Beauty Myth 1, Women of Canada 0
Bree and I both read the same story (registration no longer bogosity required, thanks, Bree) in today’s Vancouver Sun (or, here’s one on Yahoo). Only one percent of Canadian women would describe them selves as beautiful (down from two worldwide):
Furthermore, only five percent feel comfortable describing themselves as pretty and a mere nine percent feel comfortable describing themselves as attractive. Additionally, just 13 percent of women say they are very satisfied with their beauty; 12 percent say they are very satisfied with their physical attractiveness; 17 percent are very satisfied with their facial attractiveness; and only 13 percent are very satisfied with their body weight and shape. In fact, in a society captivated by diet and makeover programs, a third of women around the world are very or somewhat dissatisfied with their body weight.
Zero percent of the women surveyed in Canada said that they would call themselves sexy, stunning or gorgeous. It’s all part of clever marketing from Dove, but it’s pretty sad. I don’t want to sound like that damn pop song (or that one), but speaking as a frequent observer of Canadian women, you’re all beautiful. I particularly remember returning to Vancouver after a year in Ireland and being agog at the abundance and multiplicity of hotness walking around the streets (Irish women, you’re lovely too, but your gene pool is way narrower, reducing the diversity factor significantly). And men, tell your womenfolk that they’re beautiful–that oughta help convince them.
Andrea