I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when I noticed a simple cartoon scene. Naturally, I clicked on the photos and read what was happening. Depicted was a prince holding the hands of a princess saying that, “You [the princess] are all I ever wanted. You are beautiful.” Instead of receiving the compliment, however, the princess replied by saying, “Thank you, but what else?” Obviously frazzled, the prince stereotypically could think of no response, thus implying that there was nothing more than the woman’s external appearance that fueled the prince's attraction.
As has been stated over and over again as a defense concerning a majority of claims made against men, men are visual creatures. We take in through our eyes, and our brains tend to process the information a minute or 2 later. Attractiveness, as a result, is the first and most prominent feature that a man will distinguish amongst anything he sees. We have the ability to judge the safety, the stability, and the success of what we choose to partake in. Our vision is our greatest weapon.
A weapon can defend, but a weapon can also kill. I will concede that a large proportion of men abuse their natural tendencies and incessantly objectify women into nothing more than eye candy and sex dolls. These men, I would argue, would hardly ever use the word beautiful to described a woman; furthermore, if they did, they would have their fingers crossed behind their back as they said it. To men, the word beautiful implies so much more than physicality. We are a simple creature; when we see a hot chick, it’s simply a hot chick, but the word beautiful has such a deeper connotation. Beauty implies a standard, and when the word beautiful is used, it references that all encompassing criteria. A woman can be attractive and lack beauty because beauty concerns both the inside and out.
In ancient Greece, Aphrodite was the goddess of beauty. Although she was the most attractive woman an ancient Greek could see, she was also fueled with unquenchable power, natural immortality, and god-like wisdom. It was Aphrodite’s power, knowledge, and attractiveness that allowed her to be the goddess of beauty. Similarly, when men compliment their girlfriends, their wives, and their true loves by using that unparalleled word that is beautiful, they are describing not only the external, which praises the woman, but they also revere the heart, the soul, the passion, and the power which lies within a woman’s character.
To be called beautiful by a man means that he has not only seen what you show to strangers, but he has seen you all the way through and chooses to compare the whole world to you. The world, however, will never compare.
