Glenn Francis / www.PacificPRoDigital.com
Why We Should Celebrate Beautiful Women
Not long ago, I took a solo road trip. Christmas was fast approaching, and I was looking for adventure and time alone before diving in. I booked nights at bed and breakfasts all over northern California and took off for five days of exploring, visiting museums, and learning about the history of this little-known area.
Most nights I ate dinner at a local restaurant recommended by the B&B owner. At the Parsonage Inn in Nevada City, California, Abigail recommended New Moon Café. I walked the two blocks in the 35-degree cold and got myself a table for one (two if you count Pnin, my book companion). It was a wonderful dinner—arugula salad with shaved parmesan, flaky bread, a pork chop in a brown sugar sauce. My waiter was kind and funny—you could tell he had a great rapport with whomever he was serving, and his presence enhanced the dining experience.
When I could eat no more, he brought the check to the table. And then, right after he told me to take my time paying the bill, he told me I was very beautiful. He said it quickly; there was no phone number written on my bill, no knowing wink. He was avuncular and chatty and didn't set off any red flags. No agenda, not creepy or lingering. Just a kind compliment.
Last week, ESPN reporters Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit made headlines when they repeatedly commented on the beauty of Katherine Webb, the girlfriend of Alabama quarterback A. J. McCarron: "'You quarterbacks, you get all the good-looking women,' Musberger said when the camera panned to Webb. 'What a beautiful woman. Whoa!'''
After the game, ESPN issued an apology, saying that "the commentary went too far." And that was right: At 43 and 73, Herbstreit's and Musberger's remarks about a 23-year-old quarterback's girlfriend isn't exactly what America tunes in for. The fact that Webb is a beauty queen—literally, she was Miss Alabama USA 2012—complicates the situation.
But is noticing another's beauty automatically demeaning? Webb did nothing to deserve her face or her hair. She may have made choices that other people wouldn't have; as a pageant contestant, there are surely routines involving hair products and makeup and hemorrhoid cream that most women don't follow. But Webb, like every other (naturally) beautiful person, did not choose the arrangement of her face. As my mom says, physical beauty is one of the least interesting qualities of a person—at least until you get to know them, when you can see how the outside connects to what is within.
Webb's reaction is worth noting. She was exceedingly gracious, saying that no apology was necessary since Musberger and Herbstreit's comments were not demeaning. As she told Matt Lauer, "I think if he had said something along the line if we were hot or sexy, I think that would be a little bit different." And to a point, I agree with her—calling a woman "beautiful" is not and ought not be viewed as demeaning. What is demeaning is reducing the fullness of her person to physical attributes.
Many of my friends—male and female alike—keep a fairly casual wardrobe. Suits are no longer required for work; tailored dresses and driving gloves are a thing of the past. But all of them—male and female alike—enjoy hearing that they look nice when I remark upon it. A theology of beauty is a good thing to have, and it goes far deeper than the symmetry of a person's face and the fashions they are wearing. Early church fathers referred to God as Beauty itself, and several great contemporary books explore this topic.
Beauty is a strange thing now, existing somewhere in between People magazine and the Bible. Had Webb been a plain, mousy woman her appearance would likely have gone unnoticed. And the issues of self-esteem and popularity and status that come along with image are legion; to explore them would take more space than we have here. Suffice it to say, beauty is a complex issue, and the truest and fullest sense of it takes all of a person into account.
But I think the Scriptures help us appreciate physical beauty rightly. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:28-29), Jesus reminds us of the reality that so often escapes us: "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these."
It is easy to read this passage and focus on what it says about clothes, interpreting it on the level of physical appearance without getting at what goes beneath all of that: We do not need to worry about anything because we are alive in the hands of our Creator, in the beauty of the world he has created. And in his world, all that he has created is good. The lilies of the field are clothed in greater splendor than Solomon! And God's good extravagance makes them that way.
Lizzie Vasquez is a 23-year-old Christian from Texas. She lives with a disease that leaves her unable to gain weight—at 60 pounds, she is little more than skin stretched over bone. Her parents had to dress her in dolls' clothes as a child, and people routinely assume she is deathly anorexic. Her body cannot store fat, no matter how much she eats. And she has taken abuse and bullying for decades, but now speaks and writes to remind people of the same reality Jesus talked about in Matthew 6: There is real beauty in the world.
Only in God's economy are both Katherine Webb and Lizzie Vasquez beautiful, each bearing the Imago Dei that is the source of all beauty. And this beauty isn't anti-external; we have bodies and faces for a reason. But it isn't the pitiful and anemic version that passes for beauty nowadays, too. I like to think that part of the reason the waiter told me I was beautiful had to do with our interactions—joking, being kind to each other, speaking with respect.
In Isaiah 53 we read that the person of Jesus, the Suffering Servant, "had . . . nothing in his appearance that we should desire him" (v. 2). Just a few verses earlier, though, we are reminded "how beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'" We know that God "has made everything beautiful in its time" (Ecc. 3:11). We, who bear the image of the one who made everything and declared it good, surely share in his beauty as well.
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Nate Robison
The greatest authority on the beauty of a woman is in the Word. The following are words that God inspired on the subject: Genesis 12:14 "When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was a very Beautiful woman." Genesis 29:17 "Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was Beautiful." 1 Samuel 25:3 "His name was Nabal and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and Beautiful woman," Esther 2:7 "Mordecai had a cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother. This young woman, who was also known as Esther, had a lovely figure and was Beautiful." Job 42:15 "Nowhere in all the land were there found women as Beautiful as Job’s daughters," Revelation 21:2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride Beautifully dressed for her husband. The Holy Spirit breathed these scriptures and that is good enough for me. The Word even speaks to a woman's figure as well.
M RANDAZZO
I think the problem is not beauty itself, but the idolization of beauty that is the problem. Facial beauty is something that cannot be achieved through effort. So what message does it send to so-called "average" girls when our culture clearly gives preferential treatment to beautiful women? What message does it send "pretty girls" about achievement and hard work? As a married woman I often do not wear makeup because I find the gaze of men uncomfortable and unwanted. I want to be seen as a person, not stared at like a fancy car.
John Funk
Beautiful Women God created the heavens, earth, plants, animals, finally God from the crude, out of dust, created man in his own image. Adam must've been the best looking. "God saw everything, and behold it was very good!" And although "behold, it was very good! God improved even on that, instead of dust God began with what was already"very good". Took a rib and made woman! Adam must've said, "WOW! Rev 12 And there appeared in heaven a great wonder, a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars. Pr.He who finds a wife, (because of her) finds favor with the Lord." women receive special grace. Why men are called the bride of Christ, in many respects we are to become like women, sensitive. Why men told do themselves a favor-love the wife. We know that women, praise God, are of a higher order. Warning- God's women's Lib is 1Pe3:1, trust the man to God, Is.3:12 Pr31:30 Ep5;22,Zep 2:3. Meekness
Laurie Charles
Physical beauty is a gift. However, it is temporary. I would recommend reading the original version of the Portrait of Dorian Gray. It can be downloaded free from Amazon and other sites. Powerful story of a beautiful face that sells itself for the pleasures of the world.
Alfred Kuhnert
Something very fascinating occurs when I first converse with a woman whom I consider physically beautiful. Before that initial conversation, all I know about her is her outward appearance (and possibly how she interacts with some people around her.) During and after the first conversation, I begin to understand her as a PERSON. Suddenly her outward appearance is not the driving force in determining my opinion of her. Never again am I able to simplify her into JUST a person with external beauty. So I totally understand why Musburger said what he did. The football game itself was boring, the camera swung to Ms. Webb, and he responded both with his honest impression of what he saw and also included the joke about quarterbacks. Musburger, as far as I know, has never spoken with Webb. He could not add anything more specific, for example, such as "What a beautiful woman .... did you know that she volunteers at a food pantry twice a month?"
JANET W
I have to agree with Lauren on this one. It seems that women (and men, too -- but to a far lesser extent) are often viewed as objects rather than human beings. When we feel free to go on-and-on about a person's outward appearance (which they carefully cultivate, in this example) we're objectifying them. And even if they approve and want the attention -- it doesn't mean that it's a positive thing. You'd think that a site like CT would do more to counter these cutural norms rather than buy into them. Disappointing to say the least.
Lauren L
"Had Webb been a plain, mousy woman her appearance would likely have gone unnoticed." I don't know about that; it sounds a little naive. Susan Boyle was excoriated for looking the way she did on TV. Heck, spend 30 seconds reading reports about what women were wearing to the Golden Globes last night... and read what people SAY about what women were wearing. It's absolutely brutal. There's also a level of gender politics left out of this commentary. What's disturbing and creepy about the situation is two men objectifying a young woman; the fact that she's a beauty queen is totally irrelevant there. These guys were supposed to be doing their job (that is, presumably, saying something about football), and instead they were evaluating this woman on her appearance. And this sort of thing goes on All. The. Time. We live in a culture that is forever telling women they are not beautiful/sexy/holy/fill-in-the-blank enough. We don't need any more of that. beginthebeguinage.blogspot.com
RICH HUIZENGA
First of all, I thank you, Laura, for bringing up for discussion the subject of what is a healthy attitude towards the beauty of womanhood. Women should not feel squeamish about being beautiful, as you so well state. God made you uniquely beautiful, gave you a beauty overlay if you will, compared to us men, to whom he gave a strength overlay. Each is made to compliment the other, so that together a couple in union forms a binity, two-in one you might say. He also was not stingy in bestowing these gifts. Certainly women's beauty plays a key role in procreation, but it goes way beyond that. Without going into awkward details, imagine all women looking EXACTLY like a man in all anatomical regions except for just that central one. That would still create plenty of attraction to keep the species going quite well. So all that extra beauty is totally bonus, but is it just surplus? I think not. You beautify the human landscape, like countless other features do the other landscapes. Bless you.
K SHAW
I agree with Cherry. When I say something or someone is beautiful, I am responding with my senses. When someone says or does something I appeciate sensually I may well say, "You're beautiful." or "That was beautiful." What is the old saying, "Beauty is as beauty does." Thanks for the post.
Gene Kleppinger
TV actress Mayim Bialik (Amy Farrah Fowler on "The Big Bang Theory") makes very strong statements about her own commitments to dress and behave modestly, wherever she goes within the "Hollywood" culture. See http://kveller.com to read her comments about real beauty.
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