Different Beauty
By: Claudia Sofía Tamayo Torres 10B
According to the Oxford Dictionary, beauty is defined as “a combination of qualities, such as shape, color or form, that pleases the aesthetic [related to the study of beauty and taste] senses, especially the sight.” Similarly, the Cambridge Dictionary affirms that beauty is “the quality of being pleasing, especially to look at.” However, these conceptions seem to be misleading to me, since they are intended to take into account only one impression of beauty, which is the superficial one. The truth is that real beauty goes beyond the stereotypical image sold by social media and fashion industries, and followed by an extremely rapidly increasing number of people without distinction of gender, age, or nationality.
Surely you’ve heard many times that real beauty is not related to physical appearance but to what each person truly is, feels and thinks, which indeed, is absolutely true. However, this article is not intended to repeat a truth that in spite of being known by all of us, is target of hypocrisy and denial; but to state that there is beauty distinct from the one that we’ve taught ourselves to believe in: different beauty exists.
SOME EXAMPLES OF DIFFERENT BEAUTY...
Chantelle Brown-Young (Winnie Harlow)
She is a 21 year old Canadian model that in spite of suffering from vitiligo, has defied the fashion industries by accepting her skin condition and taking the best from it. She is an activist that promotes different beauty as a lifestyle and inspires thousands of people, especially teenagers, not to let physical or personal conditions prevent them from building their beauty.
I totally recommend the following Ted Talk, in which Chantelle shares her history and vision towards life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_LweaZ8WFs
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Still considering beauty as a combination of qualities, but this time not meant to please the sight, but to make the tenant of those characteristics different from the rest and therefore special and perhaps pleasing, beauty is the essence of each of us. And, since all of us are different from one another, we all have a specific essence and so we have different beauty, that is neither utterly physical nor exclusively from “the inside”. Actually, different beauty is the combination of both, since it becomes patent if and only if we want it to be that way. In other words, we build our own beauty with bricks of self-recognition, self-respect, self-esteem, and self-acceptance; without any doubt I tell you that if you built your own beauty, you will not only feel beautiful but also radiate your essence, meaning your beauty, to others. The beautiful thing or this new conception is that despite the fact that it exists by and for itself, it conveys in others and makes one beautiful inside, outside, and wherever; to oneself and to whoever.
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La Gorda Fabiola
If you’re the type of person that likes spending some of your time laughing and sharing with family an friends, probably you have seen the Colombian comedy show “Sábados Felices”, where Fabiola Posada, better known as la Gorda Fabiola radiates her happiness and beauty. She is 52 years old and weighs over 90 kilograms, and even though many would say she doesn’t please the aesthetic senses, she has built her own beauty, which has led her to shine, be happy, and make thousands of Colombians laugh every Saturday night in the show.
Emma Watson
This British young woman knows her beauty goes beyond her attractive physical appearance and is more focused on what she can do with it to make a positive impact in the world. Since she is an actress and model, Emma is very into the fashion world; she has taken the best from it and also has become a spokeswoman in pro of gender equality. Emma is an example to many women, of how willingness, determination, self-confidence, and social work converge into a different beauty.​
These women are just some examples of inspiration, an invitation to all of as first to construct our own bricks of beauty, then use them to build our different beauty, radiate it to the world, and learn to appreciate beauty in others.
We are powerful, we are essence, let’s be different, let’s be beautiful, let’s be happy.