Letter – Get past beauty obsession

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To the editor:

Anorexia, bulimia, discrimination and pulverized self-esteems are real side-effects stemming from our society’s hang-up with physical beauty. Mr. Weise holds beauty up as a heavenly virtue, thanking all the beautiful women out there for just being beautiful [letter to the editor, 4/8/09]. Where does that leave women who will never match up to Cosmopolitan- Playboy-Hollywood standards for beauty?

Just think how many women try to break into the news industry with good presence and diction. They are aced out because they have some pudge on their sides or a face that doesn’t match the Barbie Doll manufactured chiseled pretty face. Beauty is unearned; it’s made in a cauldron of genetics that people can’t control. People do have control over their character, spirituality, and working skills. These are things that should be admired in men and women; not whether or not they can flash a toothy smile, or make their breasts noticeable while luring men’s eyes down to their buttocks as they pass by.

Beauty is fleeting as well. Society now wants women to appear 30 when they are 60. Imagine the burden that places on a person when they can’t properly age. The push for plastic surgery allows the wealthy to set impossible phony standards that the average person can’t attain nor should want to attain. Can mankind ever progress until we can get past the obsession with beauty?

Brian Schwartz

Alexandria, MN

Tags: brian schwartz, opinion, letter, editor