The December issue of Psychology Today pays their tribute to the Frenchwoman…
The issue encourages readers to ask questions about the truth behind beauty, forcing us to accept the “not-so-pretty” facts about our looks.
In her article Can You be Too Beautiful? Heidi Grant Halvorson makes reference to the French woman.
French women, too, buy into the idea that there’s some fountain of youth at the Clarins counter. But, perhaps because feminism never seeped into mainstream culture in France like it did here, they generally have a healthier and more realistic relationship with beauty, accepting it as the conduit to love, sex, relationships, and increased opportunities. They take pleasure in cultivating their appearance, and in accentuating their physical differences from men. They don’t give up on looking after their looks as they age, nor do they tart themselves up like sexy schoolgirls at 50. They simply take pride in their appearance and try to look like sensual, older women.
Halvorson writes that being beautiful is being sexually attractive to men. Having an hourglass figure, for instance, attracts men of all cultures. So, like the French woman, we need to develop a health relationship with our beauty and learn to embrace it. She writes…
Read lots of books, develop your mind and your character, exercise the rights the heroes of the women’s movement fought for us to have, and strive to become somebody who makes a difference in the world. And, pssst…while you’re doing all of that, don’t forget to wear lipgloss.
