Commentary

Revealing real beauty

LAST WEEK I ranted about the facade that many women hide behind in today's world either to gain acceptance or fool themselves into believing that they're what they're really not. Continuing on that train of thought, wouldn't it be a good idea to have a beauty contest where no make-up, no plastic surgery, no fancy dresses, no plucked eyebrows, no stiletto heels, or hairstylists were allowed?

Yeah, a true beauty contest where a woman's beauty would be judged on genetics and hygiene alone. Wouldn't that be fun? Women from all over the world being judged while wearing house dresses or sweats and slippers or just regular jeans and t-shirts and the only make-up that would be required would be that they brushed their teeth, washed their faces and combed their hair.

Perhaps we would have a whole new set of people entering, especially here in Jamaica where so many women have taken to wearing weaves, coloured contact lenses, and layers and layers of make-up. All those women who are unable to go to the bathroom without donning a pair of heels, or who can't go onto their front porches without applying lipstick, blush and a touch of mascara, would naturally exclude themselves.

Of course, on the other side of that coin would be women who sport a single eyebrow as opposed to the usual two and refuse to create the natural gap in the middle of their foreheads, those sporting thick mustaches, those whose limbs without the aid of a razor or two would expose just how closely related they were to prehistoric man, and those with corn plantations on their feet because they refuse to accept that they really do wear size 12 and not size eight shoes.

What we would be left with are women who God blessed with good genes and who have a modicum of understanding of basic hygiene. These are the women who would just take your breath away. I believe I would actually watch such a contest. After all, we are living in the age of reality television and truly, just how honest is it calling it a beauty contest when what we are actually looking at is the work of people who create the illusion of beauty?

Have you ever seen pictures of female movie stars who people call beautiful, without their make up on? I was rudely awakened to that reality years ago while visiting New York and encountering some of these people just going about their business without their usual facade. I must tell you, for them it's a great way to hide in plain sight. What the experience also did was allow me to develop appreciation for the work that make up artistes do. Some of their work is sheer genius.

So, with that in mind, they could have 'before' and 'after' categories, kind of like those makeover shows we see on Maury Povich when the title is "Please make my daughter into a girl again.' And at the end award trophies to the best make up people.

And, of course, I'd keep the swimsuit section.