Again, the responses don't have very much to do with what she LOOKS like. It's more about how she behaves. Here are the Facebook responses:
Susan Singer: What do you think makes a woman ugly?
response #1: a bad attitude, selfishness, self-centeredness..... response #2: Is there such a thing as an ugly woman?
response #3 I love #2!
response #4: Negativity
response #5: Ugly is in the eye of the beholder- or maybe the heart.
response #6: For me: her looking as though she is being chased through life and never does anything she herself wants - just what others want from her. On the other hand, then she doesn't really look "ugly", I suppose. She looks disenfrachised in life - which I find threatening and therefore "ugly".
response #7: There's no such thing as an ugly woman; some are just better looking than others. (not an original line, don't know where I first heard it)
:-)
response #8: An ugly woman is a behaviour, mean or cruel. But ugly can be fleeting as beaty can be fleeting.
response #9: the same things that make anything ugly: gross assymmetries, discolorations, lacerations, gross or awkward improprieties, neglect and dissolution.
response #10: I think ugliness, as well as beauty, is in the eye of the beholder...
response #11: I think it's interesting that there are more responses to "what do you think makes a woman ugly" than "what do you think makes a woman beautiful". Are we generally more comfortable with one question than the other?
response #12: ugly is as ugly does...
I think it's easier to discern what we find ugly, or aren't attracted to, than it is to define beauty. Beauty comes in so many packages, and what may be to one may not be to another. Ugly, on the surface, is abnormality. But there we go again with what we are accustomed to . What about the people with the gene that causes them to grow hair like a werewolf? Do they find one another ugly? Are they really ugly? Maybe ugly is just "different," and only to those outside the norm of a certain group. ? Ugly beyond the surface is persona. Maybe we should decide if we are talking about surface/physical beauty vs. persona? If Penelope Cruz behaved in an ugly manner, she'd still look drop-dead gorgeous....but she'd be an "ugly" person. (not saying that she is)
ReplyDeleteSo on that basis, if I narrow it down, I'd define beautiful as healthy and ugly as abnormal or deformity. How unfair. and still complicated.
This is fascinating, Susan.