Beauty.

In today's society we base a lot of things off of beauty, but what is beauty exactly.

The dictionary's first definition of beauty is as follows:

The quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, color, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest).

A couple other definitions;

A beautiful person, especially a woman.

An individually pleasing or beautiful quality; grace; charm.

The second definition probabys sums up what pops into most people's minds when they think of beauty, a beautiful woman.

Although in my opinion, it really should be the first one, or even the third. Beauty shouldn't be something you necessarily have to see, but something your FEEL. It shouldn't necessarily come from looks, but from what is past those looks, on the inside of them.

But we mostly base what beauty is off of how someone looks, mainly how women look. Because let's face it, when was the last time you heard someone call a man beautiful? Can't remember? Probably because it rarely ever happens.

For centuries a woman's beauty has been the object of much attention. In almost every culture there are stories, poems, songs, and paintings about the beauty of a woman.

Womens beauty catches attention, right? And it sells.

You don't have to look very far in today's society to see it'll sell just about anything.

And that, in itself, has taken away from what is truly the beauty of a woman.

Women's bodies are plastered everywhere from social media to magazines, television, books, marketing campaigns and anywhere else people think it might sell.

And we sit here and wonder why we live in a body shaming culture? We sit here and wonder why there are so many problems when it comes to how women look?

There isn't anything to wonder about, we've done it to ourselves. We allow it.

We've made it so mainstream. Even women that are role models, the ones that inspire body positivity and loving who you are, most post half naked pictures to get their message across.

I love that there is a movement to teach and inspire girls and women to love the body they have, to cherish it and treat it as the temple it is. What I don't love is that most choose to do so by posting pictures of their booty 5x a week or half naked photos.

I can't get behind it.

Because I don't believe that posting photos like that is sending the right kind of message. I don't believe it teaches to love and cherish your body, it's just buying into what society is already teaching...that your body and how it looks (and it must look good) is your worth, no matter what you write for a caption underneath it.

At first I though maybe there was something wrong with me, I just couldn't bring myself to post such pictures. (Now, don't get me wrong, there was a time in my life where I dressed skimpily and showed off my body. It was also the time in my life where I hated who I was the most.) My morals and values wouldn't allow me to, and they matter more to me than a few likes on Instagram.

But then I started thinking about it...

Is posting those kinds of photos really being in love with your body? Is it really being completely happy with it, as it is. Or on some deep rooted level is it still searching for compliments and validation from others?

I don't know the answer.

What I do know though, is that we need to really think about the message we are sending, the message we are spreading.

If we want others to stop seeing our bodies as objects, we need to stop using them that way.

We need to cover them back up.

You can send the same message fully clothed, maybe even a more powerful one.

In today's society it's rare to see a Gentlewoman, a woman who is fully clothed yet catches the attention of everyone around her. Not because of her looks, per say, but because of the aura she gives off. She doesn't need to be scantily dressed to send her message, her presence and the way she speaks is enough.

It's a lost art we as women need to bring back.

Something I fully intend to bring back.

XOXO

~Cassie Ann