinary to deserve such company.
That other famous platitude, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” suggests that there’s always someone who will think someone else is beautiful, and always someone who will think that same someone else is ugly.
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1 beautiful_inside_n_out // May 30, 2008 at 5:38 am
One way to understand what “Inner beauty” means is to try falling in love with a super good looking model only to find out she has a very evil attitude (she thinks highly of herself being to proud and know-it-all-type, speaks bad about others, lies and fool around with other men. This and try falling inlove with someone with an physical beauty that is not your type only knowing that she is very kind, humble,willing to love you in your ups and downs, understanding, true and real to herself, have good relationship with other people, faithful, and God-fearing. Maybe by that you will know what beauty means. But of course, it would depend on the person on what beauty means to himself. In a nutshell though, external beauty is what that fades thru time, and internal is what lasts.
2 Lyss // Apr 11, 2008 at 4:19 pm
External beauty catches the eyes & lures for lasviciousness only during one’s prime. Internal beauty defines character and is interminable. It’s agreeable that blatant beauty is external, but when given a second one will realize it’s internal. Men who seek mere external beauty will treat women like object; like a child, he’ll play with the new toy but throws it when it gets old & when a nicer and newer invention comes out. It would be more prudent for a man to attract himself to a woman by her irresistable beauty while at the same time consider her internal beauty to define definite beauty. I’d prefer that.
3 tv // Apr 11, 2008 at 2:21 pm
“But beauty is tangible, beauty is sensory, and beauty is external.” I really feel sorry for those who have this ideal set in stone. There are so many personality traits that can make an ugly person beautiful and a beautiful person ugly. I find the line of thought of this author to be incredibly shallow and childish. By the way, I’m not ugly so this is coming from someone who DOES get oogled.
4 Zeigy // Apr 11, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I’ve tried liking ugly chicks but I can’t. I feel somewhat guilty for being partial to good looking babes and it’s made me resent them. Now I feel no special emotions or feelings towards either class. I just ignore my natural drives and don’t pursue women. I still flirt but even when I get signals I don’t take the relationship very far.
5 Karen Rose // Apr 8, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Was this article supposed to contain a revelation? I’ve known this since I was an average-looking teenage girl. There are no surprises here — except for those who have really been kidding themselves.
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